Sometimes, consultants sell lean as a quick and easy way to success that pays for itself. Unfortunately, this is usually not true, as many companies have found out the hard way. Getting lean in a company is similar to getting a lean body; it is usually neither quick nor easy. Let me show you the different phases of a lean transformation.
Organize Your Production Sequence – 3: Flow Shop
The flow shop is usually preferred for most lean production systems. In a flow shop, the processes are arranged in the sequence of the production steps. If you can manage to establish a flow shop, your production will be much more efficient than in a job shop or a project shop. In this post I want to talk in more detail about the flow shop. Be warned, this will be a bit of an ode to the flow shop 🙂 .
Organize Your Production Sequence – 2: Job Shop
Job shops are a manufacturing system where the machines are not arranged in the sequence of the work steps (as in a flow line). Rather, the flow of the part conforms to the arrangement of the machines.
This post looks in more detail at the job shop, its advantages and disadvantages, and where it may be useful.
Organize Your Production Sequence – 1: Project Shop
There are different ways to organize your shop floor. You surely know the flow shop and the job shop. There is also a project shop (with many variants of names). While the flow shop is in many cases the ultimate goal, each shop has advantages and disadvantages. Let’s look at them in more detail, starting with the project shop.
The Lean Mindset – Te & Kaffi in Iceland
Lean is my life. Whenever I see someone working, I cannot help but to think about the work from a lean point of view. Every now and then I come across a little gem, where I am just thoroughly impressed with someone’s approach to manage and improve their work. During my winter vacation in Iceland, I came across just such a gem with an excellent corporate culture for continuous improvement. Let me introduce Te & Kaffi and its lean mindset.
Lean Tales in Japan: The Japanese Supermarket Checkout
Japan is a wonderland for anybody interested in lean. Of course there is the archetype of lean manufacturing, the Toyota group and its Toyota Production System. However, access to Toyota plants is restricted, and during their guided tours you can observe only so much. (See for example my post on Evolution of Toyota Assembly Line Layout – A Visit to the Motomachi Plant as the result of such a tour).
Fortunately, the goal to achieve perfection is also found in many other processes in Japan, many of which you can observe almost anytime, whenever you like and for how long you like. In the past I blogged about Lean in the Japanese Public Toilet and Japanese Standard Pointing and Calling on Japanese trains. This time I’m looking in more detail into the Japanese supermarket, in particular its checkout system.
The Lean Rabbit Chase in a U-Line
There are different ways to manage workers in an manual U-line. One of these methods is known as the “Rabbit Chase,” also known as the “Caravan Approach” or “Operators-in-Motion.” The workers always move in a circle and handle all processes in sequence.
150th Anniversary of the Birth of Sakichi Toyoda
Exactly 150 years ago, on February 14, 1867, Sakichi Toyoda (豊田 佐吉 Toyoda Sakichi) was born. He is known in Japan as the King of Inventors (which is probably a bit of an exaggeration), father of the Japanese Industrial Revolution, and also the founder of the Toyota industrial empire. Time to take a look back in history on his life.