Interim Management, Lean Manufacturing Techniques

We offer experienced interim management specialists to implement lean manufacturing techniques and lean production programmes for clients in the manufacturing and related industry sectors.

Benefits and Improvements

More and more companies are turning to lean manufacturing techniques to improve their manufacturing business performance and to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Lean improvements are achieved by the determined elimination of all kinds of waste from the manufacturing process - including time, material and resource related waste. The application of lean manufacturing techniques will improve throughput time, delivery performance, customer satisfaction, employee morale and overall profitability.

Eliminating Waste

Common causes of waste include:

  • Poor workplace ergonomics
  • Inefficient use of labour
  • Excessive inventory
  • Production scheduling errors
  • Unnecessary overproduction
  • Lengthy changeover/set-up times
  • Inefficient material processing
  • Lengthy flow routes
  • Poor quality of production
  • Inefficient machine operation

Strategy

For a successful lean manufacturing programme, the company management team must set the strategic framework for the lean manufacturing initiative, support lean thinking and encourage active participation of all company personnel. The company will need to introduce training programmes aimed at improving awareness and take-up of lean manufacturing techniques and of multi-skilling and empowering the workforce.

Lean Manufacturing Building Blocks

The building blocks of the lean manufacturing process are many and varied, but the essentials include cutting of waiting time, process and changeover times and inventory, accompanied by the introduction of pull scheduling (instead of a push system), a switch from batch to flow production, line balancing and a reduction in batch sizes. Quality initiatives will help to deliver reductions in defects and material waste. The introduction of total productive maintenance (TPM) techniques, will improve equipment up time.

Targeted and accurate analysis of existing operations and prioritisation of areas for improvement are key to the development of an efficient lean manufacturing operation. Value stream process mapping, six sigma and pareto analysis are effective tools which can be used to identify the targets and priorities for operations performance improvement.