Lean Articles

In lean manufacturing Heijunka means “production leveling”. In business of any nature, fluctuations can occur due to changing customer’s demands and needs. Therefore, in order to smooth out the production process, implementation of heijunka production leveling is really important. Heijunka promotes just in time manufacturing. It improves the efficiency of production process by leveling [...]

Jidoka is considered as one of the most important pillar of Toyota production system, the other being just-in-time manufacturing. It is a Japanese term, which means “Autonomation”. Jidoka focus mainly at quality from the core. For every organization, quality is the most important tool to achieve success through excellence and jidoka provides the pathway [...]

Just-in-time manufacturing is the manufacturing tool in which products are made according to customer’s demands, for example, when they need it, in what quantity and the quality parameters etc. it is also recognized as “pull production system” as the production is triggered by the arrival of an order. It was first derived by Toyota [...]

The Hoshin Kanri method tries to get each and every employee pulling in a similar direction and at the same time. It attains this by aligning the aims of the company (Strategy) with the plans of middle management (Techniques) as well as the work performed by all staff (Operations). What Is the Hoshin Kanri [...]

“Takt time is the maximal time taken by a product to be manufactured so that it meets the customer demands.” It is derived from a German word “baton” that means “Pulse”, “Pace”, “Rhythm” or “beat”. For example, if a company needs 20 minutes to complete a product that meets the customer demands, then that [...]

The 5S practice is a technique used to establish and maintain quality environment in an organization. The original concept was developed by Osada in the early 1980s. The acronym 5S stands for the five Japanese words seiri (organization), seiton (neatness), seiso (cleanliness), seiketsu (standardization), and shitsuke (discipline). These techniques were first discovered by researchers [...]

Time and motion study is a core set of tools which are utilized by the managers in the industrial sector to improve the execution or the operational efficiency. It can be done by dividing the work into simpler units and setting the execution benchmarks. This can be used as a part of conjunction with [...]

Value stream mapping is the visual flow chart that portrays and enhances the formulation and manufacturing operations and also the information that controls the material flow through the operation. Purpose of Value Stream in Warehouse Mapping Process The use of value stream in warehouse mapping process is the sanctioned approach to identify and minimize the [...]

Before we come to discuss Gemba walk, let’s discuss what Gemba is. Gemba is a term of a Japanese language that means “real place” The Japanese term, real place refers to the place where all the real actions and the working of the organization take place. This place can be the warehouse of the company [...]

Thrashing out mistakes in manufacturing engineering was developed by the Japanese as a tool of mistake proofing that helps reduce waste in areas such as time, energy and resources. It can be defined as a mechanism in a lean manufacturing process that helps an equipment operator аvоid (yokeru) miѕtаkеѕ (poka). It's purpose is to eliminate [...]