So, I have
come across this article by Mark Symonds, the President and CEO of Plex
Systems, Inc., who said “if u can’t see it you can’t lean it”. This philosophy
is particularly true when it comes to managing the supply chain in lean
manufacturing for it cannot be achieved without true visibility. Ok, too much
detail in one line huh! Let me break it down for you guys. To understand this,
we need to understand what lean manufacturing is. Lean manufacturing is going lean
in everything that you do (duh!). But seriously, that’s the truth! Factors
driving lean manufacturing vary from budget reductions to going green! Let’s
look at the recent trends that have been driving Lean Manufacturing: Like I
already mentioned, attempts to reduce budget by large and mid-scale companies
across the world due to the recent economic suffering have forced them to adopt lean manufacturing techniques. This had proven effective since 87% of the
manufacturing companies started seeing better revenues.
Now, let’s
go back to the title of the post once again; so, we need to see the
manufacturing operations to lean them. Well, is achieving such levels of high
visibility easy? “Yes” say the vendors who sell ERP systems who claim it to be
the panacea for all the problems! Although ERP indeed IS the solution to many
problems that surround lean manufacturing, there are challenges involved in
keeping pace with the current manufacturing sector which has been moving
rapidly from a product-centric focus to customer-centric focus. More and more
companies want to compete on getting closer to their customers rather than the
release of products. This made using ERP little less effective because most of
the ERP systems are designed with product-centric modules and functions.
Enhancements have been made in this area and there’s still room for
improvement.
But how many
of these companies that have started lean programs have achieved success? Surprisingly, the data available is mixed. One
of the studies that was carried out a couple of years shows that only 2% of
these companies could show some financial success.
Majority of
them could not achieve their expected levels of benefits because of various
reasons such as misunderstanding of Lean as a mere cost-cutting strategy, lack
of collaborative involvement, conflicts with ERP implementations, mediocre
consultants etc.
So, how do
we fill this gap? To implement and benefit from lean technique to the fullest
extent, the companies should understand that they need to design strategies to
meet new objectives through more efficient use of existing resources using lean
manufacturing. This doesn't mean you can simply use a few lean tools like 5S(sort,
straighten, shine, standardize, sustain) on the shop floor, rather you need to
build an entire culture based on lean thinking such as:
- · Training everyone in the organization on kaizen(continuous improvement) techniques, including shop floor and office workers
- · Recognizing and rewarding even small ideas
- · Encouraging people to try new things in search of improvement by acknowledging successes and failures.
So, is Lean
Manufacturing all about organizational success and achieving a better supply
chain? No, it can help you attain Nirvana… Nah, just kidding! But on a serious
note, lean technique carries out social responsibility as well. Effective
implementation of Lean Manufacturing can reduce the carbon footprints of companies
as they end up using fewer resources and it also gives rise to green supply
chain management by reducing wastes and implementing transport planning and
package design that comply with new green supply chain management guidelines.
So, what do
you think will make implementing Lean Manufacturing easier ? I would love to
hear from you!
References:
I read a case study for Boeing for my blog post this week (An Earthquake to shake Boeing's Culture). What I found most interesting is that an earthquake initiated their implementation of lean manufacturing.
ReplyDeleteThe company and one plant were going through a situation that is out of anyone's control. The vice president proposed her vision of lean manufacturing for executives and they agreed on the promise that performance will remain within the quality standards.
No one likes change and some were resisting the idea but the beginning was perceived as "temporary". As long as people are more accepting of change, implementing lean manufacturing will be easier.