Lean Philosophy Of Lean Manufacturing

Introduction

The aim of any good business is to reduce waste, expand efficiency, diminish impact on the environment and enhance general organization functions. In today’s steadily expanding competitive market, rising operations expense and customers desire for outstanding quality at sensible costs, are some of the factors the food processing industry has to deal with. To remain on top/competitive, a company needs to implement effective policies and lean manufacturing (LM) is presently a standout amongst the most well-known strategies being embraced in manufacturing and other sectors around the world. Lean manufacturing (lean thinking, lean philosophy or Toyota Production System) which was theoretically developed by the Japanese in the mid

Lean manufacturing is additionally characterized as a far reaching way to deal with the removal of waste from any operation; a business improvement technique that provides a way to accomplish more with less while coming closer to furnishing consumers with precisely what they want. Lean manufacturing is said to be ‘lean’ because it utilizes less of everything – half the human effort in the factory, half the manufacturing space, etc. (Womack et al. 1990, Simons and Taylor, 2007, Epply, 2000). Holweg (2007) expressed Lean as philosophy of manufacturing that joins a collection of tools, standards and procedures into the business process to enhance time, HR and profitability, while boosting the quality level of items and services to their

This makes it much easier to deliver products as needed, as in “just in time (JIT)” manufacturing which is a production model in which items are made to meet demand, not created in surplus or ahead of time of need (Ohno, 1988). The purpose of JIT production is to maintain a strategic distance from the waste connected to overproduction, waiting and excess stock, saving money for both the manufacturer/supplier and the customer. This implies that the customer can “pull” the item from you as required.

Perfection means that every product, part or process has gone through all the necessary steps and should be able to flow seamlessly and not be defective. This is the absolute goal.

Waste of LM Figure 1. Waste that should be eliminated

The following as stated by (Ohno, 1988) are the wastes most commonly associated with Lean:

Transportation: the superfluous (non-value-added) movement of data, parts and or materials between processes.

Waiting: individuals or parts, frameworks or offices being idle or waiting for a work cycle to be finished.

Overproduction: creating sooner, quicker, or in more prominent amounts than the customer is demanding.

Defects: when the final item bring about anything that the customer would deem unsuitable.

Inventory: crude materials, work-in-progress (WIP), or completed merchandise that are not having value added to