I am a LEANbuilder, a promoter of the common sense method, but what is Lean?
Lean Manufacturing is an English term that originated as a summary of the manufacturing techniques of the Toyota Production System. It is a manufacturing philosophy that, by eliminating sources of waste, reduces the time between customer order, product manufacture and shipment.
You will recognize it safely by the following elements:
- Top management embraces the lean manufacturing philosophy.
- The presence of top management at workshops – Kaizen.
- The 5x why method for determining the root cause of the problem.
- Minimum inventory volume of a few days max.
- Inventory levels are set correctly and frequency of replenishment is determined.
- There is a Plan for each part of the product (PFEP).
- Machine changeovers are frequent and changeover time is short.
- Timely internal and external deliveries that meet customer requirements.
- PPM value (number of defective units out of millions produced) is < 20.
- Visual workplace management.
- Standardized work.
- „5S“ concept implemented and enforced in all departments.
- High participation of team members in Kaizen events.
- Production operations running at a pace close to takt time.
- Standardized material handling routes.
- Clear and precise communication between departments.
- All people are involved in the continuous improvement process.
Have you seen any reduction in people or „That’s not my job“ anywhere? A 5X who -> who’s to blame approach? We need to find the guilty party!
If not, rightly so, because that’s definitely not what LEAN is about.