Lean manufacturing, one of the process efficiency programs
that became popular through the significant results observed by the Japan
automaker, Toyota, is now implemented in the mining industry. Barrick Gold, the third largest gold mining
company in the world has successfully cloned the Toyota’s renowned Production
System (TPS). Lean manufacturing is a continuous performance improvement
strategy to identify and cut costs, at the same time improving production.
It is identified in a study that the success of the lean
manufacturing in the mining industry is attributed to the similarities in the
mining and the car manufacturing sectors. It is important to observe this as
many manufacturers have failed to imitate Toyota’s practices and achieve those
results.
Barrick Gold complimented the lean principles with a
strategy of its own called improving from within. The Mining giant employs
around 80 business improvement coaches from within the company’s management
position’s for 2 years to maintain their successful operations and improve the
others. After the 2 years, they are placed back into their previous fields at
higher positions. The coaches during their tenure are supposed to identify
improvement opportunities and implement them. These coaches form a network and
share experiences to benefit the company on the whole. Lean practices are
effective for cutting waste in the mining industry. It is done at every process
to reap optimal benefits.
Lean manufacturing is not desired in all industries as we
have observed in the Seattle children’s hospital article. However, the success
of Barrick gold in the recent years has cleared the doubts in the mining
industry. It is necessary to cut waste in this industry as it causes a lot of
environmental pollution.
My observation from the above cases is that the lean
practices are more successful in the backend production, where there is no
direct contact with the customers. In case of the Seattle Children’s hospital,
it involves the customers in the supply chain. Is there a way we can restrict
the customers as constant factors, which do not affect the overall process, so
it can be implemented successfully in all industries?
Sources:
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