Thursday, March 22, 2007

What Is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean Manufacturing is a strategy followed by various industries to ensure a low cost manufacturing system to generate the maximum output. The strategy was first implemented by Henry ford, the owner of the Ford Motor Company, which made a huge impact on the American Manufacturing Industry. Since its implementation the focus of the industrialists have been on optimizing the quality and the profit levels minimizing the production costs.

Often, the waste of material, labor, time and effort can cause striking differences in productivity, affecting the overall cycle from the production factory to the shop floor. Lean manufacturing ensures methods and ways of producing results that can improve and change this scenario.

The Toyota Production System, also similar to lean manufacturing, came up to increase the productivity by centralizing the stockpiles, known as kanban, around the assembly line, lowering waste and enhancing productivity on the production floor. They also put efforts into building and maintaining a good partnership with the suppliers to keep the flow of the production cycle going.

According to this concept, importance should be given to attain perfection while delivering the final product and all un-necessary activities are required to be eliminated. Also, the use of scarce resources comprising of capital, workers, and land should be utilized to their most in order to ensure its success.

Lean manufacturing helps in saving millions of dollars and provide a better position in the competitive market. Both Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System believe in attaching value to the workers and empowering them to take important decisions regarding the progress of the production. This helps in producing a flawless product since the workers are the closest persons to the product and make a difference in ensuring the quality of it. In a nutshell, lean manufacturing is all about doing all the right things to support productivity and profitability while cutting off the unwanted waste and cost factors.A
Lean Manufacturing is a strategy followed by various industries to ensure a low cost manufacturing system to generate the maximum output. The strategy was first implemented by Henry ford, the owner of the Ford Motor Company, which made a huge impact on the American Manufacturing Industry. Since its implementation the focus of the industrialists have been on optimizing the quality and the profit levels minimizing the production costs.

Often, the waste of material, labor, time and effort can cause striking differences in productivity, affecting the overall cycle from the production factory to the shop floor. Lean manufacturing ensures methods and ways of producing results that can improve and change this scenario.

The Toyota Production System, also similar to lean manufacturing, came up to increase the productivity by centralizing the stockpiles, known as kanban, around the assembly line, lowering waste and enhancing productivity on the production floor. They also put efforts into building and maintaining a good partnership with the suppliers to keep the flow of the production cycle going.

According to this concept, importance should be given to attain perfection while delivering the final product and all un-necessary activities are required to be eliminated. Also, the use of scarce resources comprising of capital, workers, and land should be utilized to their most in order to ensure its success.

Lean manufacturing helps in saving millions of dollars and provide a better position in the competitive market. Both Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System believe in attaching value to the workers and empowering them to take important decisions regarding the progress of the production. This helps in producing a flawless product since the workers are the closest persons to the product and make a difference in ensuring the quality of it. In a nutshell, lean manufacturing is all about doing all the right things to support productivity and profitability while cutting off the unwanted waste and cost factors.A