Lean Manufacturing
Lean production: Successful implementation of organisational change in operations instead of short term cost reduction efforts by Thorsten Ahrens
Lean Alliance® GmbH Im Schlosshof 4a • D-82229 Seefeld • Germany • Tel: +49 (08152) 7944-94• Fax: +49 (08152) 7944-93
© 2006 Lean Alliance. All Rights Reserved. This product, and any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or used in any manner whatsoever without direct permission from the owners of the Lean Alliance.
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Abstract
Lean production: Successful implementation of organisational change in operations instead of short term cost reduction efforts
This lean survey investigates critical success factors for sustainable lean implementation. Applying lean production tools of the Toyota Production System (TPS) has helped Porsche to increase their operational result from -122 million € in 1994 to 933 million € in 2004. The goal was to Shed light on the concept of lean production Analyse tools and concepts that have to be applied in order to become a lean operating organisation and evaluate how and in which functions these tools can be used and Investigate how important the lean philosophy and management behaviour are as well as related implementation issues. This lean survey first describes the philosophy, the tools and the supporting management behaviour to successfully implement lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. As shown, lean is not simply a set of tools and concepts, which can be implemented by command and control. Rather it is a fully integrated manage-
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ment and manufacturing philosophy and approach in which the human dimension is the single most important element for success. Primary data form a survey was gathered from a number of organisations that are applying lean principles in order to analyse the critical success factors for sustainable lean implementation. Recommendations based on a variety of hypothesis tested were made to implement organisational change and
Lean Alliance® GmbH Im Schlosshof 4a • D-82229 Seefeld • Germany • Tel: +49 (08152) 7944-94• Fax: +49 (08152) 7944-93
© 2006 Lean Alliance. All Rights Reserved. This product, and any parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or used in any manner whatsoever without direct permission from the owners of the Lean Alliance.
1
Abstract
Lean production: Successful implementation of organisational change in operations instead of short term cost reduction efforts
This lean survey investigates critical success factors for sustainable lean implementation. Applying lean production tools of the Toyota Production System (TPS) has helped Porsche to increase their operational result from -122 million € in 1994 to 933 million € in 2004. The goal was to Shed light on the concept of lean production Analyse tools and concepts that have to be applied in order to become a lean operating organisation and evaluate how and in which functions these tools can be used and Investigate how important the lean philosophy and management behaviour are as well as related implementation issues. This lean survey first describes the philosophy, the tools and the supporting management behaviour to successfully implement lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. As shown, lean is not simply a set of tools and concepts, which can be implemented by command and control. Rather it is a fully integrated manage-
2
ment and manufacturing philosophy and approach in which the human dimension is the single most important element for success. Primary data form a survey was gathered from a number of organisations that are applying lean principles in order to analyse the critical success factors for sustainable lean implementation. Recommendations based on a variety of hypothesis tested were made to implement organisational change and
References: 21 Figure 5: The timeline (based on Womack and Jones, 2003)