What Adopting Lean Manufacturing Can Do For You

Lean manufacturing espouses the philosophy that the seven major wastes in every production process and company should be significantly reduced or even eliminated in order to be able to compete more effectively and dramatically boost profitability.

Times are changing fast and the demands of the market for faster delivery periods, higher quality and lower costs are placing huge tolls on every firm. This is where lean manufacturing comes in. What it does is help your firm rise up to the competition by being 'lean', that is, by taking out all the unnecessary activities and methods that cause problems and delay.

Lean manufacturing has identified seven major 'wastes', as named by companies surveyed all over the world: overprocessing, transportation, waiting time, over production, motion, scrap and defects and inventory. 

For example, a certain production level becomes a huge waste of time, effort and resources if it's being done in ten levels, while it can be completed in just three. 

Citing another case, productivity could have been raised if defects of a particular equipment or system had been addressed before processing began. A lot more could have been done you had not waited for it to bog down in the middle of everything and cause annoying delays. 

Another one is where your company has overproduced and have no more space to stock the overruns. Where do you put the excesses? How do you manage to sell them? More likely than not, you will be forced to offload them at a price much lower than intended just so you could make room for new goods. And, this, as lean manufacturing says (and any businessperson would say) is major waste.

Studies show that firms adopting the lean manufacturing principles have seen that their productivity has gone up 75% to 125%. 

This is because the energy and time usually spent on regular processes have been significantly lowered to allow for greater focus on quality and on what the customers truly need. With lean manufacturing, there is no 'this will have to do' attitude. 

Everything is done at the right quality, at the right quantity, at the right time, all the time. 

As with the workplace setting, lean manufacturing's focus on eliminating unproductive activities and tasks will also help the firm and its employees give more attention to what their clients need. No job will be haphazardly done because enough time is afforded to each level to make sure things are running smoothly.

When customer satisfaction is achieved, it follows that revenue will rise. Your client is happy, your company is happy, everybody is happy.

Lean manufacturing also aids the organization by weeding out redundant positions, thereby cutting labor costs and eventually raking in savings. It helps firms focus just on what needs to be done and do away with unwanted stress, especially those that arise from having too many people on board. With lean manufacturing, less is definitely more.

One major change that your company will see once you have adopted lean manufacturing concepts is the raised discipline among your employees. Because the culture becomes standardized, annoying kinks and practices are done away with. 

While several people criticize lean manufacturing, saying it's a costly endeavor, you must be aware that the costs related to its preliminary stages will far be trumped by the advantages it will deliver for the company in the long run.
