The core idea of lean manufacturing refers to ways that reduce waste and maximize profit.

It has
a profound impact on many industries in the world. The four main principles of lean
manufacturing include eliminating waste, increasing speed and response, improve quality and
reduce costs. So what waste does it eliminate? As shown below lean identifies 8 types of waste.

Figure 1. 8 types of waste

eliminated by Lean

The good thing about lean is that it provides opportunities for companies to grow using many
tools. To begin with, we are surrounded by dozens of visual controls in our own routines. These
are simple signals provided to us with immediate understanding. Just like the traffic lights
remind us of the road rules, the visual signs of manufacturing help to stick to the lean principles.
Visual controls are usually considered user friendly. They include colour coded wires, flow
direction indicators, painted floor areas for different functions such as good stock and trash,
shadow boards etc. According to Parry and Turner (2006), visual controls are used by
companies like Rolls Royce and Airbus UK to communicate complex knowledge in a simple
manner.

It is impossible to think of enhancing quality and improve processes if the equipment is

unreliable. Therefore, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is widely used by companies to
enhance equipment maintenance and increase production. Basically, TPM assures no
breakdowns, no slow running and zero defects. TPM could also be either predictive or
preventive. Toyota is the best-case practice of TPM. It encourages open communication between
different employees, suppliers and provides training for continuous routine maintenance.
However, although TPM is a widely accepted practice, McKone, Schroeder and Cua, (1998)
argue that application of TPM to every situation is impractical. Their case study on Japan, USA
and Italy proves that, Japanese well-organized culture supports strong use of TPM practices
whilst it’s the opposite in USA and Italy.

So, what do you think of Lean tools? Do you think there are better tools than these?

Reference
Belekoukias, I, Garza-Reyes, J A and Kumar, V 2014, ‘The impact of lean methods and tools on
the operational performance of manufacturing organisations’, International Journal of
Production Research, vol. 52, no.18, pp.5346-5366.
McKone, K, Schroeder, R and Cua, K 1998, ‘Total productive maintenance: a contextual view’,
Journal of Operations Management, vol.17, no.2, pp.123-144.
Parry, G and Turner, C 2006, ‘Application of lean visual process management tools’, Production
Planning & Control, vol.17, no.1,pp.77-86.