Lean Manufacturing Principles

Definition

"The Toyota Way can be briefly summarized through the two pillars that support it: Continuous improvement and Respect for people" (1)

Lean Manufacturing (also called Toyota Production System, TPS) is a production system inspired by the Japanese concept of kaizen (the strategy of continuous improvement).

Unlike Kaizen, Lean has a focus not only on quality control but also on quantity control to eliminate waste and reduce costs.(2)

The ultimate goal of this methodology is to improve and speed up production by eliminating quantifiable waste as far as manufacturing/production is concerned. Therefore, when we speak of Lean Manufacturing, it is addressing the “non-productive resources” in key areas of operations that are not beneficial to the entire production process.

For this, the organization needs to fully understand that the customer only wants value and that value only can be provided using a system-optimizing manufacturing system, taking into account the whole supply-chain.

In its simplest explanation, the TPS approach directly identifies common problems in operations—like defective equipment, overproduction, loose inventories, time-motion lags, over-processing, over staffing, delivery issues, unreasonable floor space, surplus and material leftovers, quality losses, etc.—and these are immediately addressed and corrected with the definitive purpose of reducing lead-times, improving quality, lowering production costs and achieving substantial results.

A rationalized operating expense strengthens one’s competitive edge; improving production process suggests better functionality; enhanced functionality means better quality; better quality means larger market demand; more demand requires increased output; and more output means higher sales revenues.

Therefore, eliminating waste means improving the bottom line.

Brief History

Also known as the “Toyota Production System (TPS)”, the Lean Manufacturing principles was adopted when Japan started rebuilding after World War II.

Faced with daunting material and financial resource problems, Toyota Motor Company developed a highly-disciplined and process-focused production system with the sole objective of minimizing the consumption of resources that do not have any added value to the product.

The word “lean” is being used to reflect the Japanese business approach in employing “less” human resource, less money/capital, less materials, etc. in all aspects of business operations.

The lean principles, is a important reason why Toyota has been very successful in their chosen industry for several decades now. It is also the reason why manufacturing industries all over the world are adopting the same Japanese production discipline—to varying scale and style—to achieve the same success.

Multi-application

Every organization, sector or environment has waste.

Wherever there is waste, the “lean” philosophy and its corresponding applications can be adopted and developed to improve the entire process chain from ordering paperclips and ink, to conserving water and electricity.

The TPS techniques are not limited to the manufacturing sector (i.e., factories, production, assembly lines, etc.). As a matter of fact, it can also be applied to service-oriented industries like the government bureaucracy, service agencies, or even at home or in the office—because these work places have elements that do not provide value to the whole work process. These elements—which are appropriately identified and analyzed—are nothing but “waste” that need to be eliminated.

Today, TPS techniques, or what we call “lean thinking”, have become an essential part the manufacturing sector.

It has become not only an important management tool but a way of life to continuously improve fabrication processes/methodologies and creatively adopt changes to minimize consumption and maximize production.

Oskar Olofsson, 2009

Action Plan Generator

References

1. Jeffrey Liker, The Toyota Way

2. Lonnie Wilson, How To Implement Lean Manufacturing