Glossary of Kaizen and Lean Production Terms is available here.
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Kaizen and Lean Production
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Glossary of Kaizen and Lean Production Terms is available here.
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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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