NWIRC - What is Lean Manufacturing

What is Lean Manufacturing?

Ask yourself some tough questions...

Are you manufacturing more, earlier and faster than required by your customers?
Does production stop when an employee is away or parts are out of stock?
Are you missing on-time delivery?
Are batch sizes much larger than consumption rates?
Do you have lots of rework?

If you answered yes to any of the above, then your solution is Lean Manufacturing. What does it mean to be Lean? Lean is about being able to do more with less and get more with less. Lean is about eliminating waste and producing what your customers want when they want it. Everywhere you look represents an opportunity… a place to improve throughput, eliminate set-up steps, reduce inventory, speed up delivery, improve cash flow, become more efficient. Here are some areas to look at:

Overproduction
Inventory
Defects

Processing
Transportation
Waiting

Motion
Underutilized people

If waste exists in your company, we'll find it. We'll also show you how to reduce it, or better yet, eliminate it. Plus, we should warn you right now… we're relentless and we expect you to be the same way. Every dollar that you're throwing away today is being multiplied on your bottom line. Lean is a proven system that leads to:

Improved quality
Greater throughput
Reduced costs

Better cash flow
Improved morale
Faster speed to market

Increased sales
Greater productivity
Higher profits

What will it mean to be Lean? The longer you stick to Lean, the bigger the benefits. While you will experience dramatic effects early on, they are just a hint of how great it can be. Lean is not a destination, it is a journey. The sooner you get started, the sooner you begin to see the rewards.

Read an article about the "Seven Skills People Need to Create a Lean Enterprise".

We recommend you start your Lean journey with "Lean 101 - Principles of Lean Manufacturing".

(click a topic to learn more)

Lean Manufacturing training:

Learn how these tools and practices can benefit your company with an Executive Overview of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma
Lean 101 gives you an introduction to Lean Manufacturing
Find wastes in the flow of your manufacturing process with Value Stream Mapping
Office Value Stream Mapping will show you how to increase efficiencies and save money on your administrative processes
Improve workplace organization and standardization through The 5S System
Increase productivity, reduce inventory, and decrease lead time with Pull Systems/Kanban
Setup Reduction can reduce or eliminate change over time
Maximize the productivity of your equipment with Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
Take the principles of Lean Manufacturing to another level with Principles of Lean Office
Cellular/Flow Manufacturing teaches how to meet customer demand - on time - every time
With Lean for Finance and Accounting, all functions can be involved in the transformation!
Lean Enterprise & Six Sigma Overview Seminar