Overview and Background of Lean Manufacturing
Overview and Background of Lean Manufacturing
History of Lean Manufacturing
Toyota Production System Overview
The concept of Lean Manufacturing gets is roots from car manufacturing in the early 1930s and 1940s. Stemming from innovative production techniques developed and implemented by Henry Ford, modern day Lean Manufacturing was developed by Taiichi Ohno of Toyota Motor Company after World War II as a result of the diverse market conditions the company faced.
At a time when western car manufactures, like Ford and General Motors, where using mass production and economies of scale manufacturing methods, Toyota faced very different business conditions. Toyota 's market was very small and diverse, leaving the organization to produce a variety of vehicles on the same assembly line in order to satisfy customers.
As a result, the company realized in order to be successful their operations had to be flexible and needed to focus on eliminating wasted time and materials from every step of the production process in order to consistently deliver high quality products. This shift in ideals resulted in the birth of Toyota Production System (TPS) and the 14 principles as described by Liker, outlined below, that the company lives by.
• Principle 1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
• Principle 2. Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
• Principle 3. Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.
• Principle 4. Level out the workload (heijunka). (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
• Principle 5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
• Principle 6. Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
• Principle 7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
• Principle 8. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and
History of Lean Manufacturing
Toyota Production System Overview
The concept of Lean Manufacturing gets is roots from car manufacturing in the early 1930s and 1940s. Stemming from innovative production techniques developed and implemented by Henry Ford, modern day Lean Manufacturing was developed by Taiichi Ohno of Toyota Motor Company after World War II as a result of the diverse market conditions the company faced.
At a time when western car manufactures, like Ford and General Motors, where using mass production and economies of scale manufacturing methods, Toyota faced very different business conditions. Toyota 's market was very small and diverse, leaving the organization to produce a variety of vehicles on the same assembly line in order to satisfy customers.
As a result, the company realized in order to be successful their operations had to be flexible and needed to focus on eliminating wasted time and materials from every step of the production process in order to consistently deliver high quality products. This shift in ideals resulted in the birth of Toyota Production System (TPS) and the 14 principles as described by Liker, outlined below, that the company lives by.
• Principle 1. Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.
• Principle 2. Create a continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface.
• Principle 3. Use “pull” systems to avoid overproduction.
• Principle 4. Level out the workload (heijunka). (Work like the tortoise, not the hare.)
• Principle 5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.
• Principle 6. Standardized tasks and processes are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment.
• Principle 7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden.
• Principle 8. Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and