Lean principles streamline manufacturing processes by getting rid of inefficiency and waste. They can improve productivity, lower material costs, improve cycle time, and lift you above your competition. To implement lean manufacturing at your facility, follow its five basic principles.
1. Identify value.
Think about how, why, and when the customers need your product or service.
How much will it cost? How will you meet that price point through manufacturing and timely delivery? What requirements and standards do you have to follow to fulfill or exceed expectations? The answers to these questions define value.
2. Map the value stream.
The value stream defines every step that goes into creating the product from gathering raw materials to final delivery to the customer. Identify all the actions involved in each stage of procurement, design, production process, human resources, delivery, and customer support. You can ideally map all the steps on one page to give you an overall picture. You can then begin to identify those that are repetitious or wasteful and need to be disposed of.
We want to help you boost productivity and lower your Total Cost of Ownership. One way we do this is by conducting a value stream analysis focused on your fasteners and fastening technology to identify any areas of optimization.
3. Create flow.
Once you eliminate the waste from your stream, you can find ways to make the remaining steps flow smoothly and without delays or interruptions. If you ensure that all the steps for creating value happen in a tight sequence, you can guarantee a smooth process that leads to the customer. This may demand teamwork across all departments. The goal is an improvement in productivity and efficiency.
4. Establish pull.
Improving the product flow reduces the time for the product to reach your customers who want to be able to “pull” products as they are needed. Delivery times then drop from months to weeks. This prevents the expensive storage of materials or products waiting to be delivered. This results in savings for you and the customer.
5. Seek perfection.
Lean manufacturing demands continuous attention to process improvement and implementing efforts to continually improve. Making it part of your corporate culture lets you strive for perfection. Every employee must be involved. It is said that a process does not truly become lean until it has gone through these principles at least six times.
For more information about how Bossard can help you achieve your lean manufacturing goals, get in touch today at ProvenProductivity@bossard.com.
5 Lean Manufacturing Principles to Improve Efficiency by Bossard
