|
|
Lean Production Introduction Traditional mass production methods can create problems, which leads to inefficiency. The main problems are: Employee boredom and low morale - a problem of doing the same thing all the time Equipment failure – equipment breaks down Equipment becomes outdated Businesses have tried to make production more efficient by becoming more “flexible” and “lean”. Lean production aims to eliminate all forms of waste in the production process and so produce more by using fewer inputs. There are several forms of waste that lean production aims to eliminate:- Waste from materials Waste of worker’s time and effort Waste of floor space Waste from defective products (poor quality) There are several popular management techniques that have been developed to help achieve “lean production”. The three most popular are: Cell production Kaizen (continuous improvement) Just-in-time (“JIT”) manufacturing Cell Production In cell production, workers are organised into multi-skilled teams. Each team is responsible for a particular part of the production process including quality control and health and safety. Each cell is made up of several teams who deliver finished items on to the next cell in the production process. Cell production improves motivation (team spirit and added responsibility given to cells) and workers sharing their skills and expertise. Kaizen (Continuous Improvement) Kaizen means “continuous improvement” and implies a process where the overall progress and gains in productivity within a firm, come from small improvements by workers being made all the time. Just-in-time (“JIT”) Production JIT means that stock arrives on the production line just as it is needed. This minimises the amount of stock that has to be stored (reducing storage costs). |