Lean Manufacturing

Lean is a continuous improvement philosophy which is Synonymous with Kaizen or the Toyota Production System. The history of lean management or lean manufacturing is traced back to the early years of Toyota and the development of the Toyota Production System after Japan’s defeat in WWII when the company was looking for a means to compete with the US car industry through developing and implementing a range of low-cost improvements within their business.

In brief, lean management seeks to implement business processes that achieve high quality, safety, and worker morale, whilst reducing cost and shortening lead times. This in itself is not unique to Japan. What sets lean management apart, and makes it particularly effective, is that it has at its core a laser-sharp focus on the elimination of all waste from all processes.

Social Loss, for example, losses due to meetings, is typically the responsibility of management.

Plan Loss results from scheduling equipment not to run.

Utilization Loss is generally the supervisor’s responsibility and may occur if parts are not available or the operation is not set up such that the operator can perform at their best.

Stop Loss results from a changeover or breakdown.

Performance Loss is the operator’s responsibility. This includes not meeting standard times and not following standard operating procedures.

Speed Loss results from running equipment below the design speed of the machine.

Method Loss is the responsibility of engineering and management across the organization. For example, if a product was not designed to be easily manufactured then this would be the R&D team’s responsibility.

Quality Loss results from producing defective parts and materials.