Lean Production

1. Lean Production

2. Content • Cell production • Just In Time (JIT) • Time-based management • Continuous improvement • Lean production and human resources

3. Lean production • Lean production looks at reducing all forms of waste throughout the production process • Types of waste: • Materials • Time • Energy • Human effort

4. Cell production • Production is organised around teams • Every team is responsible for one stage in the production process • This helps improve motivation is it encourages team work • It can increase quality as employees feel more ownership of the final product • Teams will self-check their work before it enters the next stage of production

5. Just In Time (JIT) • Goods are produced to order so stock levels are minimal • Keeping low stock levels decreases the costs of storing them helping to increase profits • This increases the flexibility of a firm • It helps reduce waste as you only use what you need

6. JIT • For JIT to be effective you need the following: • Excellent supplier relationships – need the supplies to arrive at exactly the right time • Reliable employees – or stoppages may occur • A flexible workforce – need them to be able to work any time and any where

7. Advantages Increased focus on quality Costs are reduced: Warehousing Security and insurance Opportunity Disadvantages May be difficult to meet unexpected major increases in demand Can be problems caused by suppliers Loss of discounts for buying in bulk JIT – Advantages and Disadvantages

8. Time-based management • This is used as a USP for many businesses • Businesses try and produce items more quickly than competitors or deliver it more quickly to them increasing sales

9. Simultaneous engineering • To decrease new product development times firms use simultaneous engineering • Simultaneous engineering – where everyone involved in the project works on it at the same time – engineers, designers etc • This decreases the time taken to get the product to market

10. Continuous Improvement • Kaizen – Continuous incremental improvement of an activity to eliminate waste • This is a Japanese approach to production • Everyone in the business has to be involved for it to work • Review all processes and procedures and look at better ways of doing them to increase performance

11. Continuous Improvement • Based on the idea of gradual change not radical overhauls • Need to have well qualified staff who are trained to identify improvements to process or product to improve performance of the organisation

12. Lean Production and People • Workers are key to all lean production techniques • All of the methods demand for employees to have high levels of empowerment and involvement so they constantly try to improve how the business works • Need to have “people-centred management”

13. Lean production and people • When businesses introduce methods of lean production they need to: • Use a management style that is more listening in its approach – need employees to feel that they can come forward with their ideas • Train all employees • Increase skill levels of employees so they can do more than one job • Develop good manager-subordinate relations

14. Summary • Lean production refers to production methods where waste is minimized • Cell production is where production is organised by teams who are responsible for a part of the process • Cell production increases motivation of workers • Just In Time (JIT) production aims to make products when they are needed reducing costs and decreasing wastage • Time-based management tries to reduce new product development times through simultaneous engineering • Continuous improvement looks at improving in small incremental steps • Lean production and human resources – workers are key to all methods of lean production and need to be given the skills and autonomy for the methods to be successful