Lean Manufacturing
What is Lean Manufacturing?
Lean Manufacturing comprises a series of management practices to enhance efficiency and effectiveness through waste elimination. The basic principle of Lean is to reduce and eliminate activities that do not add value.
Lean Manufacturing (Production) Vs Lean Enterprise
Lean Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing or lean production is a system of techniques and activities for managing a manufacturing or service process. The approaches and activities vary depending on the application but have the same basic principle: eliminate all activities that do not add value.
Lean Enterprise
This concept extends to the entire supply chain. A manufacturer cannot achieve its full potential if it has to work with suppliers and subcontractors that are not Lean Manufacturing compliant.
What are the 7 Waste Types in Lean Manufacturing?
Waste is unnecessary work due to errors, poor organization, or communication. They are:
- Overproduction: Manufacturing more than required, resulting in excess product in inventory.
- Waiting: Waiting for the next step of production, instructions, and equipment wastes time and money.
- Transportation: Movements that do not add value to products, and products moving further than required waste time, money, and effort.
- Processing: If not designed efficiently, it may contain processes that take longer or are complex, indicating poor design of the manufacturing system.
- Inventory: Excess inventory may lead to accidents or defective products from over-handling.
- Motion: Excessive and unnecessary movement of materials and products leads to stress, product defects, or accidents and injuries.
- Defective goods: Defective products require effort in inspection and repair of defects, and remanufacturing.
A lean manufacturing system works to eliminate these types of waste.