Lean methodology in healthcare emphasizes continuous improvement, patient safety, and employee engagement without overburdening individuals. It aligns hospital missions with daily practices, enabling more efficient, cost-effective care delivery. However, successful implementation requires a cultural shift and ongoing commitment beyond tool adoption. Challenges may arise from cultural barriers and disconnects between stated values and actual practices. Lean isn’t a cure-all; sustainable improvements demand a holistic approach and mindset change toward continuous improvement and efficiency.

Why Do Hospitals Need Lean?

• Quality Improvement: Lean methodologies help hospitals enhance the quality of care by reducing errors and waiting times, ensuring patients receive more efficient and effective treatment.
• Employee Support: Lean removes obstacles for healthcare workers, allowing them to focus on patient care rather than navigating inefficient processes, reducing frustration and burnout.
• Cost Reduction: By optimizing operations and eliminating waste, Lean helps hospitals reduce costs and mitigate risks, leading to better financial outcomes and long-term sustainability.
• Interdepartmental Collaboration: Lean breaks down silos between different hospital departments, promoting better communication and collaboration, which enhances coordination of care and improves patient outcomes.
• Continuous Learning and Improvement: Lean fosters a culture of continuous improvement and learning, empowering employees to identify and address problems at their source, leading to ongoing enhancements in processes and patient care.

Problems in Healthcare:

Price Pressures and Cost Challenges:

• Rising Costs: Healthcare expenses soar, surpassing 16% of GDP in the US.
• Payer Responses: Cutting reimbursements fails to address underlying costs.
• Lean Solutions: Focus on reducing actual care provision costs.
• Market Dynamics: Lean promotes collaborative cost-saving efforts.

Coping with Employee Shortages:

• Widespread Shortages: Hospitals globally face critical staff shortages.
• Impact on Operations: Vacancies necessitate costly temporary hires.
• Employee Well-being: Overworked conditions compromise patient safety.
• Lean’s Role: Improves care delivery processes amid staffing challenges.

Poor Quality of Care:

• Universal Concerns: Preventable errors remain significant globally.
• Global Perspective: Substantial numbers of preventable deaths and errors reported.
• Lean’s Role: Offers a structured approach to quality and process improvement.

Solutions:

• Lean Approach: Rather than focusing solely on major issues, Lean methodology emphasizes addressing countless small problems to drive overall improvement.
• Actionable Solutions: Hospitals can make immediate progress by tackling everyday issues instead of waiting for grand political solutions.
• Lean Concept Application: Implementing Lean principles can lead to significant improvements by re-evaluating processes and involving employees in waste reduction and solution development. By tackling inefficiencies and waste, it fosters improved work processes, productivity, and patient outcomes.
• Resource Constraints: Despite demands for more resources, Lean thinking acknowledges the limitations of finite resources and seeks systemic improvements instead of merely increasing workload.
• System Improvement: Lean mindset shifts focus from blaming individuals for problems to optimizing systems, aiming for easier workflows and better outcomes for all.
• Driving Excellence with Lean Methodology in Healthcare: Effective Lean implementation, guided by strong leadership, empowers hospitals to enhance care delivery and achieve cost savings, embodying a dynamic force for excellence in healthcare.

Examples of the positive impact of Lean:

• Efficiency Gains: Hospitals can significantly enhance their operational efficiency without needing to increase staff or invest in new equipment. This not only saves costs but also ensures smoother and quicker service delivery.
• Streamlined Processes: Lean principles help in identifying and eliminating waste from processes, resulting in streamlined operations. This can lead to substantial reductions in cycle times, improving overall productivity and resource utilization.
• Improved Patient Safety: Lean methods often emphasize standardization and error reduction, leading to improved patient safety outcomes. By optimizing processes, hospitals can minimize the risk of errors and adverse events, ultimately enhancing the quality of care provided to patients.
• Enhanced Access to Care: Through Lean practices, healthcare facilities can drastically reduce waiting times for patients, ensuring timely access to necessary treatments and services. This not only improves patient satisfaction but also contributes to better health outcomes.
• Financial Benefits: Implementing Lean methodologies can yield significant financial benefits for healthcare organizations. By optimizing processes and reducing waste, hospitals can increase revenue, lower costs, and maximize resource utilization, ultimately improving their financial performance.
• Resource Optimization: Lean principles enable healthcare facilities to make efficient use of resources, including staff, equipment, and space. By reducing unnecessary delays and inefficiencies, hospitals can optimize resource utilization and improve overall capacity management.
• Cost Savings: Lean methodologies help in identifying and eliminating non-value-added activities, leading to substantial cost savings. These savings can be reinvested in patient care initiatives, infrastructure improvements, or other strategic priorities, ultimately benefiting both patients and healthcare providers.

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Kamishibai boards offer a straightforward way to manage tasks and processes with a visual red-green card system where the red side of the card shows the task is incomplete and the green side of the card shows that the task has been completed. They enhance accountability by providing a clear overview of task status, aiding managers in monitoring progress while “walking the floor.” As a manager walks past an area that has one of these boards then they should be able to see a wave of green cards forming. It’s very easy to see one of two things; either that the board is not being used, or that progress is being made. The system fosters a culture of honesty and integrity, discouraging manipulation attempts like people turning the cards over prematurely just to give the right impression. For example, a manufacturing company had a task related to the checking of oil at the start of every shift. The cards were turned over religiously and then the machine seized! It was very easy for the manager to work out who had been trying to fiddle the system… the system was adhered to from that point onwards! Thus, Kamishibai boards promote open communication and transparency, facilitating continuous improvement within the organization, ultimately driving efficiency and effectiveness.

Creating a Kamishibai board involves several steps:

1. Define the Time Period:

• Determine the cycle that best suits the needs: daily, weekly, or monthly.
• Design the board with columns representing each time period, such as:

       Daily | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | End of Month

       Or

       Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

2. Brainstorm Tasks:

• Make a list of tasks that occur within the selected time period.
• Consider tasks that might be overlooked or need more frequent attention.

3. Create Cards:

• Use red and green “T” cards, or purchase pre-coloured cards for convenience.
• Each card should represent a task and have two sides: one red (not done) and one green (done).
• Write the task title at the top of both sides of the card, with a brief description of the task underneath.

4. Organize the Board:

• Arrange the cards on the board according to their respective time periods.
• Ensure the layout is intuitive and understandable for anyone viewing the board.
• Be open to adjusting the layout based on feedback and practicality.

5. Put it into Practice:

• Begin using the board to track tasks and their progress.
• Encourage team members to engage with the board and provide feedback on its effectiveness.
• Iterate on the board layout as needed to optimize its utility for the business.

It’s important to involve team members in the design and implementation process to ensure the board meets their needs effectively. Flexibility and adaptability are key as the board is refined over time to suit the evolving requirements of the business.

Using Kamishibai Boards involves the following steps:

1. Resetting Cards: At the start of each cycle, reset all cards to their red side to signify pending tasks.
2. Daily Review: Consistently assess the board daily to monitor the progress of assigned tasks and identify any outstanding items.
3. Task Completion: Transition cards to green upon task completion, providing a visual indicator of accomplished work.
4. Visual Monitoring: Regularly walk past the board to visually inspect the presence of green cards, ensuring ongoing progress and task fulfilment.
5. Implementing Rules: Enforce management guidelines to allocate responsibilities, hold individuals accountable, and maintain effective task management practices.

The key to using the board is to look at it every day and keep turning the cards over when tasks have been completed. The selection of cards should change over time and this will only happen if the board is used effectively and improved from time to time. This will ensure that all of the key tasks of the day are taken care of so things can run smoothly in the day to day operation of the business.

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Lean Manufacturing has always been known for ‘more enhancements’ and ‘less diminutions.’, But who knew that the theory could be applied to humans too?

Yes, Lean Production has played a crucial role in evolving and improving workforce productivity through its smart processes. 

Initially, the process of lean production was only applied to machines and equipment. Nevertheless, with time it began to enhance and improve workforce productivity in all spheres. While talking about the sugar industry, the process has proven to be of utmost importance to this highly labor-intensive sector. 

The Sugar industry

The sugar industry is prominent in the Indian economy as it provides raw materials to many other industries, including alcohol, paper, cattle field, and chemicals.  It mainly deals with the production, processing, and marketing of these resources and helps other industries grow. Manpower Productivity and Lean Manufacturing Techniques play a vital role in the industry as the industry highly relies on human resources to manage and handle the production process. However, lean production requires skilled and trained workers who are familiar with the industry and its technique of production.

Need and Availability of Human Resources in The Sugar Industry

Human Resource is one of the most important resources for the sugar industry as the industry provides livelihood to lakhs of people engaged directly and indirectly in sugarcane production. The increased demand for raw materials has led to an increase in production in the sugar industry, which in turn leads to an increase in the demand for labor. The industry is highly labor-intensive and hence, requires more and more human resources and manpower productivity. 

Currently, it is the second largest agro-based industry in India after the cotton industry. However, it requires 150-180 labor days per hectare in sub-tropical areas and around 250-300 days in the tropical south region. Since most of its cultivation is carried out manually, the labor and manpower productivity in the sugar industry is experiencing a rise every year.

Consequently, the industry experiences a periodic rise in the percentage of hiring of human resources, machines, and bullock labor. 

Lean Manufacturing and Manpower Productivity in The Sugar Industry

Implementing and Strengthening the Lean Production Process helps enhance equipment and labor productivity in all industries. The sugar industry, highly dependent on manpower productivity, is improving every day due to the enhanced productivity methods that are a consequence of Lean Manufacturing.

The Lean Process has enhanced manpower productivity in a number of ways. Over the years, it has enhanced product quality with a reduction in lead times and production costs. It is helping brands and industries to deliver value to customers and avail of supplies whenever required. It is helping develop manpower productivity by assisting them with –

• Strong and healthy implementation of lean strategies that will actually help brands grow.
• Proper management and execution of the workflow process and determination of the issues and inefficiencies. 
• To design and implement how and what to remove in order to cut the inefficiencies in the production process

The sugarcane industry is responsible for the production of an important industrial crop that is grown in almost all states and countries. India is the second largest producer of the crop, and hence, technical and physical improvements have become an integral part of the sugar industry. The industry has lakhs of workers that belong to the rural areas and have the task as the only source of livelihood.

The Lean Production Process is helping the industry evolve by addressing some of its basic issues and helping people with lucrative solutions. The time-tested way of thinking and coming out with genuine and reliable solutions is known as lean thinking.

Lean Thinking Solutions, when applied to some of the major issues in the production process, can effectively bring out solutions. It helps eliminate issues like overproduction, defects, transportation issues, mechanical glitches, etc.

Lean Thinking smoothens the lean production process and finally helps enhance both manpower and technical productivity in the industry.

Conclusion

The sugar industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country. Lean Manufacturing and process improvement are contributing to its enhancement through its Lean Thinking solutions. The process is helping improve manpower and labor productivity over a longer period. The process helps eliminate the basic issues and brings some reliable solutions to help you grow and achieve the best results.

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Medical Device manufacturing involves lot of manual work, thus faces challenges in manpower productivity. Various Lean Kaizen techniques can be used to improve the productivity. A leading medical devices (Rapid tests) manufacturer was facing following problems and approached RIB Consulting for help.

1. Low Manpower productivity
2. High Overtime hours
3. Wasted time after each part production
4. Lead time of 2 Days
5. High number of defects produced

Our team conducted 4 Day Rapid Improvement – Kaizen Workshop to improve the Manpower productivity. First Day of Kaizen workshop was spent on  Assessment of current state using cycle time & motion study. Time & Motion study was performed by breaking down each activity into micro activities & recording time taken to finish them. Observations related to the wasted time / activities were also taken during the study.  Time & motion study can be conducted by a stopwatch or videography. Videography is best method for time & motion study.

Following issues were observed from time & motion study:

1. Disconnected flow of material
2. High WIP
3. Wastage due to Transportation
4. High Rejection
5. Wastage due to Manpower Waiting
6. High Overtime Hrs
7. No tracking of hourly performance
8. Functional batch layout and unbalanced operations

Once time & motion study was completed, Next step was to prepare current line balancing chart based on Cycle Time TAKT Time analysis. TAKT is german word, which means beat or pace. in Lean lingo, meaning of TAKT time is Customer demand rate. Following is Formula for TAKT time calculation

TAKT Time = Time available per day / Customer Demand per day

Next step is to use ECRS (Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange & Reduce) techniques to minimise / eliminate  wasteful activities and balance the work load as per TAKT time. During Line Balancing, We must make sure that each activity must be finished and balanced in the multiple of the TAKT Time. i.e., if the Time taken for a certain activity is 2 time the TAKT Time, that means 2 operators have to perform the same activity in parallel.

By performing Line Balancing calculations, it was evident that Time required to produce parts can be reduced significantly & Number of manpower required can also be significantly reduced. 

Day 2 of Kaizen Workshop was spent in training the shop floor team and conducting trial as per line balancing analysis. Across functional team was formed & training the team was conducted  on the following topics:

1. Preparing Mindset for implementation of Kaizen
2. Basics of Kaizen
3. Value chain
4. Wastes and its types
5. PDCA
6. Flow Production
7. Cellular unit
8. Line Balancing

After training, new flow production layout was setup for the first trial. After 1 hr of trial,  we achieved just above break even productivity as compared to functional batch production method. Establishing a new processes, takes some time before people get used to the new method. Most of time, there will be tendency to go back to old method, but trial must be conducted for a longer duration and continuous improvements must be made to achieve the set targets of productivity improvement

On Day 3 of the workshop, trial was continued and competition was created with old method of working in parallel. This day was divided into 4 hour of Batch Production in the first half & 4 hours of Flow production in the second half. In batch production, the number of people allocated from first process to final process had to be changed over the hours based on judgement. There was a lot of time and effort wasted in moving the WIP from one room to the other. 3 rooms were occupied for the same. In flow production, the entire setup was done in half a room. With the new setup team was getting used to the system and gradually the output increased each hour.

Results: At end of Day 3,Flow productivity results were 36% more than that achieved by all the best effort put into batch production.

Day 4: Synchronisation & Setting up performance metrics: This day was spent on adapting to the speed of the line. Where if a certain activity is lagging due to any reason & an operator is idle, that operator will perform the lagging activity to balance the line. Also a verbal Andon system was created, where if any issue an operator is facing, then the supervisor will rush to the station to help, solve the problem or stop the line. Performance metrics were setup to monitor the hourly progress & reason for non compliance was recorded. As a result, Day 3 performance increased a lot and we have achieved 43% improvement in productivity as compared to batch production.

Manpower productivity improvement, Layout improvement

Summary & Learnings: By assembling products using batch production, a lot of manpower is utilised to achieve maximum output at each unit, but it doesn’t result in maximum output as because a lot of time is additionally wasted in batch production due to high WIP, transportation of WIP.  Rejection is created to meet the target and the rejection cannot be tracked back to its origin in most of the cases.

By switching to a single piece flow production with a cellular layout, WIP can be reduced to a maximum of One Piece, Rejection even if created can be immediately identified at the origin & rectified. Line is completely balanced & hence no manpower is waiting. Overtime hours due to low productivity is completely nullified. Believe it or not. This step alone increases your productivity by up to 50%

Major Challenges you will face implementing the change:

Initial resistance from the people: As many of the people are used to the old system, adapting to the new system is hard for everyone. Hence training employees  on the benefits and aligning the team for improvements is very important.After which you can also put forward a competition where you will inform the team to give their best effort in giving the maximum productivity possible. Record it, benchmark it. Note – Only count the final product which is a good piece as Output.Then, setup the new system. Let the team get used to it for a day. Next day record the output given out by the team.You will be surprised that you have squashed batch production Output & Productivity.

Lead time dropped from 2 days to 1 hr.

Good Luck with your Lean Kaizen Journey!

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The Indian Pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a very interesting shift; at one hand it is creating its own mark in the global landscape with its latest innovations/discoveries, while on the other hand, the fragmented Indian market is poised for a major consolidation. As the pharmaceutical industry is booming rapidly, the expectations of customers are high and there is a demand for high-quality, and defect-free products. Over the last decade the Indian Pharmaceutical organisations, have started adopting measures for bridging the gaps in operational executions, and other areas.

Lean Management, is one such concept, that is founding its entry into various organizations across different industries across the globe. An edifying concept, ‘Lean Management’ is a management philosophy with an immaculate focus to reduce or if possible eliminate the wastes, across the supply chains, in order to be able to deliver the maximum customer value. The philosophy of Lean Management has found different initiatives, collectively known as ‘Lean Initiatives’, and models of implementations, which include TQM, Six-sigma, TPM, JIT, TOC, business process engineering, Kaizen, QC circles and 5S.

In the past, the pharmaceutical industry neglected the significance of this transitional concept, because organizations were oblivious to regulatory requirements, compliance, and quality. Operational improvements were considered as a compromise with the quality and operational excellence and manufacturing efficiency were non-existent. Since manufacturing cost was a fraction of sales, very little significance was given to efficiency.

During the late 2000s, globalization and modernization had become widely entrenched in the country and pharmaceutical industries started entering the Global Generics Market. This led to an increased demand for mission-critical treatments and also capacity constraints became more common.

In order to survive globally it became critical for pharmaceutical companies to adopt Lean management due to the tremendous pressure of the government and society, on pharmaceutical companies to reduce costs and improve quality. Additionally, contract manufacturing became a big opportunity for the pharmaceutical companies as it resulted in operational efficiency offering reduced lead times, productivity, lesser costs.

Lean Landscape

Decoding the secret formula of the Toyota Production System, Steven Spear and H.K. Bowen in 1999 captured 4 rules that are very powerful during the challenging moments and will enable you to improve a process.

Rule 1

Standard Work-The work with respect to the content, sequence, timing, and outcomes should be highly specified.

Rule 2

Clear Relationships and Communications-Every customer-supplier connection must be direct and there must be unambiguous ways to send requests and receive responses.

Rule 3

Simple Flow-The pathway for every product and service must be simple and direct.

Rule 4

Scientific Method-Improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific method, with guidance, and as close as possible to the actual work.

The flow concept of Lean implementation focuses on:

• End to end operations.
• Continuous material movement, no in-process storage.
• Full visibility of all operations, preferably on the same floor.
• Each process should be a pull system instead of a conventional produce and push system.
• The next batch will be taken only if the first batch is produced completely.
• No in-process quarantine.
• Inspection and QC are non-value-adding activities (so that the time taken for inspection and quality control activities can be minimized).
• Solving problems during a process immediately by utilizing the rest of the resources.

Need for Lean Implementation:

Lean is considered as an important winning strategy. It is important:

• For competing effectively in today’s global economy.
• To cope up with customer pressure for price reductions.
• To adapt immediately to fast-paced technological changes.
• Continued focus by the marketplace on QCD.
• Quality standards established by regulatory agencies worldwide.
• To develop a standardized process to obtain uniform superior-quality outcomes.

Successful implementation of Lean in Toyota, inspired a lot of organizations around the world to start their journey towards Lean Management. Increased efficiency, improved productivity and reduced waste are some major benefits of Lean implementation.

There are various Lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping, Heijunka, A3 Management, Nemawashi, TPM, Kanban, Poka-yoke, JIT, SMED, 5whys, Cellular Mfg., Big P.map, etc. The choice of methodologies/tools to be implemented depends on various factors including experience, value delivered, resources required, numbers of people involved, the ability to create transformation, etc.

Numerous Pharma organizations across India have started adopting initiatives like Lean Six Sigma, TPM, and Strategic Cost Reduction. Such types of initiatives will assist organizations in creating value and face challenging business needs.

There are certain arguments about the effectiveness of Lean implementation in the Pharma industries because here the improvement quantum is not very high in comparison to other industries. The reason being that unlike other industries, it is not easy to implement the principles of flow optimization, inbuilt quality, process management, and reduction in equipment setup time in the healthcare industry.

However, you can’t deny the fact that after lean implementation many organizations have shown improvement in overall business performance. It has led to an improvement in quality, elimination of waste and reduction in costs.  Better use of assets, flow optimization, greater flexibility, and a sustainable and consistent improvement strategy are some of the key areas that the industry needs to focus on.

Pharma companies such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and GSK increasingly adopted Lean as an approach to address these challenges by driving improvements in cost, quality, and supply. Here are some of the benefits that are enjoyed by a leading pharmaceutical company in the initial 4 years of its Lean journey:

• Manufacturing volume increased from 20 Mikron to more than 100 million from the same facility and lesser resources.
• Cycle time reduced from 600 hours to 80 hours from dispensing to packing.
• Lead time reduced from 35 days to 15 days.
• Material yield improved from 97.5% to 99.6.

Additional Benefits

• Improved quality
• Enhanced throughput decreased inventory
• Improved response time
• Improve service level
• Improved flexibility
• Increased profit
• Healthy work culture
• Reduced cost

By eliminating waste, prioritizing the customer and flow focus, the healthcare industry is expected to grow at a very fast pace in the foreseeable future.  According to various studies and surveys, Pharma companies who have successfully implemented Lean initiatives are seen to grow at a higher CAGR and by embracing such initiatives they realized millions of benefits.

Quality is a very important aspect in the pharmaceutical industry, as lives are at stake.  Therefore, in-line data is critical to quality that enables pharmaceutical companies to manufacture defect-free products. As technology becomes more and more integrated into our daily lives, a deep understanding of such initiatives together is advantageous for any pharmaceutical manufacturer. Given the pricing and regulatory pressures that the industry players are experiencing, it is natural to adopt such cutting edge innovative improvements.

Lean can help pharmaceutical companies to

• Reduce production lead time by implementing principles of flow management
• Improve Quality and reduce defect rates by using Total Quality Management tools
• Reduce inventories

Pharmaceutical companies need to combine the knowledge of science and the concepts of Lean Management to move forward with a proactive problem resolution strategy and focus on variation reduction.

About RIB Consulting

RIB Consulting is dedicated to delivering coherent solutions to the complex business challenges that various organizations are facing today. We are working with companies on industry-specific strategic, operational, and financial issues.

Our team participated in a global benchmarking event which covered more than 25 companies all over the world and it was found that:

• Indian companies are lowest in per unit cost due to low labor costs.
• These companies are performing poorly on all efficiency parameters like productivity, inventory turn around, utilization, etc.
• Labor cost advantage can not last for long.

This led to the introduction of Lean in Indian pharmaceutical companies to

• Improve through-put time and Yield
• Improve Value added time and Productivity.
• Improve machine efficiencies through Autonomous Maintenance & TPM

RIB Consulting can help you achieve these objectives. We specialise in the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), Lean Management, Kaizen , Total Quality Management , Total Flow Management , HoshinKanri, and many other operational excellence tools.

References

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jie/2013/790291

https://hig.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:689834/FULLTEXT01.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351978918302282

https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/3599/pharmaceutical-companies-look-to-lean-manufacturing-

https://www.indiaoppi.com/sites/default/files/PDF%20files/OPPI-PwC%20Report%20-%20Lean%20Implementation_0.pdf

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Lean Manufacturingsimply means eliminating waste from manufacturing processes including waste of work in progress and finished goods inventories.

What is waste? Waste is any activity that consumes resources but creates no value. Every organisation has lot of scope to improve their current processes by eliminating waste using

Lean manufacturing methods and tools.

Lean manufacturing helps in expanding manufacturing capacity by reducing costs and shortening cycle times. Core idea of Lean manufacturing is to understand what is important to customer and deliver products with no defects in less time with less space, less humaneffort, less capital and less material.

So, how to implement Lean?

• First step in lean process is to correctly specify the value that the customer seeks in order to cost-effectively solve the customer’s problems.

• Once we know what to improve, identify the value stream (including product development, fulfilment and other support processes) and eliminate steps that do not add value.

• Designate someone as Value stream manager to align all steps in tight sequence so that product will flow smoothly to customer.

• Let the customer pull products through the value stream

• In order to seek perfection, repeat this process again to continuously improve quality and eliminate waste

5 Step Lean Process

Implementing Lean is not a one-time activity, it’s a journey every organisation should focus on. Here are few key steps to undertake before starting Lean journey:

• Gain top Management “Buy In” and Support

• Perform overall company assessment tied to company strategic, operational, and marketing plans

• Develop strategic lean deployment plan

• Integrate customized training with lean to improve specific skill sets, leverage training resources

• Conduct high impact events to create awareness about Lean and its benefits

• Hire Lean manufacturing consultantswho will help “Transform” organisation’s culture towards Lean processes

• Help teams implement various Lean tools and techniques to deliver quality products at significantly lower costs

Key goal is Highest Quality, Lowest Cost, Shortest Lead Time

Let’s look at few key Lean manufacturing tools and techniques that can improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability of manufacturing operations.

1. Value Stream MappingA value stream is all the actions (both value added and non-value added) currently required to bring a product through the main flows essential to every product: i.e. the production flow from raw material into the arms of the customer.

Value stream mapping is a pencil and paper tool that helps you to see and understand the flow of material and information as a produce makes its way through the value stream. It helps you visualize more than just the single-process level, i.e. assembly, welding, etc., in production.

VSM is essential tool for Lean Manufacturing as:

• It helps you see more than waste. Mapping helps you see the sources of waste in your value stream.

• It helps implement Lean techniques in well-structured manner.

• It forms the basis of an implementation plan. Working on Lean tools without VSM is like building a house without a blueprint!

• It shows the linkage between the information flow and the material flow. No other tool does this.

• It is much more useful than quantitative tools and layout diagrams that produce a tally of non-value-added steps, lead time, distance traveled, the amount of inventory, and so on.

• Value stream mapping is a qualitative tool by which you describe in detail how your facility should operate in order to create flow.

2. Line BalancingLine Balancing is a technique to balance the work load of each process to the customer demand rate (also known as TAKT time). Line balancing requires measurement of cycle time of each process, Calculation of TAKT time and then matching cycle time to TAKT time.

Key steps followed in Line Balancing are:

• Measure Cycle Time (how frequently finished unit comes off) and record details of each activity done

• Calculate TAKT time (Time available per day/Average Demand per day)

• Plot cycle time against TAKT time

• Calculate number of operators required

• It is much more useful than quantitative tools and layout diagrams that produce a tally of non-value-added steps, lead time, distance traveled, the amount of inventory, and so on.

• Re-distribute the work content of cycle time

Line Balancing helps in improvement in manpower productivity, reduction in WIP, skill improvement of workers.

3. Cellular Manufacturing (Flow Production)

Key objective of Lean Manufacturing is to establish Material and information flow at pace of customer requirement. First stage of flow production is creating one-piece flow in current equipment, layout, and operation methods to reveal concealed waste in the factory. This technique is called Cellular manufacturing, where all equipment and processes are placed next to each other. Equipment or operations can be arranged in straight line or in form of U Shape. U shape layout helps improve manpower productivity by minimizing motion waste, thus allowing operators to do multi operations.

Key benefits of implementing Cellular manufacturing are:

• WIP reduction by more than 95%

• Manpower Productivity improvement by min 25% to more than 100% in some cases

• Space reduction by 30%

• Quality defects reduction by 30-40%

4. Pull System – Kanban

Pull System is a method to control material flow by replacing only what has been consumed. In Pull system, downstream process sends a signal to an upstream process indicating what it need. The upstream process sends only the material requested. The signal sent to upstream processes is called a Kanban.

Pull system is main tool to reduce & minimize MUDA of Overproduction and inventory. Pull System help reduce costs by allocating only required resources to meet the customer demand and serves as basis of reduction of many other wastes such as waiting, transportation, motion and defects.

5. SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die)

SMED, being an acronym for Single-Minute Exchange of Die, refers to a theory and techniques for performing setup operations in under ten minutes, , i.e., in a number of minutes expressed in a single digit. Key idea is to minimize time from last good product to next good product by eliminating all wasteful activities, using standard work, parallel work & methods to eliminate adjustments.

Major benefits of SMED system are:

• Reduction of Changeover times thus improvement in Equipment OEE

• Reduction of Batch Sizes

• Reduction of Inventories thus allowing high variety small lot production

6. Standard Work

Standard work is key element of lean manufacturing and no improvement can be done without standard work. Standard work can be stated as “Best, Safest and Easiest Way to do a particular task”. Doing standard work helps eliminate waste and thus improve quality, productivity & safety. Standard operations is an effective combination of workers, materials, and machines for making high- quality products cheaply, quickly, and safely.

In order to implement these Lean tools effectively, it’s important to conduct Lean workshops, a five-day Learn by doing workshop at manufacturing facility, with the help of Lean manufacturing consultants. These consultants come with years of direct, front-line experience across wide range of industries. During this workshop, key problems are identified through initial assessment and specific Lean tools are implemented to successfully achieve the project objectives.

Good news is that Lean manufacturing is not just limited to one industry. It has benefited lot of industries across all sectors including:

• Automobile & Auto Components

• Drugs & Pharmaceuticals

• FMCG

• Plastics

• Food

• Printing & Packaging

• Sheet & Metal

• Textiles

• Machine Building

• Foundries

Organisations who have successfully implemented Lean Manufacturing are able to serve their customer in half the time with half the hours of human effort, half the investment, half the costs, half the space and minimal inventories. By adopting Lean principles and practices, company can reap many benefits that results in greater profitability:

• Smaller lot sizes

• Increased capacity / throughput

• Higher inventory turns

• More available floor space

• Improved quality

• Reduced inventories

• Reduced delivery time, cycle time, set-up time

• Reduced cost

• Improved employee involvement, morale, and company culture

• Improved customer satisfaction

It is very critical that people involved have buy-in to implement changes & sustain them for greater results. Availing Lean Consulting services from established service providers can help companies plan and strategize implementation, gain employee participation, train employees across the firm on best practices and of course sustain the benefits long-term by formulating suitable processes and procedures, which will be refined continuously as well.

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The concept of a Cellular Manufacturing  applies to processes involving machines as well as to manual assembly, with improvement opportunities of the same magnitude but different challenges. Cellular Manufacturing is a set of collocated, physically linked machines performing a common sequence of process steps for a family of items and run by a team of multi skilled operators that controls the release of work to the first step in the sequence. Unlike manual assembly, the work done by machines cannot be rebalanced at will, and the cell’s capacity is limited by that of its bottleneck. 100% utilization of all the machines in a cell is usually impossible, and utilization metrics in this case are more relevant for the cell as a whole than for the machines in it. Cell layouts aim to facilitate the flow of workpieces and the movements of operators while providing the required clearances for maintenance access to the machines. As a result, machines are closely packed and at crooked angles to one another, as opposed the traditional, facilities-driven neat rows.

Cellular Manufacturing with machines can be defined as:

Collocated machines. A set of collocated, physically linked machines. A common sequence of process steps performed on these machines for a family of parts

Team of multi skilled operators. A team of multifunction operators circulating between and attending to all the machines, moving, and keeping records.

Autonomous pacing.The team controls the release of work to the first step in the sequence.

Essential features of any manufacturing cell are as follows:

Materials flows: Product units move through a sequence of steps without backtracking or iterations.

Production operators are surrounded by machines.The product units flow around the operator work area, without ever crossing it. Each operator usually attends to more than one machine, and these machines are of different types.

Product size:Products up to a particular size only can be produced inside the cells. Large products are very difficult produce in cells and generally produced on moving lines

Number of operations:The cells in the example perform a handful of operations. Provided each operator performs multiple operations, the concept can be stretched to 20 distinct operations, but not 50 or 100.

Number of operators.The examples have no more than three operators working in a cell. There can be more, but that is rare at least in pure machining or fabrication cells. Where some assembly is involved, there can be as many as eight, or even ten, but a production line with 50 operators is definitely not a cell.

Station layout:The machines are laid out so that the operator workstations of successive machines are as close as possible, and this design goal overrides almost every other consideration.

Density:Machines in cells are much more closely packed than in the classical layouts. Even after allowing for maintenance access from the back of the machines, the conversion of a machine shop into cells typically frees up 30% of the floor space

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Lean Manufacturing has become very popular in India & some countries in East Africa. however implementing Lean in right way requires deep understanding of concept and philosophy behind Lean. Most of the consultants and organisation go by the Tool Implementation way, where they select few popular tools like 5S, Cells, Kanban etc and implement. Certainly there will be lot of benefits from implementation of these tools but not in long term. Because lean is not just set of tools, its way of running your business. Lets understand different approaches for Lean Manufacturing Implementation.

• Kaizen workshops approach
• Hot Projects approach
• Plant wide Lean tools Implementation Approach
• Value stream Model Line approach
• Hoshin Kanri Approach

Lets us understand Kaizen Workshop approach in detail:

One common approach to implement Lean Kaizen is strategy of the one week kaizen event. The kaizen event structure (a.k.a. kaizen workshop, rapid improvement workshop, lean event, rapid improvement event). Kaizen workshops to be conducted are decided based on outcome of an Initial assessment, where current state is analysed, problems & opportunities are identified, Potential savings are calculated and a roadmap for Kaizen workshops is created.

Following are some more details on phases of Kaizen workshop: 

1. Prepare in advance. Two to four weeks of advanced preparation for the workshop to define the scope of the problem, decide on a team, collect data on the current situation, decide what lean tools to use, and make logistic arrangements for the event. In some cases there is advanced purchase of tools, materials, or equipment that cannot be done in the lead time of the one-week workshop.

2. Conduct workshop:

• Monday: Give an overview of lean Kaizen and teach any special Kaizen tools needed for that week. Begin to collect data on the current process in the afternoon.
• Tuesday: Complete the current state analysis, collect data, draw a process flow map, draw walk pattern on layout, develop Standardized Work Combination Tables, etc., and develop ideas for the improved state. Perhaps detail the future state by the end of the day (Plan).
• Wednesday: First pass implementation (Do). It may be in one pilot, to try it first, or full implementation right away. Sometimes this starts by clearing the floor of the current process, painting the floor, then moving equipment back in the new layout.
• Thursday: Evaluate process (Check), improve (Act), and keep going through Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) until you have a good approach.
• Friday: Develop a presentation for management. Present to management. Celebrate. (Often the event ends after a lunch celebration.)

Follow-up to the workshop. There are always items that could not be done during the week, which are put together as a homework list sometimes called a “kaizen action plan.” An action plan for what, who, and when is prepared during the one-week workshop, and follow-up is needed to be sure the items get done.

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Value stream mapping also known as Material & Information flow mapping in Toyota Motors, is more than a tool to draw pictures that highlight waste. It helps us see linked chains of processes and create Future state of a Lean value steam. Key philosophy of Value stream mapping is how to approach improvement and to improve overall material and information flow.

Value Stream maps also provide a “common language” and understanding so that everyone has the same vision for Lean or Kaizen Implementation. Like a road map, the value stream mapping tool shows the road for the Kaizen or Lean journey, but it is only a guide. It does not detail what you  will find along the way in your Kaizen journey. You must have a thorough understanding of the basic concepts and how to create processes that adhere to them. This is when it is very helpful to have someone who has previously made the journey. They not only know where they’re going, but they can save countless hours otherwise wasted by taking wrong turns!

Some of the common objectives used from value stream mapping are:

• Short lead-time from customer order to completion and delivery of the product.
• Connected processes with continuous flow and pull of materials.
• Simplified information flow within the value stream that comes from internal customers (the following process).
• A clear awareness of the customer requirement (the “voice of the customer”). In a pull environment, the customer (next operation) dictates what is done and when. The voice of the customer should provide: Required rate (TAKT time), Required volume (quantity), Required model mix and Required sequence of production

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Way to reduce costs through lean manufacturing or kaizen is all about identification, reduction and elimination of 3 Mu’s. The 3 Mu’s are the three main types of waste that Kaizen teams target in their improvement activities. Each of these types has aJapanese name that begins with the syllable mu. They are defined as follows:

Waste (Muda) = Capacity exceeds the load. This is a waste of capacity. Muda is any form of activities where physical shape or chemical properties of product or service does not change as per customer requirement or any activities for which customer is not willing to pay for. Lets take a simple example to undestand Muda. You walk into a restaurant and you have to wait for seat, once you get seat, you wait for menu, once you go through menu then you wait for some one to take order, once order is taken you wait another 15-20 mins for food to come. Once food arrives, it take up to 30 mins  to comfortably enjoy your food, then you again wait for bill. Only value adding activity here is getting the righ qualtiy of food you ordered rest all activities are waste. If taste of food is not good even that is Muda.

Inconsistency (mura) = Capacity sometimes exceeds the load and the load sometimes exceeds the capacity. Mura means variation and is generally caused by non standard work and MUDA. For example some times right quality product is produced and sometimes not. Sometime production targets are met and sometimes not.

Irrationality (muri) = Load exceeds capacity. Muri means overload or stress on machines or manpower. For example overheating of machines or overworking of manpower will result in breakdown.

To reduce or eliminate 3 Mu’s first thing you must do is learn to identify them. Like 90% of an iceberg is hidden under water, same way waste is hidden. There are total 7 types of wastes and there are different types of kaizen tools to identify, reduce or eliminate them

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