Lean manufacturing
concepts
Lean manufacturing concepts were developed over
the last five to six decades, primarily in Japan, particularly
for the Toyota production system. These concepts met various tests
for many many years and passed the test of time very easily.
Lean manufacturing revolutionaries the manufacturing
process. It was not a fine tuning of the existing manufacturing
processes. These manufacturing techniques are conceptually different
from the traditional process. For an example, traditional manufacturing
works based on inventory. But lean manufacturing questions the
role of inventory
and defines as a waste it self and also as the
reflector of the imperfections a system has. This example, itself
shows the conceptual deference between the traditional manufacturing
system and lean manufacturing system.
Sometimes it is very hard to believe that a system
like lean manufacturing was born with a simple set of concepts.
But it is true. Principle on which lean manufacturing operates
is very simple. For an example it identifies the fact that “customer
will not pay for the mistakes, but only for the value of the product
or the service they receive”. The impact on this thinking
is huge on the manufacturing process. It changed the way people
looked at the manufacturing process. It made people to define
value of the product from the customer’s point of view,
not from the internal manufacturing point of view.
To successfully implement lean manufacturing,
it is necessary to understand the differences between the lean
manufacturing concepts to the conventional manufacturing. Failing
to do this, will eventually kill your success.
|