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What is Lean Manufacturing?
Lean Manufacturing is a methodology, a mindset, driven to maximize productivity and minimize waste.
There are two to types of lean, "good lean" and "bad lean". Good lean is more centered on people, and making their lives better in a way that will make them be able to operate at full capacity, productivity, quality, and thus cost. "bad lean" is more profit-focused, if you are getting the same amount of work done in half the time, the natural response for this type is to fire half the people, or make twice as many products as the customer needs, thus creating a cycle of waste.
Lean is important for Industry 4.0 because not only does it reduce cost, thus making it easier to afford robots/automation equipment, but it also limits variation. This allows you to be able to use less advanced (thus less expensive) robots that don't need to account for as much of this variation.
In my personal experience at work, school, home, etc, I've found there can always be improvement in how something is done. Doesn't matter what it is, whether it's using too much soap when scrubbing the floor, or having a lot of excess material when you are milling a part, anything that doesn't add value to the final product is considered waste. For example, at a restaurant I used to work at, you see people cooking something too long, or adding too much seasoning, the extra propane from that stove, and the extra seasoning, are all viewed as wasteful because they don't add any value to the final product. To fix these errors, I attempted to time how much food was cooking and used measuring spoons for the seasoning, all to minimize waste, and create a more efficient, lean environment, for myself and the people around me.
What is Lean Manufacturing?
Lean manufacturing is a production process based on an ideology of maximizing productivity while simultaneously minimizing waste within a manufacturing operation. The lean principle sees waste s anything that doesn't add value that the customers are willing to pay for.
(From article online)
Identifying the 7 wastes in my daily life:
The first waste, overproduction:
One night we made a huge pot of spaghetti, we thought we could eat it all but it turned out to be way more than our family could eat in a single sitting. We thus had to store it in the fridge for while, barely eating it all before it went bad. This I identify as the 1st waste, overproduction.
The 3rd, 6th, and 2nd wastes:
Where I currently work we have a lot of inventory, lots of times we order much more than we need, this of course takes up valuable space, and we often struggle to keep it contained in a semi-organized manner. This I identify as the 3rd waste, inventory.
As well as it takes extra time and money to constantly be moving things back and forth at the convenience of the customer/people around it. This I identify as the 6th waste, motion.
Not only that, but occasionally we will deliver something and it was the wrong thing for that customer, this I identify as the 2nd waste, transporting that doesn't add value to the customer.
The 4th waste, defects:
As a simple example, there was a time where I was systematically filling easter eggs; the first step involved locating the two halves to the eggs (top and bottom), and then proceed to insert 3 jelly beans, a jolly rancher, one kind of mini-chocolate candy bar, and then putting the two halves together, I would then lay them in a basket and usually get at least 50 of them. Finally finished, I was just about to go outside and hide them, when I realized I forgot a family favorite candy, the recess. Rushing to redo the finished products that I had already stored so carefully in my basket, taking twice as long to carefully separate the eggs and insert the right candy This I identify as the 4th waste, defects.
The 5th waste, over processing:
I once made cold frames for plants, and wanted to sell them, but when I added up the cost of the materials, and considered how much I wanted to be making for my labor, I decided that I needed to redesign my whole structure because it would take too long to put it together, as well as the materials I was using needed extra coatings etc. I would then end up charging more then the customer was willing to pay, for my labor. this I identified as the 5th waste, over processing.
The 7nth waste, waiting:
In the picture you'll notice everything is crammed, unorganized, and honestly takes a while just to find. For example, everyday that I go to work, I first have to find my car keys, my work keys, my wallet, my protein bar, my phone needs to be fully charged, my tape measure, my box cutter, etc. And it often takes me up to 5 minutes before running out the door just to find everything! This I identified as the 7th waste, because it is a delay, a waste of time and energy, it is keeping me from going to work and performing my duties.
Some two second improvements using the "3 s's" technique.
Looking at the nightstand above I first did a sweep of the entire surface, throwing stuff away, trying to clear the surface making it less cluttered.
Next I sorted, putting things away where they belong.
Then I standardized, making sure that everything has a place.
Before
After
As well as applying the two second lean technique. I put up some hooks on the side so I could hang up I put all my keys, my emergency flashlight, tape measure, and it even holds up my charger cord! Managing to make my morning much more efficient!
The Lean House:
The Lean House refers to a visual reference that is meant to organize all the tools and techniques that are related to lean, into their respective overarching concepts. Often having Kaizen, and standardized work on the bottom, and the goals on top, like quality, lower costs, shortest lead time, etc.
(Image taken from online)
kaizen:
Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning "to do better", in other words to continuously try to find ways to make things more efficient, productive, lean. When thinking about kaizen, you want to be more focused on process improvement, instead of people improvement. Kaizen is extremally important for efficiency, quality, and also taking care of your employees.
The "3 m's"
The "3 m's" refer to 3 Japanese words having to do with kaizen, or lean. Muda, Muri, and Mura.
Muda means to waste, any activity that doesn't add value to the customer.
Muri means to overburden. This can be on people, equipment, etc. Like physically carrying too much, or it could be mental burdens/things to keep track of.
Mura means to have inconsistencies in the work place/system. Examples including things like capacity, flow of work, etc. this can be extremally helpful if you want to automate something. Being more consistent will allow you to get less expensive equipment/robots that don't have to be able to account for these variations.
In general having a better lean mindset will allow you to lower costs, while increasing quality and productivity, as well as being easier for automation.
The 3 m's are basically just the waste aspects of lean. They are very important because they help us to learn, visualize, and remember the thing we are trying to limit, using these 3 categories.
(Image taken from online)
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