As for the beginning, the lean manufacturing is the concept of management of the enterprise of production, in light of a steady want to dispense with a wide range of misfortunes (Hobbs, 2014). Lean production involves each employee in the process of optimization of the business as well as maximization of the customer’s profit (Wilson, 2015). This type of manufacture emerged as a translation of the thoughts of Toyota’s generation framework by American analysts (Hobbs, 2014). Moreover, the study of the implementation of lean manufacturing implemented by Toyota Incorporation will help to learn the basic techniques of this type of production and use them to improve any business.
In lean manufacturing, every one of the exercises of an undertaking are arranged into activities and procedures, which increase the value of the purchaser, and tasks and procedures, which don’t enhance the customer. In fact, from the perspective of lean manufacturing, all procedures, which don’t enhance the shopper, are futile, and they are delegated misfortunes, so they should be disposed of. Likewise, the essential objectives of lean manufacturing are to lessen the time spent on making the items, diminishing creation and storage room, ensuring the conveyance of items to the client, and greatest quality at a specific cost or insignificant cost for a specific quality.
The history of lean manufacturing began with Toyota Company. Sakichi Toyoda, one of the founders of Toyota, believed that there was no limit to production improvement, and it was necessary to move forward always, and to improve all production processes, regardless of the state of the company in the market and its competitiveness (Wisner, 2016). Respectively, the first technique of the lean production, which Toyota uses, is kaizen, and it means continuous improvement and development. In being practical, kaizen is a philosophy and management
instruments that urge workers to offer enhancements and ceaselessly execute them. There are five principle segments of Kaizen, including connection, individual teach, enhanced spirit, quality circles, and proposals for development (Wilson, 2015). The following system is the single moment trade of kicks the bucket (SMED). Because of the presentation of the SMED framework, the substitution of any instrument and change should be possible in only a couple of minutes or even seconds (Wilson, 2015). Subsequently, there are rules that permit proprietors of Toyota Company to abbreviate the reconfiguration time in tens or even several times, for example, isolating inward and outer setup activities, changing over interior activities to outside ones, applying practical braces or killing clasp, and utilizing extra gadgets (Wisner, 2016).
Toyota’s administration likewise utilizes the TPM framework, which is add up to gainful maintenance (Nino, 2008). General maintenance of gear principally serves to enhance the nature of material and spotlights on the most effective use because of the all inclusive arrangement of preventive maintenance (Hino, 2008). The accentuation in this framework is the counteractive action and early location of gear deserts, which can prompt more serious issues. The premise of TRM is the illustration up of a timetable of preventive maintenance, grease, cleaning and general investigation. Because of this strategy, Toyota Corporation gets the expansion in such a marker as the aggregate proficiency of hardware (Hino, 2008).
The automaker giant Toyota also uses the just-in-time technique, which manages the system of materials in production. Various raw materials are ordered, when there is a need, and delivered to reduce excessive inventory. This system leads to a reduction in the amount of materials and work allotted for projects. The lean technique assumes a specific approach to the selection and evaluation of suppliers, based on their ability to accurately delivery high quality components in a timely manner. The final method of the lean production is visualization. Visualization is any tool that informs workers about how they should implement the tasks (Hobbs, 2014). The placement of parts, tools, and other production indicators causes everyone to glace at the system.
Moreover, in the mid-1960s, the new lean manufacturing system was introduced in all Toyota factories and offices. It provoked a rapid increase in the company’s productivity. In 1989, the concern General Motors produced 5.5 million vehicles with 775,000 workers, and Toyota Company released 3.3 million cars with slightly more than 90,000 workers (Hino, 2008). Moreover, in the same year, there were 36.3 cars per employee in Toyota, while in Honda, this indicator was 22.5, in Nissan – 19.5, and in Ford – 11.1 (Hino, 2008). The company has shown such incredible performance results due to lean manufacturing. Furthermore, the return on asset of Toyota Company is in 8 times more in comparison with the average indicators on the market (Hino, 2008).
However, the introduction of lean techniques is a quite fragile process, so the majority of companies, which try to implement it, usually experience failures. For the acceleration of the implementation and obtaining stable results during the use of the lean manufacturing, it is necessary to perform the principles of constraint theory simultaneously, which is to introduce lean techniques not along the entire chain, but into a vulnerable production system. In this case, the first real results appear in two or three months. Moreover, the correctness of this approach was proved by the Toyota Company.
Additionally, the system of lean manufacturing can be used only in companies with a long product lifecycle, a relatively small range of products, and a relatively constant demand for goods. In case of violation of these conditions, there is the question arises of the fundamental possibility of balancing the flow. Similarly, the lean production system is characterized by flexible intellectualism. First of all, it is necessary to find the weakest place in the company and start implementing lean manufacturing from this place, and gradually increase the presence of technology in other components of production.
Consequently, the lean production system generalizes the experience of the Toyota and others manufacturers, who have built efficient production systems. Toyota was the first company, which started using innovative lean manufacturing. Indeed, since the late 1980s, this organization is the world leader in the production of automobiles.
References
Hino, S. (2008). Inside the Mind of Toyota: Management Principles for Enduring Growth. New York, NY: Productivity Press.
Hobbs, D. (2014). Lean Manufacturing Implementation. Boca Raton: J. Ross Publishing, Incorporated.
Wilson, L. (2015). How to implement lean manufacturing. New York, N.Y: McGraw-Hill Education LLC.
Wisner, J. (2016). Operations Management: a Supply Chain Process Approach. SAGE Publications.