Return to Tools available

LEAN

  • Lean – aka Toyota Production System (TPS) – was invented by Taiichi Ohno and evolved at Toyota over the last 50 years
  • Its goal is to eliminate waste and continuously improve productivity in every area of work, including customer relations, product design, supplier networks and factory management
  • Wikipedia says Lean aims ‘to produce less low-value human effort, less inventory, less time to develop products, and become highly responsive to customer demand while producing top quality, error-proofed products in the most efficient and economical manner’
  • There are five principles which define the Lean process:
    • Provide what the customer wants, defect free
    • Provide what’s required on demand, exactly as requested
    • Provide an immediate response to problems or required changes
    • Provide what’s required with a minimum of waste
    • Provide what’s required safely, both for the customer and the supplier

  • Lean is said to address seven deadly wastes:
    • Overproduction – production getting ahead of demand
    • Transportation – moving things unnecessarily
    • Waiting – for the next production step
    • Inventory – when not being processed
    • Motion – moving more than necessary to complete a process
    • Over-processing – due to poor tool or product design
    • Defects – the effort involved in inspecting for or fixing defects
  • Lean seeks to improve the flow (smoothness) of work by production levelling:
    • UK car manufacturers used to forecast demand, make to stock, sell what was in stock and then deliver as best they could
    • By contrast, Toyota total up their actual demand, turn their output volume controls to suit, meet all the variety demanded and deliver fast
  • However, Lean practitioners tend to focus on cutting specific task times and costs – and that could even increase overall costs – if many of those tasks are unnecessary for the customer, cutting their costs by 10% say would make little sense
  • Hence, always focus on why and how you do things for customers, and the Order Cycle Time (OCT) – big cost reductions tend to follow when you improve things for customers first

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your e-mail address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

en English
af Afrikaanssq Albanianam Amharicar Arabichy Armenianaz Azerbaijanieu Basquebe Belarusianbn Bengalibs Bosnianbg Bulgarianca Catalanceb Cebuanony Chichewazh-CN Chinese (Simplified)zh-TW Chinese (Traditional)co Corsicanhr Croatiancs Czechda Danishnl Dutchen Englisheo Esperantoet Estoniantl Filipinofi Finnishfr Frenchfy Frisiangl Galicianka Georgiande Germanel Greekgu Gujaratiht Haitian Creoleha Hausahaw Hawaiianiw Hebrewhi Hindihmn Hmonghu Hungarianis Icelandicig Igboid Indonesianga Irishit Italianja Japanesejw Javanesekn Kannadakk Kazakhkm Khmerko Koreanku Kurdish (Kurmanji)ky Kyrgyzlo Laola Latinlv Latvianlt Lithuanianlb Luxembourgishmk Macedonianmg Malagasyms Malayml Malayalammt Maltesemi Maorimr Marathimn Mongolianmy Myanmar (Burmese)ne Nepalino Norwegianps Pashtofa Persianpl Polishpt Portuguesepa Punjabiro Romanianru Russiansm Samoangd Scottish Gaelicsr Serbianst Sesothosn Shonasd Sindhisi Sinhalask Slovaksl Slovenianso Somalies Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedishtg Tajikta Tamilte Teluguth Thaitr Turkishuk Ukrainianur Urduuz Uzbekvi Vietnamesecy Welshxh Xhosayi Yiddishyo Yorubazu Zulu