SUPPLY CHAIN I LEAN MANUFACTURING
saved, improving productive performance Have no doubt
and quality. Why should our customers about it, the journey
be obliged to pay for our wasteful to Lean will not be
practices such as unnecessary handling, completed within a
machining and inspection processes few days or weeks,
and many other ways of working which it will take perhaps
may have become traditional but are two to three years to
inefficient and are no longer productive? implant and embed the
Commencing with the process of lean philosophy and
implementing Lean practices within management practices.
an organisation, if you are still with There will be some very
us, involves taking a very hard look good days and some
at all aspects of the way the business very bad days and like
is structured and run. It requires any pilgrimage it will be
total unqualified commitment to the a hard slog, too long for
transformation from the chairman down some who will probably
to the labourer who sweeps the floor. give up in disgust.
However, the complete management The Lean philosophy implies a and not necessarily harder, to provide
team must be unquestionably in favour continuous process of change and essential resources for long-term needs
of the process and be prepared to filter improvement and in that sense it never and not short-term profits then this can
down information, encourage and ends. When, after much struggle, you be a recipe for becoming and remaining
assist every member of the company to reach the top of the hill, you will see in competitive and for staying in business,
understand and explain the reasons for the distance another hill waiting to be providing jobs, income and hope for the
the changes which need to be made to climbed. future.
working methods practices and processes However, for those who understand Finally, a quote from the generally
in order to improve productivity and that we are talking about a very long- accepted father of Lean principals, Dr.
quality performance. term process of continuous improvement William Edwards Deming: “No one has
Again it has to be stressed, if the in quality, productivity, process control to change. Survival is optional”.
top management, or indeed any senior and management skills, to work smarter www.technoset.com
person dissents or lacks commitment
to the concept of lean, don’t even start
Lean principles
the journey. On the other hand, if you Although it is accepted that Lean started at all times, but Lean dictates that work
all agree then no doubt the whole in Japan, specifically with Toyota, Henry is performed only on demand so people
process will be guided by a consultant Ford has been using parts of Lean from may not be busy.
lean manufacturing practitioner who, as early as the 1920’s. ● Process utilisation – the old fashioned
hopefully, knows and understands his Many of the concepts learnt on the use of high speed processes run all the
business. road to Lean are very different than time must give way to processes that
Whoever you choose will introduce managers, accountants and other are designed to keep up with demand.
you to a whole variety of jargon which decision makers were taught. ● Work groups – change from functional
some will find amusing, others irritating, Here are some of the more interesting departments to cross-functional teams.
and some just plain mystifying. However, ones: ● Quality – end of process inspection to
they do have meaning. These include, ● Inventory – traditionally defined as find errors is replaced with processes,
Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen and an asset by accountants, this is seen as products and services that are designed
Continuous Improvement, Overall waste in a Lean organisation because it to eliminate errors.
Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), 5S ties up capital and increases processing ● Lean organisations are able to be
(Workplace Organisation), Single Minute lead-time. more responsive to market trends,
Exchange of Dies (SMED)(basically, ● Economic quality and batch size deliver products and services faster,
swift and efficient changeovers), Total – large batch runs are often seen as the and at a lower price that their non-Lean
Productive Maintenance (TPM), way to make up for process downtime, competitors. Lean crosses all industry
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS), lean aims for a batch of one and boundaries, addresses all organisational
Just in Time (JIT), Production and reducing downtime to zero. functions, and impacts the entire system
Process Control Systems, and so on. ● People utilisation – staff must be busy – from supply chain to customer base.
AEROSPACEMANUFACTURING 35
AM_jul07_p34-35_lean.indd 35 29/6/07 14:04:55
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48