Top 25 Lean Tools

Exploring the World of Lean

There are a lot of great ideas to explore in lean. So where should you begin?

One way to start is to survey the most

important lean tools, with a brief description and short explanation of how each tool can improve your
manufacturing operations.

If a tool captures your interest or resonates with you in some way – explore it further to decide if it is
something to pursue now…or later. Many of these tools can be successfully used in isolation, which makes
it much easier to get started. On the other hand, the benefits will compound as more tools are used, as they
do support and reinforce each other.

25 Essential Lean Tools

The following is a collection of 25 essential lean tools. Each tool is distilled into a simple description of
what it is and how it helps.

Lean Tool What Is It? How Does It Help?

Organize the work area:

 Sort (eliminate that which is not

needed)
Eliminates waste that results from a poorly
 Set In Order (organize remaining
5S organized work area (e.g. wasting time
items)
looking for a tool).
 Shine (clean and inspect work area)
 Standardize (write standards for above)
 Sustain (regularly apply the standards)

Visual feedback system for the plant floor that Acts as a real-time communication tool for
indicates production status, alerts when the plant floor that brings immediate
Andon
assistance is needed, and empowers operators attention to problems as they occur – so
to stop the production process. they can be instantly addressed.
Identify which part of the manufacturing
Bottleneck process limits the overall throughput and Improves throughput by strengthening the
Analysis improve the performance of that part of the weakest link in the manufacturing process.
process.
Manufacturing where work-in-process
smoothly flows through production with Eliminates many forms of waste (e.g.
Continuous Flow
minimal (or no) buffers between steps of the inventory, waiting time, and transport).
manufacturing process.
Gemba (The Real A philosophy that reminds us to get out of our Promotes a deep and thorough
Place) offices and spend time on the plant floor – the understanding of real-world manufacturing
 issues – by first-hand observation and by
place where real action occurs.
talking with plant floor employees.
A form of production scheduling that
Reduces lead times (since each product or
Heijunka (Level purposely manufactures in much smaller
variant is manufactured more frequently)
Scheduling) batches by sequencing (mixing) product
and inventory (since batches are smaller).
variants within the same process.
Align the goals of the company (Strategy), Ensures that progress towards strategic
Hoshin Kanri
with the plans of middle management (Tactics) goals is consistent and thorough –
(Policy
and the work performed on the plant floor eliminating the waste that comes from poor
Deployment)
(Action). communication and inconsistent direction.
Design equipment to partially automate the
After Jidoka, workers can frequently
manufacturing process (partial automation is
Jidoka monitor multiple stations (reducing labor
typically much less expensive than full
(Autonomation) costs) and many quality issues can be
automation) and to automatically stop when
detected immediately (improving quality).
defects are detected.
Pull parts through production based on
customer demand instead of pushing parts
Highly effective in reducing inventory
Just-In-Time through production based on projected
levels. Improves cash flow and reduces
(JIT) demand. Relies on many lean tools, such as
space requirements.
Continuous Flow, Heijunka, Kanban,
Standardized Work and Takt Time.
Combines the collective talents of a
Kaizen A strategy where employees work together
company to create an engine for
(Continuous proactively to achieve regular, incremental
continually eliminating waste from
Improvement) improvements in the manufacturing process.
manufacturing processes.
A method of regulating the flow of goods both Eliminates waste from inventory and
within the factory and with outside suppliers overproduction. Can eliminate the need for
Kanban (Pull
and customers. Based on automatic physical inventories (instead relying on
System)
replenishment through signal cards that signal cards to indicate when more goods
indicate when more goods are needed. need to be ordered).
The best manufacturing KPIs:

 Are aligned with top-level strategic

Metrics designed to track and encourage goals (thus helping to achieve those
progress towards critical goals of the goals)
KPI (Key
organization. Strongly promoted KPIs can be  Are effective at exposing and
Performance
extremely powerful drivers of behavior – so it quantifying waste (OEE is a good
Indicator)
is important to carefully select KPIs that will example)
drive desired behavior.  Are readily influenced by plant
floor employees (so they can drive
results)

Anything in the manufacturing process that

Eliminating muda (waste) is the primary
Muda (Waste) does not add value from the customer’’s
focus of lean manufacturing.
perspective.
Framework for measuring productivity loss for
a given manufacturing process. Three Provides a benchmark/baseline and a
Overall categories of loss are tracked: means to track progress in eliminating
Equipment waste from a manufacturing process. 100%
Effectiveness  Availability (e.g. down time) OEE means perfect production
(OEE)  Performance (e.g. slow cycles) (manufacturing only good parts, as fast as
 Quality (e.g. rejects) possible, with no down time).

PDCA (Plan, Do, An iterative methodology for implementing Applies a scientific approach to making
 improvements:
improvements:
 Plan (establish plan and expected
 Plan (develop a hypothesis)
results)
 Do (run experiment)
Check, Act)  Do (implement plan)
 Check (evaluate results)
 Check (verify expected results
 Act (refine your experiment; try
achieved)
again)
 Act (review and assess; do it again)

It is difficult (and expensive) to find all

Design error detection and prevention into
Poka-Yoke (Error defects through inspection, and correcting
production processes with the goal of
Proofing) defects typically gets significantly more
achieving zero defects.
expensive at each stage of production.
A problem solving methodology that focuses
on resolving the underlying problem instead of
applying quick fixes that only treat immediate Helps to ensure that a problem is truly
Root Cause
symptoms of the problem. A common eliminated by applying corrective action to
Analysis
approach is to ask why five times – each time the “root cause” of the problem.
moving a step closer to discovering the true
underlying problem.
Reduce setup (changeover) time to less than
10 minutes. Techniques include:

 Convert setup steps to be external

Single Minute (performed while the process is Enables manufacturing in smaller lots,
Exchange of Die running) reduces inventory, and improves customer
(SMED)  Simplify internal setup (e.g. replace responsiveness.
bolts with knobs and levers)
 Eliminate non-essential operations
 Create standardized work instructions

Six categories of productivity loss that are

almost universally experienced in
manufacturing:

 Breakdowns Provides a framework for attacking the

Six Big Losses  Setup/Adjustments most common causes of waste in
 Small Stops manufacturing.
 Reduced Speed
 Startup Rejects
 Production Rejects

Goals that are: Specific, Measurable,

SMART Goals Helps to ensure that goals are effective.
Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Specific.
Documented procedures for manufacturing
Eliminates waste by consistently applying
Standardized that capture best practices (including the time
best practices. Forms a baseline for future
Work to complete each task). Must be “living”
improvement activities.
documentation that is easy to change.
The pace of production (e.g. manufacturing Provides a simple, consistent and intuitive
one piece every 34 seconds) that aligns method of pacing production. Is easily
Takt Time production with customer demand. Calculated extended to provide an efficiency goal for
as Planned Production Time / Customer the plant floor (Actual Pieces / Target
Demand. Pieces).
 A holistic approach to maintenance that Creates a shared responsibility for
focuses on proactive and preventative equipment that encourages greater
Total Productive maintenance to maximize the operational time involvement by plant floor workers. In the
Maintenance of equipment. TPM blurs the distinction right environment this can be very
(TPM) between maintenance and production by effective in improving productivity
placing a strong emphasis on empowering (increasing up time, reducing cycle times,
operators to help maintain their equipment. and eliminating defects).
A tool used to visually map the flow of
Exposes waste in the current processes and
Value Stream production. Shows the current and future state
provides a roadmap for improvement
Mapping of processes in a way that highlights
through the future state.
opportunities for improvement.
Visual indicators, displays and controls used Makes the state and condition of
Visual Factory throughout manufacturing plants to improve manufacturing processes easily accessible
communication of information. and very clear – to everyone.

Top 25 Lean Tools