Lean Manufacturing Definition Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy oriented toward achieving the shortest possible cycle time

by eliminating waste. It is derived from the Toyota Production System and its key thrust is to increase the value-added work by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work. The technique often decreases the time between a customer order and shipment, and it is designed to radically improve profitability, customer satisfaction, throughput time, and employee morale. The benefits generally are lower costs, higher quality, and shorter lead times. The term "lean manufacturing" is coined to represent half the human effort in the company, half the manufacturing space, half the investment in tools, and half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time. The characteristics of lean processes are:

Single-piece production
Repetitive order characteristics Just-In-Time materials/pull scheduling Short cycle times Quick changeover Continuous flow work cells Collocated machines, equipment,tools and people Compressed space Multi-skilled employees Flexible workforce Empowered employees High first-pass yields with major reductions in defects

Lean Manufacturing incorporates the use of Heijunka, level sequential flow, Takt time, the heartbeat or pace of the production system, continuous flow manufacturing, cellular manufacturing, and pull production scheduling techniques such as Kanban. Lean Manufacturing: Redesigning The Plant for 10 Second Takt Times Lawn & Garden Tool Manufacturer $24mm Sales Revenue

A major manufacturer and supplier of non-powered, lawn and garden, industrial and agricultural tools to the consumer products market sought to improve its manufacturing operations. The goal was to design a manufacturing system that would result in a 10 second Takt time. The current shovel head production environment was characterized by old equipment and technology, low value-add time, outdated processes, excessive downtime, excessive work-in-process

inventory, and an ineffective equipment layout and physical material flow. We identified major cost savings opportunities as primarily being in the type of equipment used in heattreating, tempering, quenching, tumbling, and lacquering. The fluidized bed furnaces not only spewed out filthy aluminum oxide creating a plant-wide dirty working environment, but also created a deposit of scale. The oil quench worsened the scale forcing the company to add more cost to the shovel heads by tumbling them. Our review of the shovel production facility also revealed substantial weaknesses in the company's ability to respond to an increasingly shortened market lead-time with consistent and repeatable high quality product, fast response, and competitive prices. For example, shovels could be currently assembled within a 30 second Takt time while it had taken up to 16-33 days for a shovel head to make its way from blanking to lacquer coating. The main causes were found in basic shovel production infrastructure: centralized operations, batch processing, physical layout by process, and type equipment and methods used to manufacture shovel heads. These findings translated to substantial opportunities for improvement. The examination of the facility revealed significant opportunities for reduction in throughput time, floor space, inventory, indirect labor, and overhead, while maintaining high quality. We proposed the company pursue lean manufacturing for shovel head manufacture consisting of the following features:

The results were as follows:

Reengineering the plant for Lean Production for an Electro-mechanical Manufacturer A U.S. based division of a $1B Swiss conglomerate assembles a line of motor control drives and systems for industrial, commercial, and residential applications. These drives are used in the building automation, marine, power, transportation, and manufacturing industries. In spite of its continued success in the markets it served, the company had challenges with respect to operational efficiency. A tour of the assembly plant revealed an inefficient floor layout, with a lot of staging, though the assembly processes were automated. We observed a lot of nonvalue added time in material handling by operators as they fetched components from surrounding areas to begin their assembly work. This resulted in lost time which had a direct impact on costs, and the income statement. Excessive inventory resulted in cash tied up on the balance sheet. The company wished to radically change the way it assembled products, and to be the best in the world. This company wanted to develop its resources and change its culture to a lean production, and Six Sigma environment. The objectives of the assignment were:

Reduce assembly costs by $1mm or more by year end

Double plant capacity while reducing shifts, and, Quadruple plant capacity with 1 shift by end of year 3 We initially developed the base workcell for the assembly operation that would eliminate the non-value tasks as much as possible. Once the base work cells were designed, we then developed the logistical support using Supplier Supermarkets. When that was accomplished we developed the physical flow for the plant using a new production model to prevent material handling interference and cross-flow.

When the new plant design was completed, we began the short-term quick-hitter activity to reduce throughput time and increase capacity. After 12 weeks of on-site presence we were able to increase capacity in the first workcell by 50%, second cell 37%, and the third cell 50%. We focused in improving both supplier and internal assembly quality. Lean Production training courses were conducted in parallel with our efforts to educate both management and the workforce on Lean Production concepts and implementation. Results are shown above. The company is in the process of implementing the recommendations. The Issues Lean Manufacturing is in direct opposition with traditional manufacturing approaches characterized by use of economic order quantities, high capacity utilization, and high inventory. In changing from a traditional environment to one of lean production, cultural issues will emerge quickly, as well as resistance to change. A managing change program is needed to accompany the effort. Piecemeal approaches generally do not work or achieve significant results. Quite often we will hear top executives claiming to be using Lean Manufacturing strategies and when we visit the site, we will discover a pilot cell off in a corner. Wide scale use produces wide scale results, and very little true results will be achieved if Lean Manufacturing is treated as a "fad of the month." However, just like anything else, Lean Manufacturing is no panacea, nor should it be embraced as a religion. It is an operational strategy that, if implemented properly, will provide a new dimension to competing: quickly introducing new customerized high quality products and delivering them with unprecedented lead times, swift decisions, and manufacturing products with high velocity.

Pragmatic Applications Lean Manufacturing techniques have been around for a long time and can greatly simplify a production process. Benefits are real and long proven. The phrase was coined in the 1980's taking examples from the successes used in the Toyota Production System. Although it has wider applications, it is best used in a repetitive or continuous production environment.

Our Approach: Tools from a Toolchest Rockford Consulting Group applies concepts and technologies as the situation warrants, that will result in the ultimate benefit to our clients. We treat strategies, technologies, and methodologies as tools in a toolchest, and use them when they offer practical solutions and achievable results. We believe that each client situation is unique, with its own unique set of solutions.(Please see our lean manufacturing consulting services Lean Manufacturing Consulting Services )

Why Us? Rockford Consulting Group can provide long-term assistance to many companies in a variety of industries. The firm has a cadre of the best supply chain consultants in the world today, providing high quality professionalism through the use of experience and innovation.

We subscribe to the Institute of Management Consultants Code of Professional Conduct. All consultants engaged on projects adhere to its principles. Whenever possible we will use consultants certified in their particular specialty area. Certification assures that consultants have substantial prior experience in their specialty, and their competencies have been tested by the IMC, and verified by a number of clients. This assures our clients that we are assigning the highest qualified consultants in the profession. We provide technical expertise, team facilitation, leadership, and direction in deciding how you will meet the challenge. We refer you to our Qualification Statement for further details on our background, areas of specialization, concepts and technologies applied, staffing, operating policy, approach, companies and industries served, case studies and references. Equally as important, we train our clients to sustain new methods of manufacturing and the consequential benefits over time. Your company will benefit directly from this training. We have achieved an efficiency in our approach to assignments that allows us to provide high quality technical and managerial advice in a much shorter amount of time than could be accomplished years ago. We are able to do this because of the extensive consulting experience that each of our specialists has.

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