"The main objective of lean manufacturing is to reduce times within the production system as well as response times from suppliers and to customers."
Identifying and eliminating waste to optimize manufacturing, reduce costs, and improve quality.
Value Stream Mapping (VSM): A visual representation of the flow of materials and information needed to bring a product or service to the customer.
Time and Motion Study: A technique for measuring the time it takes to perform a task and identifying areas for improvement.
Just-in-Time (JIT): A production strategy focused on reducing waste and improving efficiency by producing goods only as they are needed.
Continuous Improvement (CI): A philosophy of continually seeking improvement in processes and products.
Standard Work: A documented process for performing a task that is consistently followed by all employees.
Visual Management: Use of visual cues to communicate information and improve understanding of processes and expectations.
Kaizen: A continuous improvement approach emphasizing small, incremental changes to processes.
Poka-Yoke: Error-proofing techniques used to avoid mistakes in production.
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM): A system for maintaining equipment to prevent breakdowns and ensure optimal performance.
Kanban: A pull-based system for signaling when materials should be replenished in a production process.
5S: A workplace organization method focused on Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain.
Root Cause Analysis (RCA): A method of identifying the underlying cause of a problem and addressing it to prevent future occurrences.
Lean Supply Chain Management: Applying lean principles to the process of managing and coordinating the flow of goods and services from suppliers to customers.
Six Sigma: A data-driven approach for improving process quality by reducing defects and variability.
Takt Time: The average time needed to produce one unit of a product to meet customer demand.
Just-In-Time: JIT is a production strategy that involves producing and delivering goods only when they are needed in the manufacturing process.
Continuous Flow: Continuous flow is a type of manufacturing process that has minimal or no work-in-progress inventory between workstations.
Pull Systems: A pull system is a manufacturing process that operates on customer demand, which means materials are only pulled through the system when required.
Kanban: Kanban is a pull (JIT) system that allows visualizing the manufacturing process and minimizing inventory.
Total Productive Maintenance: TPM is a system of maintenance that minimizes machine downtime and ensures the equipment's correct functioning.
5S: S is a Lean tool that focuses on achieving and maintaining high standards of housekeeping practices, safety, and organization.
Value Stream Mapping: VSM is a Lean tool that aims to identify all the activities required to deliver a product or service from start to finish.
Kaizen: Kaizen is a continuous improvement model that emphasizes the involvement of all employees in the process of identifying and eliminating waste.
Lean Six Sigma: It is a combination of two well-known methodologies, Lean and Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a data-driven quality management methodology aimed at minimizing process variation, while Lean focuses on reducing waste.
Theory of Constraints: TOC is a technique that identifies the bottleneck or constraint in the process that limits the overall output and improves it.
"Lean manufacturing adopts the just-in-time approach and additionally focuses on reducing cycle, flow and throughput times by further eliminating activities which do not add any value for the customer."
"Lean manufacturing also involves people who work outside of the manufacturing process, such as in marketing and customer service."
"Lean manufacturing is particularly related to the operational model implemented in the post-war 1950s and 1960s by the Japanese automobile company Toyota called Toyota Production System (TPS)."
"Toyota's system was erected on the two pillars of just-in-time inventory management and automated quality control."
"The seven 'wastes' (muda in Japanese), first formulated by Toyota engineer Shigeo Shingo, are the waste of superfluous inventory of raw material and finished goods, the waste of overproduction, the waste of over-processing, the waste of transportation, the waste of excess motion, the waste of waiting, and the waste of making defective products."
"The term Lean was coined in 1988 by American businessman John Krafcik in his article 'Triumph of the Lean Production System'."
"The five key principles of lean manufacturing, as defined by American researchers James Womack and Daniel Jones, are to precisely specify value by specific product, identify the value stream for each product, make value flow without interruptions, let customer pull value from the producer, and pursue perfection."
"By receiving goods only as they need them for the production process, it reduces inventory costs and wastage, and increases productivity and profit."
"The downside is that it requires producers to forecast demand accurately as the benefits can be nullified by minor delays in the supply chain. It may also impact negatively on workers due to added stress and inflexible conditions."
"A successful operation depends on a company having regular outputs, high-quality processes, and reliable suppliers."