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Lean manufacturing is just a part of the "lean system" approach that consists in eliminating business inefficiency. At least three major processes concerned: Development (from needs definition to product launching), Fulfilment (from order to delivery), and Production (from raw material to finished product) "Lean" effectiveness truly comes from the deployment method. Since the improvement tools employed are already known and used in industry but these tools need to be integrated in a "lean visioning".
Among all these tools, one may name: SMED, SPC, KANBAN, POKA YOKE, 5S, TPM, TRS, VISUAL MANAGEMENT, AMDEC, PDCA, PROBLEM SOLVING...
"Lean Method" requires at least four steps:
- Determining the value for the customer (information about customer purchase habits for example)
- Setting the Use Value Stream Map and optimizing the Chain of Value for each product
- Designing continuous flows of value for useful activities (Reorganization in Cellular Manufacturing or One-Piece Flow Systems...)
- Providing the full value consumers from products without wasting time or effort by involving all the actors of the company (customers - suppliers - distributors - employees), and by innovating new breakthrough processes
The "lean" allows a compensation of European labour wage additional cost thanks to improvement to deliver quality products at the lowest cost without wasting time.
A successful "Lean Action Plan" is based on coaching, continuing education and expertise in continuous improvement process.
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