Lean manufacturing strategies have been a goal of most companies over the last few years. Why is Lean so popular? Lean delivers what companies really need in today’s highly competitive world - shorter lead times, improved quality, reduced cost, increased profit, improved productivity and better customer service. Lean is a western adaptation of what started out as the Toyota Production System. Viewed by many as models of efficiency and productivity, Toyota has achieved remarkable success through a singular focus on adding value. A simple enough concept, indeed, but difficult in practice because it takes a change in perception and focus that at times may seem counterintuitive. To become lean, a company must take a hard look at processes and practices to identify those things that truly add value for the customer and eliminate those that do not. The continuous pursuit of waste elimination is the essence of Lean. Production processes and production activities can be directly addressed in this value vs. non-value campaign. What goes directly into the product, and what doesn’t add directly to product value is fairly easy to see. But Lean can and should extend beyond the plant. Indirect activities such as logistics, administration, engineering, and warehousing, as well as other non-manufacturing activities can benefit as much from Lean thinking. So, eliminating waste and fostering continuous improvement are what Lean is all about.
Ready To Go Lean?
The first step is to make a firm commitment - Lean projects seldom succeed without a high level of organizational commitment and resolve. Next is to map out processes and identify value and non-value components, with a focus on enhancing the former and eliminating the latter. Lean is not an overnight quick-fix; it is an unending commitment. As lean thinking has evolved and the concepts broadened, lean advocates have come to recognize that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and lean work together very well – each supporting and enabling the most important objectives of the other. Lean purists point to several basic ideas that are the foundation of lean.
Lean Manufacturing Strategies
Competing globally, bridging geographic boundaries, encouraging strategic diversity, and eliminating supply chain inefficiencies can be accomplished with the technologies to streamline intra- and inter-company processes and communicate quickly and accurately. Synchronization of complex relationships which determine supply, demand, and fulfillment is the means to reaching new, industry-leading levels of business performance.
Lean is not a one-time project, nor is it ever complete. It is common practice to set initial goals when first entering a lean transformation project, but it is essential that achieving those goals is not seen as an end point. There’s always more to do – more improvements to attain, more efficiencies to discover, more refinement of processes and procedures to eliminate waste and improve return on lean investments.
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This is blog post was originally published in the Business Technology Optimization Blog by CompuData.
