Your manufacturing process is lagging behind. How can you streamline it?

Lean manufacturing is a way of making things more efficiently by focusing on cutting out waste. Imagine making a sandwich. Instead of getting all the ingredients from different places in the kitchen, you'd organize everything nearby to save time and effort. In lean manufacturing, it's similar—it's about arranging workspaces, tools, and processes in a way that reduces waste, like extra movements or materials, to make things faster, smoother, and cheaper. The goal is to maximize value while using fewer resources and time.

To streamline a lagging manufacturing process, consider these steps: 1. **Process Analysis:** Identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies. 2. **Technology Integration:** Implement modern technologies like automation, IoT devices, or robotics. 3. **Lean Principles:** Adopt lean manufacturing principles to eliminate waste, optimize resources. 4. **Employee Training:** Ensure that your workforce is well-trained. 5. **Supply Chain Optimization:** Streamline the supply chain to minimize delays. 6. **Continuous Improvement:** Foster a culture of continuous improvement. 7. **Simulation and Modeling:** Utilize simulation tools to test different scenarios. By addressing these aspects, we can significantly streamline your manufacturing process.

Lean Manufacturing is a Manufacturing philosophy based on almost obsessive focus on eliminating wastes from the system and creating value for the customer in a most effective way. It denfies wastes in a system in the form of either TIMWOOD or DOWNTIME. And it provides various methodologies to eliminate wastes from the system engaging people thus creating an atmosphere of competence, trust, mutual respect and a continuous pursuit for excellence. Some of the well known tools/Methodologies used in Lean Manufacturing are VSM, 7 QC Tools, Total Productive Maintenance, Total Quality Management, Quality Circle. Toyota revolutionized it and established one of the most respected system famously known as "Toyota Production System".

I would like to add the 8 types of wastes here. Eight type of wastes in Lean Manufacturing. 1. Defects: Waste from a product or service failure to meet customer expectations. 2. Over-production : Waste from making more product than customers demand 3. Waiting : Waste from time spent waiting for the next process to occur 4. Unused talent : Waste from underutilization of peoples talents, skills, and knowledge 5. Transportation : Waste in time and resources in unnecessarily moving products & materials 6. Inventory: Waste resulting from excess products and materials that are not processed. 7. Motion : Waste of time and effort related to unnecessary movements of people 8. Extra processing: Waste related to rework or higher quality than required

Já ouvi que Lean é somente ferramenta de redu??o de custos. Ent?o vamos experimentar de outra maneira: Conseguimos ter um veículo (barco, moto, carro...) respondendo rápido aos comandos (vindos das necessidades) e ao mesmo tempo pesado? Talvez! Mas sem dúvida iria exigir muitos recursos; lemes gigantes, tanques enormes para suportar os motores monstruosos, etc. Isto é, carregar peso desnecessário mais rápido. Produzir Valor também gera custos, ent?o reduzir custos indiscriminadamente podemos reduzir o valor do que vendemos (retirar o leme, por exemplo). O foco na redu??o de desperdícios deixa o sistema cada vez mais leve e com isto ágil, ao mesmo tempo que exige cada vez menos recursos, tornando-o sustentável e seguro.

Waste and losses can be identified through value stream mapping. However quick fix for waste and losses identification is studying different cost elements and dwelling into it to look for opportunities. Fixed cost can be leveraged to eliminate losses and variable cost can be controlled to avoid waste. Example : fixed cost leverage. machine 'A' can produce 100 units/shift with deployment of 1 person. Due to lower demand machine is producing 50 units. Can we make machine A agile to adopt multiple products and utilise full 8 hours cycle? That's loss elimination. Variable cost reduction : Compressed air consumed to run machine A was leaking and fixing that leakage avoids wastage.

Identifying waste in your manufacturing process is the same as solving all engineering problems. Break the process down into individual steps and attack from there. There are a variety of ways to understand where each step is failing. Value stream mapping, process FMEA, scrap reports....but never forget to ask the operators!! The operators live and breath the process everyday. They will know what is working, what is not and what is needed for improvement. Give the operators the data/goals and they will surprise you.

There are various types of waste which can include layout,Material movement,Process flow etc.There various ways one can identify waste, One of them is making an accurate process flow and using VSM ( Value Stream Mapping) which shall help in identifying value added and on value added activites .Kaizen and 5S also help in identifying wastes and help in eliminating them.

O único caminho para aumentar produtividade e qualidade nos processos produtivos, reduzir acidentes e custos é eliminando perdas e desperdícios. Para tanto, o ponto de partida é identificar os problemas que impedem a agilidade da empresa, os quais devem ser mapeados utilizando uma das 3 táticas abaixo: - Mapeamento do Fluxo de Valor (VSM) para identificar as atividades que agregam valor - árvore de Perdas para mapear as perdas de processo e respectivos custos - Acompanhamento de indicadores para identificar oportunidades para atingir as metas e para atingir o valor ideal (meta).

People think 5 Why’s is just for root cause analysis. But it can be very powerful when combined with process mapping. At each step, ask why are we doing this step at all. Don’t assume any step is necessarily adding value that a customer will pay for. Maybe you can get rid of it or combine several with something more efficient. For example on one project related to shipping paperwork, when fully mapping the process it was found that one report was thrown away by everyone it was sent to. This was 1250 hours a year in time savings just to stop making a report that not one person used.

Their are lot of ways in which you can eliminate waste from the system. Start with the 5S to set the foundation for the lean manufacturing which lead towards the waste elimination. Introduce the kaizen culture for getting ideas on waste elimination. Quality circle can also be started. Ohno circle can also be placed. Daily Gemba walk must be part of your LSW to identify waste If you have been able to identify the waste then you can solve it.

To eliminate waste in your manufacturing process: 1-Apply Lean Principles Implement Lean Manufacturing by focusing on 5S and adopting Kanban to reduce waste and enhance efficiency. 2-Optimize Inventory Minimise excess inventory through JIT practices. Collaborate with suppliers, and implement demand-driven production. 3-Enhance OEE- Improve APQ 4-Empower Employees Train and involve employees in cont. imp. 5-Move from Quality Controls to Quality Assurance 6-Streamline Processes- Work on Flow Manufacturing 7-Embrace Technology Leverage automation and digital tools 8-Continuous Monitoring Use I4.0 for Real-time monitoring systems 9-Increase Energy Efficiency by adopting energy-efficient technologies and practices.

To eliminate waste in manufacturing is always fun! We do this with people and teams using advanced methods and technology replacing man first on repeatable standardized non value adding and later on value adding tasks. Digitalizing tasks and processes accelerates to eliminate waste and improve. Those teams might want to follow an advanced framework to leverage and prioritize the improvements. Measure their maturity, then feel and understand what is the right thing to improve next. Yes, they focus on improvements, not on savings. And here, I always find company individual cultures are most powerful to acknowledge all people's skills, their strengths. I underline: improvements offer happy times, make us stronger, self aware and learning.

10 ways to reduce production waste : Efficient inventory management Waste reduction audit Proper production planning Reducing lead time Identify the main sources of waste Cost reduction and packaging improvement Recover, reuse, sort Preventive maintenance and repairs Waste collection methods Reducing energy consumption

Eliminate manufacturing waste with Lean principles identify and reduce overproduction, excess inventory, waiting time, inefficient transportation, motion, and defects. Implement 5S for workplace organization, adopt Just-In-Time production, cross-train employees for flexibility, and collaborate closely with suppliers to minimize delays.

In my experience as a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt a Lean Six Sigma approach is indispensable. Conducting a thorough value stream analysis identifies non-value-added activities e.g 8 wastes, allowing for their elimination or optimization. Implementing Lean tools such as 5S, Kanban, and Six Sigma methodologies address variability and defects, ensuring consistent quality. Continuous improvement through DMAIC cycles ensures sustained optimization. Engaging the workforce in Lean Six Sigma principles fosters a culture of continuous improvement, propelling manufacturing towards operational excellence.

Daily Works Management (DWM) is one of the effective tools that can be used to sustain improvements carried out. It can be used in manufacturing sector as well as in service sector. It involves a DWM board on which daily performance is displayed in terms of predefined KPIs, daily performance is measured against target performance and any gaps identified are addressed immediately. This helps in sustaining performance.

I believe that companies should initially ascertain 'what they should prioritize.' Many organizations accumulate considerable inefficiencies due to a lack of clear definition. Frequently, they continuously inspect and monitor industry-standard practices, even prominent corporations. There is value in occasionally shifting perspectives and reassessing priorities. Equally important is the consideration of 'how to proceed.' It is crucial to establish methods accurately, supported by the right tools.

Create common function teams and let all other departments find the fault or improvement areas with them. Then let these teams come up with solution and timeline. Document them and monitor their progress to redress the identified areas. Keep doing such reviews of cross functional teams at regular intervals.

Focus on priorities, assigning clear responsibilities and dedicate proper attention: Gemba walks + KPIs is a good combination

La capacitación del personal técnico y operativo en herramientas lean y six Sigma es fundamental para el logro de buenos resultados.

The first question is lagging behind what? Previous performance? Industry best practice?? Etc.. it’s important to know your destination before you start your journey

I would consider doing below steps. * Identify the top losses of the process. a loss tree can be made using avaiable data. * A line team would be established if it is not avalable and production lead, prcoess lead and engineering lead are mandetory. * Losses vs line team's capability gaps would be identified and capability development plan would be made. * 90 days targets would be defined for the top losses and the line team would be coached to prepare tactical plans. * A daily/ shiftly performance review meeting will be established if it is not avalable. * Line team would run the daily meeting cycle and enusre standards are followed and problems are solve at the rate of production * A reward and recognition mechanism will be kicked off

Streamlining a manufacturing process would be to identify inefficiencies (reduce/eliminate waste) thus improving productivity. We have done some activities in past for ramification 1. Identify & De-bottleneck 2. Implement lean and reduce waste, improve quality to reduce waste 3. Automate process for machine to give rated output based on cycle time 4. Manage inventory – we use kanban & do not overstock/ overproduce. 5. Reduce downtime – work on chronic issues 6. Use digital technology like we use vision, cobot , real time data etc 7. Employee involvement & collaboration between functions. 8. Put system in place – Goals will be temporary milestone , system are permanent pattern for long term progress.

Remember that employing lean tools is not an end unto itself. The tools are merely methods of solving real world problems, therefore the end is to create a culture that understands how, where and when these tools can be utilized to solve their problems and energizing them to do so. So a couple of things to keep in mind are: 1. Teach everyone the tools! 2. Allow teams the freedom to employ the tools as they see fit! 3. Teach leaders from the top down how to lead in a lean environment and how to "walk the talk" themselves! At the end of the day, Lean is a cultural construct; when led well it can lead to autonomous and perpetual continuous improvement. When led poorly, it is usually a non-sustained flash in the pan. Leadership is the key!