The goal of lean production is to eliminate all waste in production. The aim is therefore to reduce activities and resources that do not add value for the customer.
The Origin and Meaning of Lead Production
The Lean philosophy became popular in the 1990s. However, the origins of the basic concept of Lean can be traced back to the 1950s at Toyota in Japan. Lean Production—often referred to as Lean Manufacturing—falls under the umbrella term “Lean Management.”
Lean Production—which translates to “schlanke Produktion” in German—means taking care not to waste resources such as labor or materials during production. The goal is to increase production efficiency by both reducing costs and boosting productivity.
Benefits of Lean Production
Streamlined production leads to greater resource efficiency and offers several advantages:
- Lower costs due to reduced material and energy consumption.
- Competitive advantage through cost savings.
- Improving production.
- Reducing the company’s environmental impact and improving its sustainability.
Resource efficiency and sustainability in manufacturing are becoming increasingly important, both economically and in terms of climate and the environment. Raw materials and other materials represent the largest cost factor in the manufacturing industry; therefore, reducing material consumption offers significant potential for cost savings.
Lean production—or lean manufacturing—therefore helps identify opportunities for cost savings. These can be realized by eliminating unnecessary waste.
Types of Waste
Simply put, according to the Lean Mindset, any steps in the process that do not add value for the customer are considered waste. There are often eight different types of waste identified.
These types of waste are: defective products and scrap, overproduction, unnecessary transportation, waiting time, excess inventory, unnecessary movement of employees, unused employee knowledge, and duplicate processes.
To eliminate or reduce these types of waste, Lean Management offers many different methods for each type of waste.
Application of Lean Management Methods
To achieve lean production, specific lean management methods can be applied. The following is a selection from the lean management toolkit: the 5S method, just-in-time, kaizen, jidoka, and standardization of work processes.
5S
The 5S method focuses on organized work areas and a structured workflow. The goal is to reduce waste caused by unnecessary employee movements and poor organization (e.g., searching for documents, inspection reports, and testing equipment).
This method ensures a tidy workspace in 5 steps:
The first step is sorting, during which everything that is not part of the workstation is removed. In the second step, the remaining items are sorted. This is followed by cleaning, inspecting, and keeping the work areas clean.
Standards will now be established for the points identified earlier. In the fifth step, we will ensure that the previously established standards are properly followed.
Digital checklists can help with the implementation, monitoring, and maintenance of 5S by defining standardized procedures and collecting structured data. Digitizing these processes supports the automation of workflows.
Just-in-Time
The just-in-time method eliminates waste caused by excessive material inventories.
In a just-in-time system, parts are ordered based on specific orders or demand. The parts are delivered exactly when they are needed. This makes the production flow more efficient. The advantage of just-in-time is that inventory levels are kept low. This allows for a reduction in storage space and saves room.
It is important to be able to rely on the supplier and maintain a good working relationship. At the same time, the incoming goods inspection can be omitted. Instead, regular quality assurance audits should be conducted, and information and data should be requested from the supplier.
The just-in-time method goes hand in hand with many other lean management methods.
Kaizen
The Kaizen method can help address several types of waste. Above all, the Kaizen method focuses on leveraging the knowledge of employees.
Kaizen focuses on continuous improvement. The strategy involves employees proactively and regularly initiating improvements to work methods, procedures, and processes. The Kaizen method focuses on day-to-day tasks to identify and implement efficiency gains in work practices. This ongoing improvement process leads to the long-term optimization of workflows in order to keep financial costs as low as possible.
By leveraging the knowledge within the company, we can achieve better and more efficient production.
Jidoka
Jidoka refers to the partial automation of processes in production and manufacturing. This partial automation has the advantage of being more cost-effective than full automation while still helping to reduce the labor force.
Mapping processes using digital workflow management tools helps streamline implementation. This enables simple and flexible automation of processes that span departments and the entire company.
KPIs and SMART Goals
Lean production can be supported and made measurable by defining meaningful KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) based on production processes and developing SMART goals.
When formulating SMART goals, it is important to ensure that the goals are Specific, Measurable, Attractive, Realistic, and Time-bound. This ensures that the defined goals can actually be achieved.
KPIs are an important management tool for continuously monitoring the quality and efficiency of individual processes. If necessary, this allows for the early identification and implementation of corrective measures to improve performance and reduce errors.
Conclusion
Lean production can help achieve greater efficiency. To eliminate waste in production, companies can apply specific lean management methods. This leads to greater resource efficiency and sustainability in production.
In particular, the structured collection of quality data at every stage of the value chain and ongoing analysis can contribute significantly to increased efficiency and higher productivity.
Sources: Lean Production (IPH Hannover), Lean Management (arbeitswissenschaft.net), The 8 Wastes of Lean (theleanway.net), Resource Efficiency (VDI), Resource Efficiency (Efficiency Agency NRW), Just-in-Time Deliveries (produktion-technik.de)
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