Lean Manufacturing Concepts Discussion

artichoke said:

I find it interesting to see how new terms keep being created, such as six sigma and Lean, then these are twisted to mean anything users want them to mean. Sticking to solid foundations such as the teachings of Deming seems to be passe these days.

I hadn't heard of the amazing "new pillar", "Jidoka" ... a little research and I found "Jidoka, as applied to manned operations, refers to the practice of stopping the entire line or process when something goes amiss. " Now why hadn't I ever thought of doing that ? In actual practice, there are times when the knee jerk reaction of stopping a production line, prevents the analysis of faults that have developed.

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Actually Jidoka is just a Japanese word for stopping production and focusing solvign the problem. Just as they were taught to do so by Deming...Jidoka is not a new term - just new to you.

Yes Lean was coined by Womack et al in "The Machine That Changed The World" after they studied Toyota. They "americanized" a catch phrase to avoid the specific identification of Toyota...so what? Womack and team aslo deleted some things that Toyota was doing and others have reintroduced them. You know Deming improved upon Shewhart and no body complains about that - so why is it is wrong to take Deming to the next levels???

I don't know why stopping the line to solve a problem gives you such heartburn? yes sometimes you need to continue to produce product to study the Problem to determine root cause; other times you don't. Either way the point is to start working on solving the problem as soon as possible - what could possibly be wrong with that?

I think too that the OP's english is a not as accomplished as it could be and that is adding to the misintrepretation of what he is saying - I don't see at as twisting anything that Toyota is/was doing. Oh yes, that reminds me that Ohno freely credits Ford with many of his original ideas for the Toyota Way.

Evolution and Revolution of ideas - what a concept!

Just like any quality effort it has to be part of the culture...I had to laugh at the book Good to Great where they studied all these companies and essentially found out that it was the discipline to follow a plan and execute religiously without distraction that differentiated good and great. Lean won't work in a company without the enabler discipline. So many just knee jerk to the market (also called the "Beer Game") instead following the plan.

chaosweary said:

Just Lean won't work in a company without the enabler discipline. So many just knee jerk to the market (also called the "Beer Game") instead following the plan.

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actually I think it's called the bull whip effect (or words to that effect?) as demonstrated by the "Beer Game". And wasn't I dissapointed that no actual beer was made or consumed!

Bev D said:

I don't know why stopping the line to solve a problem gives you such heartburn?

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I don't have heartburn over stopping a production line or not. Pressing a stop button is hardly rocket science. Whether to press it or not depends on the situation.

I can't see that this is a "pillar", evolution, revolution, "the next level", or any significant step forward whatsoever.

artichoke said:

I can't see that this is a "pillar", evolution, revolution, "the next level", or any significant step forward whatsoever.

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maybe not for you, but for many companies stopping to solve problems when they arise IS a significant change and contrary to their instincts. It can be quite difficult to change this behavior but the results are often very significant for those companies that do. To these companies "lean" and Jidoka is not only new but revolutionary and even down right heretical. but so is Deming or Shewhart or Fisher or Tukey or Ott or even the young (living) guys who use their work and apply it to current day situations...

chaosweary said:

Just like any quality effort it has to be part of the culture...I had to laugh at the book Good to Great where they studied all these companies and essentially found out that it was the discipline to follow a plan and execute religiously without distraction that differentiated good and great. Lean won't work in a company without the enabler discipline. So many just knee jerk to the market (also called the "Beer Game") instead following the plan.

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For our International Fellow Covers; BEER GAME:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Distribution_Game

Stijloor.

Lean manufacturing concept is very simple for me just one statement: reduce waste - remove non value added jobs.

However, there are many tools and techniques to meet the goal above.

Share to you all the Lean glossary which may useful when we communicate with someone about Lean.......

Yew Jin said:

Lean manufacturing concept is very simple for me just one statement: reduce waste - remove non value added jobs.

However, there are many tools and techniques to meet the goal above.

Share to you all the Lean glossary which may useful when we communicate with someone about Lean.......

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Very good...tks Yew Jin.

Bev D said:

actually I think it's called the bull whip effect (or words to that effect?) as demonstrated by the "Beer Game". And wasn't I dissapointed that no actual beer was made or consumed!

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Your right Bev, the "Bullwhip Effect" is the effect on the overall supply chain due to demand. As demand moves farther back in the supply from the source (customer) the variance in the forecast accuracy increases, and as a result there is a tendency to maintain greater levels of inventory to counter this variance.

Wayne

Re: Lean Manufacturing - Discussion on Concepts

Sudarashan, it is quite natural that this Dil Maange more (i need more)!

that too when you get more for spending less, you will be delighted. So LEAN is a concept that gives you this Get more with Less.

Less (resources, inventory, WIP etc) leads to more (returns).

In a buyers market, the price is dictated by buyer and cost is incurred by the manufacturer.
Price - Cost is Profit.
Cost is Activity.
Activities is the sum of Value added activity and Non value added activity

Try minimize non value added activity. this will increase your profits. Non value added activity from the perspective of customer. To see this, you need the lens of LEAN.

Hope you got it!