Reduction of waste. “Lean manufacturing” is a management philosophy derived from automotive industry. As a rubber supplier catering to automotive industrial rubber parts industry, Rubber Captain is constantly striving to be efficient, one way of which to do this is to trim off what we don’t need.
As with many principles a handy infographic goes a long way to explaining them efficiently (leanly you might say).
Figure 1: Lean Principles
When related to manufacturing the lean principle has two main objectives
- To provide customer satisfaction
- To do so profitably
Essentially, anything that gets in the way of these two objectives should be trimmed (made leaner). If you want a definition in a nutshell, that’s as close to one as you’re going to find.
In order to arrive at lean manufacturing, you will need to understand and address a few key concepts.
- You must understand what creates value from your customer’s perspective (and what hinders that).
- You should identify each step on the process chain
- You should address anything that reduces the efficiency of said process chain
- Make only products that are pulled (demanded) by the customer
- Aim for perfection by constant removal of waste
Again, waste is a key issue in blocking lean manufacturing. Another infographic would come in handy here.
Figure 2: The 7 Main Causes of Waste
Suppression of these 7 wastes will lead to lean manufacturing, by compressing the time between customer orders and banking payments. It is rather akin to cleaning a fine oil painting that has centuries of dirt and grime on it, obscuring the pure, beautiful picture beneath. Each layer of grime that is removed brings things into sharper focus.
Lean manufacturing is a continual process and one that businesses of all sizes and budgets can aspire to. Complacency is the biggest enemy of lean manufacturing as it is a process that requires constant reappraisal as a business evolves and new client relationships and orders are forged. Everyone in a company must be well versed on the principles of ‘lean’ if it is to be a successful drive, from the head honcho all the way through to the toilet cleaning staff, because lean involves identifying blockages in systems throughout a company and removing them efficiently.
Rubber Captain is committed to maximizing the value of our services and products to our customers. Whether it’s the industries we are intimately familiar with such as automotive, aerospace, medical device industries, or other specialties, our principled approach to business means exceptional quality.