Lean Manufacturing

There is no set definition of lean manufacturing as different books, websites, and people describe it slightly differently. Everyone can agree, however, that it is a production method that is used to help minimize waste and cut down the amount of time that it takes for things to go from the supplier to the customer. … Read more

The lean manufacturing system is a set of strategies focused on improving the production process in many different areas. Lean methodologies are used throughout almost every industry, so the lean manufacturing system is a sub-category of lean concepts in general. Manufacturing is where people are generally most familiar with lean concepts though since a constant … Read more

The term lean manufacturing really got its start in the early 1990s in a book called The Machine that Changed the World, written by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Ross. They wrote about how different manufacturing systems are used throughout the world and really took the industrial revolution to a whole new … Read more

Since its development, the guiding principles of Lean manufacturing have demonstrated to be successful for businesses in virtually any industry. From hospitals implementing Lean company-wide to small offices holding Kaizen events, Lean is proven for improving efficiency and reducing costs. One definition of Lean engineering is as a “holistic approach” that can help improve the … Read more

Lean principles have been growing in popularity within the construction industry as more and more jobsites are incorporating Lean techniques into traditional methods of construction. Although projects in construction are known to be unpredictable and likely to face a variety of disruptions to the workflow, construction companies are finding success by adopting Lean tools and … Read more

To put it most simply, the Toyota Production System (TPS) is the primary influence of Lean manufacturing which operates using a just-in-time (JIT) system. What is TPS? As its name suggests, the Toyota Production System was a production system created by the Toyota Motor Corporation. TPS was developed in the 1950s and 1960s with the … Read more

Developed by Toyota, 3M are three different types of waste that businesses can eliminate to become more “Lean”. Muda refers to common manufacturing activities that do not create any value for the customer. The Toyota Production System originally identified seven kinds of muda, known as TIMWOOD: Transportation: Unnecessary movements of the product between processes results … Read more

A “Lean” supply chain is a supply chain optimized to deliver products quickly and with little to no waste. From Lean tools to the philosophy of continuous improvement, businesses can reduce costs by translating the principles of Lean manufacturing to the supply chain. There are two main tenants of Lean manufacturing that can be applied … Read more

TQM, also known as Total Quality Management, is known to be a customer satisfaction-based management approach for products, services, processes, and the culture that the employees uphold at the business. One of the main goals of implementing this strategy in the workplace is to eliminate defects and waste during production. To do this, there are … Read more

SIPOC stands for “Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers.” SIPOC is represented in a straightforward diagram that’s a useful process improvement tool in Lean manufacturing. These diagrams are often used in the Six Sigma methodology to help reduce defects and make a process more efficient. A SIPOC table uses five columns and represents a manufacturing … Read more