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Frequently Asked Questions about Lean ManufacturingIf you only read one of these, read the last one. What is Lean Manufacturing?
Lean Manufacturing is a set of principles, concepts and techniques used to improve production systems. Focused on continuously cutting waste from the production processes, Lean Manufacturing involves changing a work area to maximize efficiency, improve quality and safety, eliminate unnecessary motion and inventory, and save time. This improvement effort relies on the people who do the work to make the improvements right on the factory floor, improving employee morale and significantly enhancing the company's ability to deliver more value to its customers. The key philosophy of Lean Manufacturing is to improve products and processes continuously without adding more money, more people, more equipment, more inventory or more space. What kinds of waste does Lean Manufacturing eliminate? Waste takes many forms and can be found at any time and in any place. There is the waste of complexity, labor (the unnecessary movement of people), overproduction, space, energy, defects, materials, time and transportation. Why choose Lean Manufacturing? One of the most important advantages of being a "lean" producer is enhanced customer satisfaction. A lean producer knows exactly what the customer wants, when the customer wants it and produces just that at the lowest cost. While benchmarking other companies, Boeing found that these reductions in cost, lead time and defects can range from 20 percent to 95 percent. That translates into an enormous competitive advantage. Is Lean Manufacturing applicable in an office environment? One of the most common myths about Lean Manufacturing is that it is applicable only on the factory floor. The techniques of Lean can be applied in any situation because you're still applying the major principles to your process: find out exactly what the customer wants, eliminate all waste from your process, make the value flow continuously, as pulled by the customer, and then you can work toward perfection. Lean Manufacturing concepts and tools have been used in office environments with the same dramatic results as on the shop floor. Some companies seem to use Lean Manufacturing as just another way of getting rid of people's jobs. Is that the purpose? Lean Manufacturing is a way of reducing costs and increasing efficiency . The primary goal of Lean Manufacturing is to reduce costs, improve performance and create more value for the company. The initiatives are about eliminating the waste -- not the people -- in our processes and work areas. Nevertheless, as companies become more efficient there may not be a need for certain positions. But ultimately, as waste is eliminated, there will be more opportunities and better job security for all employees. The improvements to the production system come from the people on the plant floor. If the company uses Lean Manufacturing to get rid of people, it will be killing the goose that laid the golden egg. The improvements will short lived and ultimately the company will face bigger problems than before they started. What is the final target or vision of Lean Manufacturing? The final target is one that all companies have -- a choreographed, orchestrated process of production in which no defects are built, and therefore, no defects are passed onto the customer. It is a process of production in which all work is paced to the customer's rate of consumption, in which all work flows and is pulled through the factory, and in which all suppliers focus on delivering value through the production process to the customer. In short, the final target is perfection. How long will it take to complete our implementation of Lean Manufacturing? Look at your Lean implementation as a journey. And it's not something you start and complete in specific period of time. Toyota pioneered these production techniques over 40 years ago, and they say they are not done. Is it necessary to hire a consultant to implement Lean Manufacturing?* Probably. There are companies that have implemented Lean successfully without outside help. But not many. Those that did, were very committed and gave the implementation team the time and money needed. Without outside help, it will take longer, the road will be bumpier and even the believers will get more frustrated than they would with the right help. Caution: It has been our experience that most companies that have tried Lean Manufacturing without qualified, professional help end up in worse shape than before. Think twice about embarking on the Lean journey on your own. *Of course we are going to say you need help, it's our business, right? Not exactly. On our Home page, we state that "Our purpose is to save you money." Here's one example of how we do that. If you look at the FAQ page for ISO 9000 or the FAQ page for ISO 14000, you will see that our answer to the question "Is it necessary to hire a consultant?" is "No." However, in the case of Lean Manufacturing, we believe that you will save money (and time) by hiring a consultant.
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