Lean Manufacturing Concepts Discussion

Re: Lean Manufacturing - Discussion on Concepts

FABULOUS ARTICLE! I am going to send this to many clients who are tired and weary. That is what this is all about. Toyota doesn't do any magic! They just work out! They have determined what the right things are, and do those right things!

Re: Lean Manufacturing - Discussion on Concepts

krrish said:

I Agree with Kelvin and Jlilling points on Lean. The concepts that most manufacturing companies look for is to change manufacturing members mind by sharing the process to achieve the shortest lead time and lowest cost.

I think the discussion is about lean concepts and not criticising some budding engineer on his way of learning things.Lets help the new to learn from the experienced.

I would be really interested in this discussion forum.

I would like to Discuss as to how Six Sigma can be implemented in a lean manufactruing enviroment. Any heads up ???

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Some Introduction on Lean Six Sigma
Lean Six is a blend of two methodologies. In general, the lean approach focuses on eliminating all types of waste, including overproduction, waiting time, transportation, processing, inventory, motion and scrap. Originally developed by Toyota in the 1980s, lean improves quality and reduces production time and cost. Six Sigma—pioneered by Motorola in the 1980s—is a set of tools that use statistical analysis to identify and eliminate defects. General Electric was one of the first companies to blend the two approaches and is credited for popularizing the mix.See link for more details.

https://www.v-buster.com/news/leansixsigma/2006_06_01_archive.html

The fundamental of Six Sigma – On Target No Variation (Accurate forecast and Right quantity production).
What customers care most are competitive price, the attributes that affect their purchasing decision. That's why we can't simply just concentrated on was products performance with 3.4 parts per million concept that customers care little about.The key things we need to sell the product well but with more lean manufacturing processes.
We need to drive this Lean Six Sigma wisely and Not end up to "Yan can cook, so can we. What we cooks, we cannot sell."The consequences of practicing Lean ‘Sick’ Sigma is no revenue, only an increase in cost.

Re: Lean Manufacturing - Discussion on Concepts

Randy, you just moved up the pecking order a little higher with me with your posts on this thread. You mirrored my Idealistic World and Realistic World concepts.

Too, I am too amazed that the posts had more than two sentences. I had to go back to the picture and make sure the badge is still there.

The OP was from a student learning wishing to advance Lean. Start with maximizing profit as your Boot Camp. Then, you can learn correctly about Lean (and Six Sigma, and Innovation, and....)

I have learned so much from the posters here and on ASQ. One point I picked up from Wes Bucey is related to Lean and Six Sigma. With these initiatives-make sure you don't become leaner at point A to the detriment of point B. This sounds simple, but can become increasingly challenging the larger the organization.

Sure, it always make sense to minimize raw materials. However, making snap decisions to reduce/eliminate raw materials that upset your supplier (a Stakeholder; I had to use a buzzword), and has your purchasing representative jumping around like a fly.

Lean is a superb concept, when viewing the entire process and measuring success at the bottom line.

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

hjilling said:

I would have to disagree. I have seen many top management folks interested in some of these items at various times. Certainly not "gibberish." A lot will affect profit to one degree or another.

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hjilling,
Yes that's true, unfortunately the equation Profit = Revenue - Cost is still much quicker to grasp for top management than the equation Process = value adding + waste. So it is still wiser to translate concepts like leadtime, process time, etc to Costs and profits. I believe that is what Randy is trying to point out.

Sudarsan,
I learned as student that Lean started as with concepts of flow,JIT, and muda's. The concepts are fairly simple, but now as an engineer i find that persons skilled with Lean Tools are rareAslo aside from its easy to get lost with the complexity of big manufacturing sytems ,few dare to challenge the status quo.

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

reynald said:

I learned as student that Lean started as with concepts of flow,JIT, and muda's.

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Two pillars actually, JIT and Jidoka (automation with a human touch). Muda or waste, was viewed as an impediment to achieving the two pillars. It was originally discussed as a “pull system”, and then later the term “flow” started to be popular. The acceptance of the term flow probably stemmed from John Constanza and his “Demand Flow Technology” method. See JCIT for more information.

reynald said:

but now as an engineer i find that persons skilled with Lean Tools are rare

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Probably due to people being wrapped up with, and focused on “kaizen events”. While not a bad practice, the “event” mentality is contrary to what the true meaning of kaizen is, a never-ending process of seeking improvement. It is also true that many prefer the quick fix to the long-term process that the transformation is really about. It isn’t about a specific tool or method, but it is about people and developing a culture that seeks improvement.

Another important facet is that all of the various techniques and such are really about supporting both those key pillars. When you read the information by Shingo and Ohno, the entire system takes on an almost zen-like quality. What people fail to understand is that the techniques are very recursive in nature in that they continually point back to one another.

reynald said:

aside from its easy to get lost with the complexity of big manufacturing systems ,few dare to challenge the status quo.

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It is more difficult for some people to stand up against the status quo. Not many want to blaze a new path. What is even sadder is that there are people in management who take it as a personal affront should someone suggest that there might be a better way.

As for the complexity of manufacturing systems, I say that much of the complexity is either from our own creation/perception, or came about as a result of processes having band-aids placed on them time after time.

Wayne

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

Lean seems to be very much the "latest thing" in quality. It is useful to stop for a minute, go back and read Deming. Page 1, "Out of the Crisis" :
"Why is it that productivity increases as the quality improves ?"
"Not so much waste"

Regular repackaging of quality seems to make it more acceptable to CEO's. At least the repackaging in Lean is unlikely to do any of the damage done by the repackaging in Six Sigma.

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

artichoke said:

It is useful to stop for a minute, go back and read Deming. Page 1, "Out of the Crisis" :
"Why is it that productivity increases as the quality improves ?"
"Not so much waste"

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Shorter Deming: More useable product means less unuseable product.

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

artichoke said:

Lean seems to be very much the "latest thing" in quality.

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Go to any of the job search engines and see how many postings contain "lean", "lean manufacturing", or any of the variants within them. Maybe the market demands are a key factor why it appears to be the "in" thing.

Wayne

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

artichoke said:

Lean seems to be very much the "latest thing" in quality. It is useful to stop for a minute, go back and read Deming. Page 1, "Out of the Crisis" :
"Why is it that productivity increases as the quality improves ?"
"Not so much waste"

Regular repackaging of quality seems to make it more acceptable to CEO's.

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it may be new in Australia but it's not here. and certainly Taiichi Ohno began developing the toyota production system following the second world war. Womack et al did 'repackage' it by coining the phrase "Lean" and discussing many - although not all - aspects of TPS in "The machine that changed the world" and that was in 1990.

of course Deming was correct: Defects are one of the 8 wastes. but there are 7 more...I'm not so sure I would agree that Lean is a repackaging of quality as it is so much more than quality improvements. While defects are to be eliminated in the ideal state, most of the Lean and TPS specific approaches for accomplishing this relate to error based defects. Neither approach has methods that are directly applicable or effective in solving complex variation based problems (the things you need DOEs and statistics and other approaches for). Of course Lean & TPS need these methods to fully achieve the elimination of defects.

Re: Discussion on Topic and Concepts of Lean Manufacturing

wmarhel said:

Go to any of the job search engines and see how many postings contain "lean", "lean manufacturing", or any of the variants within them. Maybe the market demands are a key factor why it appears to be the "in" thing.

Wayne

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"in thing" yes.
"new thing" no.