What is Lean?

Definition of LEAN Manufacturing

Lean is a management practice that focuses on reducing costs associated with non value adding activities. Examples of this are unnecessary waste, inefficiency and lack of safety and quality. Lean supports the concept of continuous improvement, a systematic approach that encourages shared responsibility and leadership which aims to achieve incremental changes for long term results.

Why Lean?

LEAN therefore means less waste, shorter cycle times, fewer suppliers and less bureaucracy. LEAN also means more competent employees, more delegation, a more agile and efficient organization, more productivity, more satisfied customers an more long term success.

Lean Productivity

LEAN is the result of
Lead Time and Takt Time

Initially developed by Toyota, LEAN, literally links performance (productivity, quality) to the flexibility of a company, which must be able to constantly reconfigure all its processes in order to meet customer demand. LEAN advocates seek performance through continuous improvement and elimination of waste, MUDA in Japanese.
In order to obtain this performance, LEAN is based on two main parameters. First of all the lead time, corresponding to the time needed to carry out all the operations from the acceptance of the order until its dispatch. Finally, Takt Time, representing the reflection of ideal consumption by customers. Takt Time is the rate at which we want a unit to leave the company’s manufacturing process.

LEAN Thinking, continuous improvement of activities

Since the 1950s, Toyota’s Production System (TPS) has constantly evolved and the principles of this method were published in a book written by J.P WOMACK and D.T JONES in 1997 under the title “LEAN THINKING” (Philosophy or way of thinking). LEAN Thinking, or the adoption of this way of thinking, makes it possible to leave the purely curative framework of the hunt for waste and the improvement of performance and to apply its principles preventively, during the development of products, processes, and activities.

Lean Manufacturing

Flooded with problems of all kinds (relocations, saturated markets, increase in materials, technological innovations, etc.), most managers are looking for solutions (turnkey), kits to meet their most pressing problems. In times of crisis, to continue to perform well, the company must adapt its activity quickly to a tense environment without systematically resorting to investment.

Today, LEAN Manufacturing is an organizational model that improves the company’s flexibility and responsiveness so that it can be more competitive with more respondents to customers who pay close attention to these two aspects.

The 5 principles of LEAN THINKING

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