In 1990 James Womack and Daniel Jones wrote a book called "The Machine That Changed The World", which first introduced the new phrase – “Lean Manufacturing”. The phrase was used to give an account of an alternative management philosophy and methodologies used by Toyota under the influence of Sakichi Toyoda, Taiichi Ohno, Shigoe Shigo and many other people at Toyota.
The lean principle stressed the endless pursuit of the elimination of 8 muda (wastes) and uses a set of specific techniques, known as lean tools to drastically remove the non value added activities from the production system. Among the most well known tools are Take Time driven production, One Piece Flow, Kanban, Poka Yoke and many more. The latest publication such as “The Toyota Ways” by Jeffery Liker and David Meier, highlighted the importance of paying respect to the employee.
Since the mid 1990s, Lean Manufacturing caught the imagination of manufacturing people throughout the world. Early converts such as Boeing, Solectron, Rubbermaid, Raytheon enjoyed significant financial benefits. Toyota overtook GM and Ford as the world leading automaker in 2005, which added confidence to the lean followers. Today, lean management is taught in business schools worldwide. Lean implementations are now commonplace (s?), even in non-manufacturing sectors such as hospital and bank. The knowledge and experience base is expanding rapidly.
Lean Manufacturing can have an immediate, positive impact on your company. Through the process of implementing Lean Manufacturing, you will be able to find ways to achieve a number of benefits. Results will vary, but here are some typical savings and improvements.
| Reduce | Increase | |
| Manufacturing Lead Time | 50%-90% | |
| Floor Space Requirement | 5%-30% | |
| Work In Progress | 50%-80% | |
| First Pass Yield | 50%-90% | |
| Throughput | 30%-80% | |
| Productivity | 70%-120% |
Interested in lean manufacturing? Pamalex provides Lean Manufacturing transformation service to help you kick start your lean journey. For more information, contact us at enquiry@pamalex.com
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