Lean Manufacturing Tools

Kaizen-The Japanese Methodology: Kaizen is a Japanese word. Kaizen is the Japanese methodology used in lean manufacturing techniques. Kaizen means good change or "Continuous Improvement" .  Kaizen is a  method for improving processes with small but incremental changes over time. Kaizen Benefits: to eliminate waste. to optimize efficiency. to improve quality. to empower employees . Kaizen is a method to encourage employees to work together to make small but regular improvements in business processes. Kaizen is a Japanese  philosophy that encourages continuous improvement by  all employees involvement.It is a long-term approach to small but incremental improvements. 5 in Kaizen or Steps in Kaizen technique: 1)Identifying problems 2)Analyzing the current process 3)Brainstorming the solutions and selecting the best solution. 4)Implementing the best solution into practice 5)Reviewing the results and Standardizing the solution as a part of ongoing processes. ORIGIN OF KAIZ...

SMED: SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die): SMED  stands for  Single Minute Exchange of Die. SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die)  is a Lean tool used in manufacturing to reduce equipment changeover time.  The goal of  SMED  is to complete as many steps as possible while the equipment is running , to save time and quickly change over to processing the next product. The core principles of the  SMED  procedure involve separating changeover elements into two categories. Internal activities and External activities. For  SMED : Internal activities  -  can only be performed when the production process is stopped. External activities-  can be completed while the machine running or upto the actual changeover begins.  SMED  helps in achievement of  rapid setups and minimized downtime by  converting internal activities into external activities. Advantages of the SMED: Reduced changeover times / Reduced Downtime by min...

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness): What Is OEE?  OEE full form is Overall Equipment Effectiveness. OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a fundamental principle of Lean Manufacturing, OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a universal “best practice” metric to monitor, evaluate, and improve the effectiveness of a production .  OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)  is  the percentage of planned production time that is truly productive. OEE in lean manufacturing means  manufacturing  good parts as fast as possible, with no downtime. OEE is  originally developed by JIPM (Japan Institute of Plant Maintenance) . OEE score of 100% represents perfect production:  OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)  in manufacturing is a lean tool used in Total Productive Maintenance programs.  OEE Formula : OEE is a combination of three factors. Standard OEE formula is tabled by Nakajima. OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness ) is calculated as...

PPE : PPE full form : Personal Protective Equipment. PPE means Personal Protective Equipment. Personal protective equipment (PPE) refers to protective clothings, helmets, gloves, face shields, goggles, facemasks, earplugs, muffs, coveralls, vests, full body suits,  high visibility suits, safety harnesses, respirators or other equipments designed for protection from injury ,infection, illnes or exposure to a variety of hazards. Why PPE: To promote good Hygiene To prevent Hazards To reduce spread of infection To enhance workplace safety To protect Lives   To comply businesses with regulatory requirements(e.g., The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992) To improve employee efficiency. Types of Protection: 1) Respiratory Protection: Protection against the adverse health effects caused by breathing contaminated air. Examples:Respirators. 2) Eye & Face Protection: Eye and face protection from the hazards of  hot sparks, and chemical splashes  flyi...

Industrial safety - Industrial safety  leads to ZERO ACCIDENT GOAL   of every organisation. Everyone working in the industries must follow Industrial safety rules. Creating and maintaining protective, safe and efficient workplace environment is the major role played by Industrial safety Management team. Workplace safety is very important for each and every employee to work in a safe and protected atmosphere. What is meant for term  safety  in  Industrial safety? Safety means a state of being safe from the risk of loss or danger. Safety plays a vital role in industry by protecting employees and assets by minimizing hazards, risks, accidents, and near misses. Safety is a condition that gives you freedom from hazards, risks, and accidents that may cause injury, damage, loss of material or property damage, and even death. Elimination of hazard is also known as safety.  Safe and healthy workplace protects workers from injury and illness which reduces absen...

How to eliminate bottleneck. In previous artcle we discussed about bottleneck in production process. Now we will see How to eliminate bottleneck ? How to eliminate bottleneck is very important in manufacturing. Bottleneck removal in lean manufacturing is a very crucial task for management. How to eliminate bottleneck in manufacturing is important not only for productivity but also for smooth operations flow on line. For reducing WIP on production line, it is the important question that... How to eliminate bottleneck? Bottleneck analysis is important for the bottleneck elimination in manufacturing. How to eliminate bottleneck  in production line without having much inventory in process line is target for management.  Following are some goals of the bottleneck analysis. GOALS OF THE BOTTLENECK ANALYSIS : Identification of the key bottlenecks in manufacturing process. Relevant quantitative data collection for bottlneck analysis. Exploring possible solutions for bottleneck root c...

BOTTLENECK IN PRODUCTION PROCESS- Bottleneck in production process , is a process whose limited capacity reduces, delays or stops the flow of operation and affects the capacity of overall manufacturing processes.   Almost every system has a bottleneck . The machine with the longest queue of accumulated input for processing is usually a bottleneck in production process. It is important to identify the bottleneck machine or process and to remove or reduce the waiting time for next operation so as to achieve the desired targets in manufacturing processes. Here discussed the various types of   bottleneck in production process. Types of Bottleneck in production process: 1.Short-term Bottleneck:  These are caused by temporary problems.  Short-term bottlenecks  do not need regular attention. 2.Long-term Bottleneck:   Long-term bottlenecks occur all the time. These have substantial impacts on the overall manufacturing processes.  Long-term bottl...

L ean management in the pharmaceutical industry and COVID 19. The pharma companies manufacturing the vaccine for  Covid-19 has to follow strictly the lean manufacturing principles to eliminate non value added work so as to achieve the demand raised in this panademics of COVID-19 . For the organizations like Serum Institute of India, Lean Manucturing tools will help to do value added acts every time so as to meet the demand of vaccine in India and other countries. On time and quality production of vaccine with reduced associated costs will help the organizations like SERUM & PFIZER to meet the expectations of people of the whole world's  and high demand. Also Lean tools will results in reduced prices of the vaccine. The pharma industries must achieve Zero Losses due to downtime & minor stoppages so as to meet the demand of vaccine. Reduced manufacturing cost is going to help to provide the vaccine to the Governments with reduced cost and so the distribution amongst the ...

Equipment Safety : The protections used at workstation so as to avoid danger for human body that is workmen along with the equipment and leading to safe work is termed as equipment safety. Equipment safety is important for long life of workmen and so as equipment by avoiding accidents at workstation during processes. Thus equipment safety becomes valuable in manufacturing industry. Following factors are important to confirm equipment safety: 1. Make sure that the equipment is safe for any work.  2. Make sure that the equipment is safe for carrying out breakdowns repairs, and preventive or planned maintenance. 3. Make sure the equipment is properly switched off, isolated or locked-off before taking any action to remove blockages. 4. Make sure that the equipment is with no risk of electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic power supplies. 5. Make sure that equipment is with no badly designed safeguards.  6. Ensure No sharp edges or corners associated with equipment. 7. Check that the ...

Factors Affecting Basic Work Content -   Basic work content is the minimum time required for production as per standard rate of working with the help of qualified worker and with perfect design and specifications. The heart of the productivity improvement in any manufacturing organisation is depend on its basic work content. Process of manufacturing is affected by some factors associated with basic work content. Following are the factors affecting basic work content and thus on the productivity. 1.Workmen Efficiency: Workmen enfluencing basic work content in following ways-  Careless workemenship  Accidents by workmen. Absentism of workmen. Idleness of workmen. Lateness of workmen. Indisciplined workmen.   2.Management Shortcomings: Management is also responsible for enfluence on basic work content . Some management shortcomings are as - Design changes. Excess product variety Bad planning. Lack of standardization. Plant Breakdowns.   Bad working conditions...

JIT and Advantages Of JIT (Just In Time) Manufacturing: JIT (Just In Time) manufacturing is very benificial for lean manufacturing. The benifits of JIT for manufacturing industries are a lot. Some of the advantages of JIT in manufacturing are as follows- Lesser Cost Of Production. Less working capital is required to finance for procurement.  Minimum re-order level. Works on a demand-pull basis, in the volatile and unpredictable market demand. Inspection costs and Rework costs are minimized. High customer satisfaction due to constant communication with the customer. Reduction in Manufacturing Lead Time and Increased Conformance to Delivery Lead Time. Reduction in Inventory Investment and Increased Investment Savings. Increased Revenue and High ROI (Return On Investments). Increased Response Speed to Market Needs. Close relationships and Improved Workforce Morales. Uncovering of Problems. Keeps stock holding costs minimum and better space utilization with Low or No warehousing cost. ...

JIT ( Just-In-Time) Meaning: JIT  ( Just-In-Time)  manufacturing: Full form of JIT is Just-In-Time. JIT ( Just-in-time) manufacturing is planning in terms of procurement policies and the manufacturing process. The JIT (Just-In-Time) inventory system is a management strategy where raw-material is ordered from suppliers as per production schedules so as to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they are needed in the production process, hence reducing inventory costs.  In short, JIT  (Just-In-Time) manufacturing  is an inventory management system to increase efficiency and decrease waste by receiving only sufficient goods to meet demand. JIT  (Just-In-Time) manufacturing   works on a demand-pull basis. Factors reliant: 1. Timely supply of raw materials by supplier. 2. Company is using raw materials, leaving little to no raw materials left over after production. 3. Companies utilizing the raw materials for filling orders on a ...

What is Lean? Lean meaning:   Lean is the set of tools for identification and elimination of the wastes in the manufacturing systems. Lean is clearly distinguishing the value-added and Non value-added activities. Lean is Reducing the waste and Adding Value to products and services. Lean tools are improving productivity,quality and so as the reduced costs associated. Thus Lean methodology is doing more with less. Principles of Lean: Key principles of Lean Manufacturing for creating effective & efficient organization are as follows- Waste Elimination. Production flow. Pull Processing. Load leveling. Flexibility Automation. Continual Improvement. Vendor development and management. Pull processing (means 'make to order')   is the strategy of waiting for customer demand and quickly or effectively processing as per demand so that no warehoused inventory of products. Lean Tools: Tools for identification and elimination of Wastes in Lean Manufacturing are -  1. 5S methodology...

8 types of Wastes in Lean manufacturing are to be discussed here. 8 TYPES OF WASTES IN LEAN MANUFACTURING : Waste means any activity that adds no value for the customer. The origin of lean manufacturing comes in picture so as to eliminate these non value added work (WASTE). This becomes most important for an organization to reduce waste without harming productivity and to do value added acts every time. There are mainly eight types of wastes in lean manufacturing   which we need to remove from the system for increased production, on time production  and quality production, with reduced associated costs. To reduce or remove the eight forms of wastes, we have to know which are the eight types (forms) of wastes. To keep in mind the 8 types of wastes in lean manufacturing please go through the DOWNTIME image below. These eight forms of wastes are as follows- 1. Defects -  The worst form of waste. Production of NC (Non Conforming) parts. Production of NC  assemblies. I...

5S : 5 S's meant for: 1st  S - Seiri means Sort. 2nd S - Seiton means Set in Order. 3rd S - Seiso means Shine. 4th S - Seiketsu means Standardize. 5th S - Shitsuke means Sustain. THE GOAL OF 5S - To create a clean and well-organized work environment for ease of operation. To reduce waste, to improve quality. To promote safety. To Encourage people for addressing problems  resulting in a positive change to the organizational culture.  For the quick set-ups in clean and well organized workplace. To improve equipment reliability. THE ELEMENTS OF 5S  - 1. SEIRI (SORT) -  Elimination of things that are not really needed at the work place. 2. SEITON (SET IN ORDER) -  Systematic Organization of the items remained after sorting. 3. SEISO (SHINE) -  Sanitizing ,Cleaning and Inspection of the work area. 4. SEIKETSU (STANDERDIZE) -  Standardization that means to create Standards. 5. SHITSUKE (SUSTAIN) - Self descipline that is ensure the regular application ...