Womack and Jones, in their book Lean Thinking, define lean manufacturing as "a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste." When properly implemented, lean manufacturing provides many advantages, which include improving flow (material, people, information, and work) and eliminating waste. These benefits can be realized using a variety of lean manufacturing tools, like 5S, Kaizen, and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).
Throughout the process, visual design (signs, labels, wayfinding, and floor marking) can support 5S:
When used together, these visuals form a comprehensive system that enables people to quickly move through the workplace, identify procedures, locate equipment, and replace equipment at the end of the day. Learn more about 5S and how it can improve workflow, increase efficiency, and reduce costs with the in-depth 5S System Best Practice Guide by Duralabel.
Kaizen's strength comes from understanding that workers are in the ideal position to recognize areas and processes that can be improved. Encourage workers to look for wasteful practices and make suggestions on eliminating the source of waste. Workers can provide suggestions directly to their supervisors, through suggestion boxes, during standup meetings, or by using Kaizen boards.
To help get things started, set specific goals such as looking for ways to increase order processing efficiency and looking for processes that have unneeded steps.
Provide continuous support to ensure that good ideas are acted upon and that Kaizen becomes part of the workplace culture. Once employees see how Kaizen can improve the workplace and make their work easier, new ideas for improvements will surge.
An excellent example of reducing waste with Kaizen comes from a company based in Commerce City, California. Workers identified a problem with the invoicing system. On average, there were 700 incomplete orders at any given time, which significantly reduced revenue. In response, the sales team helped to develop a system that would not allow incomplete orders to be put into the system. This ensured that every future order had the information needed to be processed-reducing time spent hunting down missing information and eliminating waste.
(Source: Imai, M. (2012). Gemba Kaizen)
Our in-depth Kaizen & PDCA Best Practice Guide provides more examples and valuable tips on how Kaizen can be used to solve problems, reduce costs, and improve quality.
Idle and malfunctioning equipment is a significant source of waste for many businesses. Ineffective maintenance causes equipment to break down, resulting in unproductive periods of downtime.
TPM helps to reduce equipment breakdowns through its Eight Pillars. Operators perform daily maintenance on the equipment they work with and report problems to the maintenance department. The maintenance department, in turn, addresses problems before they cause equipment to break down. When the equipment does break down or produce defective products, the cause is eliminated by updating preventive maintenance programs, investing in new equipment, and by providing additional training as needed.
Implement TPM in your facility today. Learn how each pillar helps to achieve the three goals of TPM, creating a leaner facility:
No matter which lean manufacturing tool is used (5S, Kaizen, or TPM) businesses will increase profit by improving flow and reducing waste. Download the free Total Productive Maintenance Guide below.