Lean production

Lean manufacturing comes from the automotive industry. Lean Solutions we offer a wide range of advice in the field of process optimization in production, logistics and administration and help our clients build an organization for lean manufacturing. With the help of Lean methods and elimination of losses in processes, we present and show our clients in practice what it means.

Consulting with an emphasis on 80% of consulting time in production and 20% of consulting time for customer training needs. Joint preparation of time plans and reporting is a constant practice in our work. Consulting is the optimal combination for achieving the customer’s goals and introducing a lean culture. Lean manufacturing originates from automotive industry, but lean manufacturing methods are suitable for virtually all activities. When we talk about “coils” of production and logistics, we are talking about production and logistics that operate without unnecessary losses and have optimally organized all business processes.

‌‌ Main goal

The goal of lean manufacturing is to continuously improve all processes. Its advantage is the focus on results, on dynamic time and cost efficient processes. On reducing errors, on highly efficient machines and motivated employees.

The introduction of lean manufacturing and logistics is the cheapest way to increase flexibility, quality and customer satisfaction. The results of lean production and logistics, compared to the previous situation, are quickly visible and bring stably measurable results.

‌‌ LOSSES

“ In lean, there are activities that consume resources but do not bring any value to the customer as losses. “

In fact, there are activities that they really create value for customers, only a small part of the overall work process.

That is why we help companies reduce wasteful activities of so-called losses. This makes it easier for company employees to identify important opportunities to improve their productivity.

Not all losses can be removed from the workflow. Some of them are necessary. For example, software testing is not an activity your customers are willing to pay for. Without this, however, you can deliver a low-quality product that will harm your performance and profitability.

Therefore, there are two main types of losses:

Necessary losses – no added value, but necessary for quality work. Such activities may include testing, planning, reporting, etc.

Net losses – no added value. Anything that does not bring value and can be immediately removed from the work process.

The following describes in more detail the losses and their effects on efficiency and productivity in companies.

‌‌

1. EXHAUST / DEFECTS

Mistakes in the organization end up costing money. Any processing or scrap represents a significant cost to the company. Each of these costs includes blocked inventory, re-inspection, loss of productivity, and reallocation.

By involving employees and continuous improvement following the example of lean manufacturing, there is the potential for your company to significantly reduce errors and breakdowns.

Improving work and control processes will, if properly implemented, increase product quality and result in less waste due to errors.

2. EXCESSIVE PRODUCTION

As the name suggests, overproduction occurs when you produce too many products. This often happens when you make a product before it is actually needed. Overproduction is extremely costly for a manufacturing company, as it disrupts the flow of materials and can degrade product quality and overall productivity. A Just-in-Time (JIT) manufacturing strategy has been developed to address this type of loss, as products are only made when needed. The overproduction model is also called “just in case” and creates too long times, high storage costs and makes it difficult to detect losses.

3. UNNECESSARY MOVEMENT

This type of loss refers to the excessive movement of production workers when walking, not ergonomically bending and stretching to reach the tools and material needed. Although these shifts cause additional production delays, they can pose health and safety issues for employees. In the context of lean manufacturing and logistics, every step of the work process is analyzed and efforts are made to reduce the amount of movement needed by employees to produce products in time and the required quality.

4. TRANSPORT

Transporting products does not directly bring value to the product, and excessive movement and handling can cause damage to the product. This can lead to a deterioration in product quality. Excessive transport can occur when manufacturing steps do not run well and require additional transport of material from one part of production to another. Reducing transport losses involves properly setting up production departments using lean logistics planning and changing it so that all processes are well coordinated and materials travel between departments smoothly – lean flow.

5. WAITING

This type of loss refers to the fact that the product or material WIP (work in process) is not moved or processed. In series production, a large part of the product life cycle is consumed in the queue. This usually happens when the material flow is poor, the production cycle time is too long and the distances between work processes are too large. In lean manufacturing, we understand every lost hour in the process as a bottleneck. One lost hour in production cannot be recovered without causing additional losses. To reduce these types of losses, it is useful to link processes together so that one operation is passed directly to the next with minimal waiting.

6. INVENTORIES

Work in progress (WIP) products are the result of overproduction and waiting, and excess inventory hides production problems. Warehousing of products is one of the biggest costs for manufacturing companies. In addition, excess inventory can prolong delivery times, consume productive space, and make it harder to detect losses in the process. When you achieve a smooth workflow between workflows and departments with the right use of lean manufacturing and logistics methods, you will be able to use JIT’s production strategies and reduce inventory and related costs.

7. EXCESSIVE PROCESSING

Excessive processing refers to doing more work than necessary and includes redundant activities that do not add value to the product, such as re-examination, recounting or excessive documentation. These steps are usually performed by employees, who represent one of the highest costs in production. This may also include the use of expensive production equipment where cost-effective tools are also sufficient. Invest in smaller and more flexible equipment or accessories where possible. The goal is to completely eliminate this loss from the work process as they can the savings are very large for the company.

8. UNUSED HUMAN POTENTIAL

The eighth loss is the only one in the context of lean production, which is not specific only to the production process. This type of loss occurs when a company does not provide the opportunity to exploit all the potential talents of its employees in its work environment. This loss was added to enable companies to integrate human resource development into a lean ecosystem – a lean organization. As a loss, employees may be assigned the wrong tasks or tasks for which they have never been properly trained. It can also be the result of poor communication management.

Involving employees and integrating their ideas, providing training and growth opportunities, and engaging in creating process improvements that reflect the reality they experience and the skills they have improves overall operational efficiency and increases productivity. Eliminating this type of loss can improve all previously written losses.

When we talk about “coils” of production and logistics, we are talking about production and logistics that operate without unnecessary losses and have optimally organized all business processes. If we want to successfully introduce lean production, we must also adjust the organization of the Lean department accordingly.