| | December 20208T he core of lean is Respect for people, which means Valuing the work of others, collaborating on projects and in the workplace, Applying tools to drive continuous improvement, Sharing one's knowledge with others (mentoring), Viewing mistakes, without blame, as opportunities to improve. It's all about continuous improvement such as Set a baseline. Figure out how to improve. Use the lean tools to improve. Execute the plan Revisit for review and further improvement. It's called a PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) It's not just about Waste Elimination· Waste elimination is an important aspect, but not the only one. The ultimate objective is to reduce cost of production, whether goods or services. Lean works in all kinds of businesses, as long as there is a differential between price and cost. The 3W's include Muda (Everyone knows this one). Visible waste, Mura (Unevenness in production), Muri (Over burdening) The 7 Deadly Wastes (Muda) include Transportation, Inventory, Movement, Waiting, Over processing, Over production, DefectMura is when people hang around half the day, and then suddenly an urgent order comes in and everyone runs around like crazy. This is how companies end up paying overtime even when productivity is quite low. Muri (Over burdening)Pre requisites for a successful Lean journey-1 is 5S Everyone knows this one, so I'm not going to talk about it. Every housewife practices 5S, including sorting, labeling, visual control, keeping most commonly used things closest to hand. (except the part about throwing away what you don't need). But what is important here is to introduce visual control, so if something is wrong or out of place, you can see it at a glance.For example, if you have a tool board with the tool shapes outlined on it, you will see instantly if a tool is missing. And on lights and boards are an excellent means of visual control, widely used by Toyota and now by everyone else. Pre requisites for a successful lean journey-2A culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. This is where kaizen comes from. Documented standard work procedures for all tasks. These are A PRIMER ON LEAN MANUFACTURINGDr. Ram Parthasarathy, Director, Dynalec Controls Pvt LtdVANTAGE POINTRam Parthasarathy, Director
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