Lean Manufacturing Tools and

Techniques in Process
Industry

Presented by,

Brief Introduction:
The main objective of this paper is to provide a
background on lean manufacturing, present an
overview of manufacturing wastes and introduce
the tools and techniques that are used to
transform a company into a high performing
lean enterprise. Applications have spanned
many sectors including automotive, electronics
and consumer products manufacturing .

LEAN MANUFACTURING:
The term Lean Manufacturing can be defined as a system that utilises
less, in terms of all inputs, to create the same output as those created
by a traditional mass production system while contributing increased
variety for the end customer. Lean", is a production practice that
considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the
creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a
target

for

elimination.

Proper

knowledge

of

the

system

identification of waste is very much required for its removal.

Benefits1)

Cost reduction.

2) Removal of waste.
3) Better productivity
4) Time management.

5) Better quality
6) Better service

and

DESCRIPTION OF MOST COMMON TYPE OF WASTE

1) MURI: It implies overburden. In a company the management
assigns workers various job which do not add value to the product such
as carrying heavy weights, moving inventory around . The root cause
behind this is the lack of organisation.
2) MURA: It refers to unevenness.

3)

MUDA: It is a Japanese word meaning waste and is a key concept of TPS

(Toyota Production System). It includes seven waste which are as follows

Transportation: The finished product has to be transported from the

manufacturing plant to the customer. It stands risk of being damaged, lost or
decayed. Also transportation process is time consuming which does not
increase product value.

Inventory: Inventory may represent raw materials, working progress of

manufactured goods. There should be continuous flow of inventory so that
they can be processed to add value.

Waiting: It may be due to unavailability of raw materials in the

company or due to strike of workers for any reason. Operators keep
on waiting for a previous operation, a delivery of products to arrive or
just slowly working so as not to highlight that they have run out of
materials.

Unnecessary Motion: The design of workshop is very important.

The workers should not waste time looking around for tools and
necessary equipments. Materials should be properly placed.

Over-processing: It is a condition when more work is done on a

piece than what is required by the customer. The goods so
manufactured is considered as waste

Over-production: Over-production occurs when more goods are

produced than desired. Additional goods have to be stored in stock
and company has to spend capital on it for its maintenance.

Defects: If a defect has been spotted than extra cost are incurred

ELIMINATION OF WASTE
After pointing out the various causes of waste it is
very much essential to remove them for survival in
todays manufacturing world. Organisation stress on
manufacturing better quality products with low
manufacturing cost that can be made available to
users in short duration of time. The next set of tools
can be utilised to reduce waste.

Tools to reduce waste:

1)

Just In Time: It utilises a system called the Pull System. The production starts only
when an order is received by the company. Depending upon the quantity of goods to
be manufactured raw materials are pulled and manufacturing is carried out.

2)

Kanban: It is a scheduling system for production. It was developed by Taiichi Ohno,

at Toyota to find a system to improve and maintain a high level production. Kanban is
a part of the approach where the pull comes from the demand. It also controls the
logistical chain of production and is not an inventory control system. The technique
that makes the production principles practical is called KANBAN.

3) Continuous Improvement: Continuous improvement is another principle in lean

management where endless efforts are made for achieving perfection in manufacturi ng.

5s system: It refers to workplace organisation where the work place

is organised properly for efficiency and effectiveness. It focuses on
arrangement of tools in such a way that frequently used items are
easiest to locate. Workspace should be kept neat and clean.

Developing partners and adding value to organisation: Efforts

are made to understand each other which strengthen the team work
in various projects. Teams are trained and developed who assist the
company when required.

Workplace

Maintenance:

Workplace

constitutes

of

various

machinery and one of the most important issues that concerns people
is the machine breakdown on the shop floor. If a single machine
breaks, it can bring the entire assembly line or the entire plant to a
hault.

Total Productive Maintenance:

One of the main

objectives of TPM is to increase the productivity of plant and

equipment with a modest investment in maintenance.

Total

Quality management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance

(TPM) are considered as the key operational activities of the
quality management system. In order for TPM to be effective,
the full support of the total workforce is required. This
should result in accomplishing the goal of TPM.
There are five major preventable losses:
1.

Breakdown losses caused by the equipment

2.

Set-up and adjustment losses

3.

Minor stoppage losses

4.

Speed losses

5.

Quality defect and rework losses

CONCLUSION

In this paper the most important aspects about lean manufacturing was
presented.

Its

benefits

can

help

an

industry

grow

productively.

Companies those who have adopted lean manufacturing have

lowered cost, improved productivity and also improved quality.
Toyota was able to greatly reduce lead-time and the cost using
the TPS. This has enabled it to become one of the ten largest companies
in the world. It also became the largest car manufacturer in 2007.
Achieving such a goal is not easy, continuous improvement has to done
in all segments of an industry to achieve this goal. The primary idea of
this research is to help the process industry to take initiatives
such as lean manufacturing in order to become more costeffective and more efficient.

THANK

YOU