As we proceed through the presentation, we will see many specific advantages of lean Manufacturing. Lower production costs and shorter cycle times encompass the key competitive advantages. "Insurmountable" is not an exaggeration . The only thing that can compete with a lean Manufacturing system is another lean Manufacturing system. Make-to-order (facilitated by shorter cycle times and JIT) crushes make-to-forecast through lower cost and better customer satisfaction. Comprehensive lean Manufacturing crushes cheap foreign labor. It was, in fact, developed with this issue in mind. Lean Manufacturing can thus preserve American manufacturing capability, upon which our nation's security and standard of living depend. (3) Comprehensive lean Manufacturing beats Six Sigma any day of the week. (Lean Manufacturing actually includes many elements of Six Sigma, such as standardization and best practice deployment.) The Ford Motor Company continued to expand its sales during the post-World War I depression by using lean Manufacturing. A lean company is secure even during "bad times." "What has Six Sigma done for Motorola lately (2000-2002)?" (4) Lean Manufacturing includes total quality management (TQM).
My Life and Work (1922) described all the basic principles of JIT: We have found in buying materials that it is not worth while to buy for other than immediate needs. We buy only enough to fit into the plan of production, taking into consideration the state of transportation at the time. If transportation were perfect and an even flow of materials could be assured, it would not be necessary to carry any stock whatsoever. The carloads of raw materials would arrive on schedule and in the planned order and amounts, and go from the railway cars into production. That would save a great deal of money, for it would give a very rapid turnover and thus decrease the amount of money tied up in materials. With bad transportation one has to carry larger stocks. Materials arrive exactly, and only, when the production line needs them. Materials go, not from dock to stock, but from dock to factory floor. JIT requires reliable transportation and a supporting logistics system. Bad transportation (e.g. lack of a good freight management system) requires the plant to keep more inventory. Inventory reduction frees capital. Cycle time reduction frees capital.
A dollar's worth of Ford stock purchased in 1903 returned $2500 when Ford bought his stockholders out in 1919.
Lean Manufacturing was directly responsible for making the United States the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth during the early twentieth century. Enormous growth in U.S. productivity caused the United States to surpass the British Empire in wealth and military power. Lean Manufacturing is the only way to protect American manufacturing capability and preserve the nation's affluence and military security.
The brick weighs about five pounds (2.3 kg). How much does the worker actually raise and lower every time he bends over for another brick? This animation illustrates the virtue of videotaping workplace activities. The people who are doing the job may have become accustomed to the waste that is built into the job but, when they watch themselves in the videotape, the waste may become obvious.
"I believe that the average farmer puts to a really useful purpose only about 5 per cent. of the energy he expends. … Not only is everything done by hand, but seldom is a thought given to a logical arrangement. [Time for a kaizen blitz?] A farmer doing his chores will walk up and down a rickety ladder a dozen times. He will carry water for years instead of putting in a few lengths of pipe . His whole idea, when there is extra work to do, is to hire extra men. He thinks of putting money into improvements as an expense . … It is waste motion— waste effort— that makes farm prices high and profits low" (Henry Ford, 1922, My Life and Work ).
(1) Overproduction "Just-in-case" production driven by long-term market forecasts, instead of just-in-time Dysfunctional performance measurements that demand that personnel and equipment keep busy. (2) Waiting: time in queue Aggravated by batch-and-queue operations. (Heat-treatment seems notorious for this.) Alleviated by single-unit processing (3) Transportation Hand trucks and forklifts for moving parts from one part of the factory to another: no value added, opportunity for handling damage. Transportation introduces cycle time and lead time, e.g. container ships from China add six or seven weeks . Mortal enemy of make-to-order, assemble-to-order, and JIT Defects are not discovered promptly
Imai, Masaaki. 1997. Gemba Kaizen . New York: McGraw-Hill
