.     What Is Lean Manufacturing? [For information on cost-effective services for Lean, please click here] Lean Manufacturing, often called Agile Manufacturing, is an operating strategy that seeks to maximize operational effectiveness by creating value in the eyes of the end customer. The focus is not on a department, area or process, but on the optimization of the entire value stream -- the series of processes between receipt of customer order and delivery of finished product. Lean manufacturing improves operating performance by focusing on the quick and uninterrupted flow of products and materials through the value stream. To achieve this, the various forms of manufacturing waste must be identified and eliminated. Waste can include any activity, step or process that does not add value for the customer. Under such a system, the plant is highly customer-focused, providing the highest quality, lowest cost products in the least amount of time. Key Elements of a Lean System 1. Analyze the value stream to identify those factors that do and do not create value from the customer's point of view 2. Streamline the flow of information, materials and products through the value stream to eliminate interruptions, waiting, scrap, etc. 3. Institute a quick changover or set-up time reduction improvement program to minimize equipment downtime between product changes and to improve manufacturing flexibility. 4. Where possible, adopt "pull" production and one-piece flow methodologies to synchronize manufacturing processes and produce to order rather than to stock 5. Create manufacturing cells (work cells or cross-functional teams) to focus production efforts around products rather than around process technology centers (departments) and to ensure responsibility for quality at the operating level 6. Make operating performance and customer information visible on the shop floor to increase customer focus 7. Adopt lead time metrics throughout the plant and continually identify ways to contract them 8. Involve employees plant-wide in continuous improvement and kaizen efforts to improve operating performance and accelerate achievement of business goals 9. Institute a Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) system to increase equipment efficiency and reliability and to enhance "ownership" at the operating level Successful implementation of Lean Manufacturing typically starts with an analysis of the value stream to identify non-value-added activities (waste) in the process flow. By adopting "pull" production and one-piece flow, synchronous manufacturing is achieved with minimal WIP and finished goods inventories, minimal waiting time and minimal manufacturing lead time. Such strategies aim to produce only what is required for immediate sale, and the entire production process is triggered by customer demand. A "push" strategy, on the other hand, seeks to maximize asset utilization at each work center, thus building piles of inventory between work centers, disconnecting them from one another and extending lead times. Another lead time reduction technique, set-up time reduction, also known as quick changeover or single-minute exchange of dies (SMED), seeks to improve proficiency with product changeovers on machines to enable shorter production runs and greater manufacturing flexibility. Quick changeover capability is vital in an environment of non-dedicated production lines and changing customer needs (and, therefore, production schedules). In high-performance operations, schedule changes do not throw the production floor into chaos. Manufacturing effectiveness is not measured by maintaining high efficiency during long production runs, but by reacting quickly to changes and being able to consistently meet the daily production schedule. The lean approach often requires the transformation from a departmental-based organization to one centered around products or product families. These responsibility centers, often called manufacturing cells, or simply work cells, focus on a whole product or service within the plant. Plant floor management and communication are facilitated because the entire product line is manufactured in a specific area. In addition, product performance (cost, quality and delivery) can be more easily monitored, controlled and improved at the operating level by the people who actually make the product. Finally, plant personnel are a vital element in successful implementation of Lean Manufacturing. Plant-wide participation in continuous improvement and kaizen events is a critical difference between high-performance plants and the rest. Employee involvement in and accountabilty for basic equipment maintenance as part of a total productive maintenance (TPM) program helps improve both equipment reliability and employee morale. For an article on Lean Manufacturing, please click here. If you're interested in successfully applying Lean Manufacturing principles at your facility, Granite Bay has a value-based solution! .