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Kaizen and Lean Production
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Kaizen and Lean Production
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Kaizen and Lean Production
Lean is about doing more
with less: less time, inventory, space, labor, and
money. "Lean manufacturing", a shorthand for a
commitment to eliminating waste, simplifying procedures
and speeding up production.
Lean Manufacturing
(also known as the Toyota Production System) is, in its most basic form, the systematic elimination of waste –
overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory,
motion, over-processing, defective units – and the
implementation of the concepts of continuous flow and
customer pull.
Five areas drive
lean manufacturing/production: cost;
quality;
delivery;
safety;
and morale. Just as mass production is recognized as the
production system of the 20th century, lean production
is viewed as the production system of the 21st century.
Toyota
perfected lean manufacturing in the 1990s, and now the
concept is being put to use in other areas, such as
organizational, distribution and logistics. Though books
have been written detailing the steps to achieving lean
manufacturing and many manufacturers have tried to
emulate Toyota's success, few have actually done so.
Why? Because they have failed to adopt lean
manufacturing as a management philosophy that
encompasses the entire organization.
Instead, they see it only
as a departmental solution.
üAutonomation
– a form of automation in which machinery automatically
inspects each item after producing it, ceasing
production and notifying humans if a defect is detected.
üBaka-yoke
– a manufacturing technique of preventing mistakes by
designing the manufacturing process, equipment, and
tools so that an operation literally cannot be performed
incorrectly; an attempt to perform incorrectly, as well
as being prevented, is usually met with a warning signal
of some sort.
ü5S
– refers to the five words seiri, seiton, seison,
seiketsu, shitsuke. These words express principles of
maintaining an effective, efficient workplace: seiri –
eliminating everything not required for the work being
performed; seiton – efficient placement and arrangement
of equipment and material; seison – tidiness and
cleanliness; seiketsu – ongoing, standardized,
continually improving seiri, seiton, seison; shitsuke –
discipline with leadership.
Kaizen means
"improvement". Kaizen strategy calls for never-ending efforts
for improvement involving everyone in the organization –
managers and workers alike.
Management has two
major components: (1) maintenance, and (2) improvement. The
objective of the maintenance function is to maintain current
technological, managerial, and operating standards. The
improvement function is aimed at improving current standards.
Under the maintenance
function, the management must first establish policies, rules,
directives and standard operating procedures (SOPs) and then
work towards ensuring that everybody follows SOP. The latter is
achieved through a combination of discipline and human resource
development measures.
Under the improvement
function, management works continuously towards revising the
current standards, once they have been mastered, and
establishing higher ones. Improvement can be broken down between
innovation and Kaizen. Innovation involves a drastic improvement
in the existing process and requires large investments. Kaizen
signifies small improvements as a result of coordinated
continuous efforts by all employees.
Øcustomer-driven
strategy for improvement – any management activity should
eventually lead to increased customer satisfaction
Øquality first,
not profit first – an enterprise can prosper only if customers
who purchase its products or services are satisfied
Ørecognition
that any corporation has problems and establishing a corporate
culture where everyone can freely admit these problems and
suggest improvement
Øemphasis on
process – establishing a way of thinking oriented at improving
processes, and a management system that supports people's
process-oriented efforts for improvement
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