Remember, “LEAN” is not about what you see; lean is about how you think!
Quick summary of the most basic LM ‘tools’ to get you off to a good start.
They include:
- 5S
- Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, sustain
- helps organize what’s needed and eliminate what’s not, allowing the organization to identify problems quickly
- 5 Whys
- Problem-solving by asking why the problem occurred, then why that cause occurred repeating the process five times until you get to the main or ‘root’ cause of a problem.
- Andon
- operator pulls a cord that triggers a horn and light, which tells the team leader or supervisor that he or she needs help or support.
- Keep production moving and catching problems early
- Jidoka
- Autonomation ( Automation with a human touch) or people identifying problems either stopping for correction or self-correcting PRIOR to proceeding or moving on to the next step.
- Kaizen
- A structured ongoing process engage those closest to the process
- improve both the effectiveness and efficiency of the process
- remove waste and add standardization.
- Kanban
- A signal or card system that a downstream (customer) process can use
- Optimized to request a specific amount of a specific part from the upstream (supply) process.
- SMED
- Single-minute exchange of die
- Visual management
- manage every aspect of the process at a glance, using visual data, signals and guides.
WE all should pause and take a minute to consider how LM principles, rules, tools and thinking can help us in eliminating waste.
Getting to root-causes makes problem-solving easier and more permanent! This process is on-going and will reveal things about your business you did not even know at all!
You might be surprised by what you find, unearth and reveal when using LM thinking and tools. Looking at processes to see how to BEST eliminate the different forms of MUDA or waste, requires new, counterintuitive thinking at times, a true non-traditionalist point of view.
Hi…you left out the most important ‘tool’ in the Lean kit. Value Stream Mapping! Without it you would not know why, where or when to use the other tools listed above. You also forgot Standard Work, Hyjunka, Cell Design, etc. Just trying to help!
Cheers.
Excellent point around the Value Stream Mapping. It is a very useful tool to use to give you clarity of what can appear to be complex operations at first glance. What I have found however, is that it isn’t the easiest for people to pick up and use without some good training material to back it up. (It certainly wasn’t something that could have justice done to it in a few lines on a website, that’s why the full training materials are included in the full Certification program) It isn’t always essential either ! I’ve worked in many sectors where a very clear picture can be seen using some of the other, very simple Lean Six Sigma tools. That said, Value Stream Mapping is invaluable when used correctly in the right context and in the right environment.
Great Post, well put about the 8 most basic Lean Manufacturer tools you mentioned here, more business need to get around the fact that lean training and lean principles are core tools in order to reduce waste!
Cheers,
Hi
what is the link between Business Process Re-engineering Vs TQCI methods
Whilst analysing a problemquality defect and based on my LSS learnings during the analysis stage found out based on Data the defect dates back to a day in July and repeating every other day, managed to track he root cause which is the new night shift introduced from mid July