If your organization want to stay ahead of competition then you must focused on efficiency and waste reduction. Lean manufacturing is the method and concept that helps companies to achieved efficiency and waste reduction. This article will guide you to the basics of lean manufacturing, highlighting it’s importance and how this method is applicable to a quality engineer.
What is Lean Manufacturing?
Lean manufacturing is a systematic method to minimizing waste in production and same way it improves productivity.
Lean originated from the Toyota Production System (TPS) in Japan and focuses on delivering value to customers by streamlining processes.
We think lean is used for cost cutting, but it’s not just about cutting cost.
It is method to find out non-value-adding activities and eliminate them. And we called those non value added activities as waste.
The 7 Wastes in Lean Manufacturing
The core concept of lean is to eliminate waste in manufacturing. In Japanese language “muda” is the term used to the activities which are not useful. Those activities are not adding value in our processes. Therefore these are the waste.
Lean identifies 7 types of waste:
What are those?
- Overproduction: Producing more than is required or producing too soon is the overproduction and its of no use.
- Waiting: Idle time when processes are delayed, which increased downtime in process.
- Transport: Unnecessary movement of materials between processes.
- Extra Processing: Doing more work than what is needed, such as excessive handling or over-processing.
- Inventory: Excessive stock that is not immediately need for production. Ex. overproduction.
- Motion: Unnecessary movements by workers that are not contribute to production process.
- Defects: Errors or failures on product in your production that leads to rework or scrap.
As a quality engineer you must focus on these waste. Identify such waste in your manufacturing process and make improvement by eliminating or reducing those wastes. This will definitely improves product quality and efficiency.
Key Lean Manufacturing Principles
Lean manufacturing is built on many principles, which helps companies for creating efficient, waste-free processes:
These principles such as,
- Value: It means what value from customer point of view. Focusing on only what customer truly want and he willing to pay for.
- Value Stream: It is a actual flow of material. In this flow material transfered through processes till final product delivery. Identify wasteful activities that don’t contribute the value.
- Transport: Unnecessary movement of materials between processes.
- Flow: Ensure that production steps occur continuously and smoothly without delays. This reduces waiting times and bottlenecks in our operations.
- Pull: Instead of pushing parts into production based on customer forecasts, lean uses a “pull” system. This means parts are made when there is actual daily demand. This will reduce overproduction and inventory.
- Perfection: Lean is a continuous improvement process. Companies are focusing on achieve perfection by continuously improving processes and eliminating waste.
What are the Lean Tools for Quality Engineers?
Many tools are used in lean manufacturing but some common tools quality engineer can use to improve the processes. Such as
5S System: This is a workplace management method focuses on Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. It creates a clean, efficient, and safe work environment.
Kaizen: It is a continuous improvement approach that involves small, incremental changes to processes for better results.
Kanban: It is a visual monitoring and scheduling tool used to manage work in progress. It ensures smooth flow of production based on customer demand.
Value Stream Mapping (VSM): It is a method to visual mapping the flow of production so that it can observed waste and areas for improvement.
Poka-Yoke: This is a Error-proofing techniques used to avoid mistakes from happening during the manufacturing process.
What can be the Role of a Quality Engineer in Lean Manufacturing?
A quality engineer has a important role in lean manufacturing. He can ensure that the processes are working efficient with maintaining good product quality. Below some key responsibilities of QE:
- Process Improvement: Using lean tools quality engineer analyze and improve production processes. Helps to reduce manufacturing waste.
- Waste Reduction: Quality engineers actively participate in waste-reduction or elimination activities, it helps team focus on value-added activities.
- Problem Solving: Using root cause analysis and other problem solving methods, quality engineers find out defects and prevent their reoccurrence.
- Standardization: Quality engineer support for standardization using documentation and standardize processes. It helps to maintain and consistent quality.
- Collaboration: Working with cross-functional teams, quality engineers helps to integrate lean principles throughout company, from design to dispatch and delivery.
Benefits of Lean Manufacturing
For a quality engineer, adopting lean manufacturing can have many benefits, such as,
- Improved Product Quality: Less defects and standardizing processes, lean helps to support high-quality parts.
- Increased Efficiency: Lean minimizes delays, overproduction, and unnecessary movements, which helps to faster production times.
- Cost Savings: With waste reduction, companies save money. This can be in terms of materials, energy, and labor.
- Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Lean focuses on delivering value, therefore customers receive high-quality products quickly and efficiently.
- Employee Engagement: Lean encourages continuous improvement and teamwork, which empowers employees to take part in the problem-solving process.
Conclusion
Lean manufacturing is a powerful concept which helps manufacturing companies to reduce waste, improve efficiency, and enhance quality. In todays competitive market, every quality engineer should learn and apply this lean concept in their day-to-day work.
As a quality engineer in the manufacturing domain, your role is very important in implementation of lean techniques and driving positive change in production process.
