Lean Manufacturing - is a management concept that focuses on optimizing business processes, maximum market orientation and the motivation of each employee. Lean Manufacturing is the foundation of a new management philosophy. In it the goal of manufacturing is to minimize labor expenses, minimize new product development time, and guarantee product delivery to the customer and high quality at the minimum cost.
The founding father of lean manufacturing is considered to be Taiichi Ono, who went to work for Toyota Motor Corporation in 1943 and integrated global best practices. In the mid-1950s he introduced the Toyota Production System (TPS), which became famous in its western incarnation as Lean Manufacturing. His contemporary and assistant, Shigeo Shingo, made a significant contribution to the development of Lean Manufacturing. Lean ideas date back as far as Henry Ford, but the business world did not accept them because they were far ahead of their time. The first global disseminator of the Kaizen philosophy was Masaaki Imai. His first book, "Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Management Success," was published in 1986 and translated into 20 languages.
Lean was initially used in discrete component manufacturing primarily in the automotive industry. Then the concept was adapted to process manufacturing, then in retail, services, public utilities, health care, the armed forces and the government sector. A collectivist mentality is conducive to its use.
Lean has gradually extended beyond the enterprise. Now Lean encompasses the consumers of the enterprise's products and its vendors. Regular international and regional conferences, many of which are held at the initiative of the Lean Enterprise Institute (USA) and Lean Enterprise Academy (UK), help spread Lean ideas. In many countries governments are supporting the dissemination of Lean Manufacturing.
Among the early adopters of Lean are the Gorky Automotive Works (GAZ Group), VAZ, KAMAZ, Rusal, Euras Holdings, Eurokhim, VMSPO-AVISMA, JSC KUMZ, Severostal-avto, and others.
Fundamental Principles of Lean Manufacturing
J. Womack and D. Jones set forth the essence of lean manufacturing in five principles:
I - identify the value of a specific product.
II- identify the value stream for this product.
III - ensure that the product value stream flows continuously.
IV - enable the customer to pull the product. Pull production: the product is "pulled" by the client, not imposed by the manufacturer.
V - strive for perfection. Kaizen means continuous manufacturing improvement.
Lean Manufacturing Tools
TPM System (Total Productive Maintenance)
5S System - sort, set in order; shine (keep clean), standardize and sustain
SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Die System) - equipment retooling in less than 10 minutes)
Efficiency
In general the use of Lean principles can produce significant effects.
The advantage of Lean is that the system consists of 80% administrative measures and only 20% investment in technology.
Foreign and Russian best practices introducing Lean Manufacturing are producing the following results in certain industries:
Electronics: A reduction in the number of steps in the production process from 31 to 9. A cut in the production cycle from 9 days to 1. A 25% decrease in manufacturing space. Savings of about $2 million in six months.
Aviation : A drop in order fulfillment time from 16 months to 16 weeks.
Automotive: A 40% increase in quality.
Ferrous metallurgy: A 35% increase in productivity.
Overhaul of large-tonnage vessels: A 25% decrease in manufacturing space. A reduction in the time for one of the basic operations from 12 to 2 hours. Savings of about $400,000 during a 15 day period.
Automotive assembly: A 20% reduction in production area. Cancellation of the construction of a new manufacturing facility. Savings of about $2.5 million a week.
Pharmaceuticals: A cut in waste from 6% to 1.2 %. A 56% decrease in electric power consumption: Savings of $200,000 a year.
Consumer goods: A 55% boost in productivity. A 25% reduction in the manufacturing cycle. A 35% cut in inventories. Savings of about $135,000 a week.
