It’s all about time

Lean Manufacturing is a focus on optimizing productivity, eliminating waste and continuous improvement. This can occur on the plant floor or anywhere in a company, in all departments. Lean Manufacturing principles can benefit every department and every business process. Even a office workers desk can use the principles for better productivity. In fact, a competitive company will require that all departments recognize the fact that they depend on each other and must strive to be as efficient as possible. For the culture at a Lean company to succeed it must remain a ‘top down’ initiative, all employees must participate and all should be listened to.

The total focus of Consumers Interstate Corporation is to support the Lean Manufacturing effort. We recognize that customers want to ‘simplify’ their processes, eliminate wasted steps, and optimize productivity. As a progressive distributor of factory expense items we focus on our trademarked Lean Procurement program to help you simplify and Lean down by eliminating wasted activities in your process of buying thousands of low value high velocity factory expense items.

Procurement is just another process in your business that can be examined and improved.

LEAN MANUFACTURING
Eliminate waste & optimize productivity in the process of making your product. 

What is a Kaizen?
Kaizen groups which are commonly referred to as ‘continuous improvement’ sessions are common methods for identifying and examining the problems in a process and organizing recommendations for management that provide solutions. Processes can be either transactional or production. Processes can be from the plant floor or the administrative office. The Kaizen group is made up of employees from multi departments that meet for the sole purpose of improving a process.

Who started Lean?
Lean was first seem in concept by Ford motor Company with the assembly line and later refined in Japan by the Toyota Motor Company beginning in the 1950s. Called the Toyota Production System (TPS), it was defined as: “A philosophical approach to business that is based on satisfying the customer(whether internal or external) by producing quality products that are just what they need, when they need them, in the quantity required, using the minimum of materials, equipment, space, labor and time.” Most of the new ideas of Lean manufacturing are based on the work of Dr. William E. Demmings and Dr. Shigeo Shingo. The Toyota Motor Company was the first to introduce the combined system of ideas which became known as Lean Manufacturing.

Where does technology fit into Lean?
Technology can be applied to increase and improve communications, provide vital statistics and speed up the high volume of complex business transactions commonly done by humans. Customer orders and service requests can be submitted over the web. Production statistics, delivery information and budgets can be provided and updated live. The right use of technology is an important aspect in a lean manufacturing initiative.

Can suppliers help?
Identifying suppliers that recognize the principles of Lean Manufacturing is important. In many cases the supplier will sit on your Kaizen team to help solve a problem for you. In many cases you can out source a problem to a supplier for a more efficient solution. Utilizing the suppliers’ data and technology reduces the efforts for you.

Implementing Lean
Implementing Lean Manufacturing principles can be daunting. Adopting Lean Manufacturing principles just to an individual element will produce only an isolated improvement. But implementing a total company philosophy of Lean Manufacturing establishes a direction of continuous improvements towards the highest competitive position in your market. Management can determine where the ‘low hanging fruit’ is first. And you have to be realistic. You may want to use a consultant. Most importantly, the whole company should be educated in the basic principles of Lean and understand that there is a total commitment in the direction and that it is supported and sustained from the top executive right through the whole organization.

The benefits of Lean
The benefits are too important to ignore. Basically you can do more with less. Your processes will have fewer steps and less waste. Here are some highlights you receive when attaching your processes whether production or transactional
Fewer redundant and valueless activities
Reduced paperwork
Faster internal communications
Better company statistics
Improved accountability and controls
Reduced lead times
Improved delivery performance
Increased sales revenue
Lower operating costs
Improved customer satisfaction
Better supplier relations
Increase inventory turns
Better employee morals
Improved quality
Reduced physical space requirements

What is the 5S method?
‘5S’ is a methodology for organizing, cleaning, developing and sustaining a productive work environment. The objective is creating a neat, clutter-free working environment. The “5” and “S” come from the five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. The English equivalents are; sort, set, shine, standardize, and sustain.

Sort- gets rid of clutter- items which are not used in the work area should be removed-items infrequently used should be properly identified and stored out of sight.

Set in order- organize the work area- A place for everything and every thing in place. All production items and their storage areas should be clearly identified. Setting up shadow boards that clearly identify where hand tools should be hung and stored is a good idea. This avoids hidden storage in private tool boxes and opens up the sharing of tools. Accessibility should be prioritized with reference to use. Cleaning materials must be stored in the work area not shared.

Shine - clean and buff up the work area on a schedule. It is essential that enough attention be paid to the neatness of work stations so that the worker will be able to take pride in ownership. Also, a clean area is safer. Excess debris, cut metals, nails, grease etc are eliminated.

Standardize- Establish written standards for key procedures. For instance, keeping order and cleaning work stations are important and specific time should be part of a procedure, reserved for end of day and/or end of task.

Sustain- Maintain the standards through training, empowerment, commitment and discipline.

The benefits are better organization, safer workplaces, and reductions in hand tool inventories, reductions in misplaced equipment and an increase in productivity.

What is Kanban?
Kanban means visible record in Japanese or ‘card’. It is a visual record or signal. Color coded cards are a good way to improved visibility and identify an activity or step required in a process.

Kanban is used in Lean Manufacturing principles as a way to make a process more efficient. It is essentially a signal to produce or move a product. It can be an electric signal, an empty bin, a card, a pallet or a defined area to hold product. Kanbans are used to manage inventory, quantity and flow.

Basic prerequisite to applying a Kanban process are: repetitive production in small lots, balanced manufacturing system and one piece manufacturing. A Kanban system does not work well if your business is seasonal, requires large batch lots, and produces multiple products requiring tooling changes or a poorly balanced operation.

Benefits include: reduced inventories, predictable flow of materials, simplified scheduling and improved productivity