Lean Manufacturing's Approach To Lean Manufacturing

2014 Words5 Pages

Lean manufacturing or lean thinking depicts one of the newer schools of thought in the sector of manufacturing [9]. It is described as the comprehensive set of techniques which when combined reduces and eliminates the wastes. Hence, qualifying the company on the terms of being lean, more flexible and responsive. Lean is the systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement by flowing the product or service at the pull of the customer in pursuit of their satisfaction and perfection [10]. Concluding lean in the words of Womack and Jones as:
“We are putting the entire value stream for specific products relentlessly in the foreground and rethinking every aspect of jobs, careers, functions, and firms in order …show more content…

Kanban Flow at a manufacturing firm
According to the authors Kanban system is one of the tools under lean manufacturing that can achieve minimum inventory at a time. The figure 4 above explains the Kanban flow based on the several observations at the manufacturing company.
The Kanban system in the manufacturing company starts with the production worker. When inventory is being used in the production line, the Kanban card, attached at the inventory, is put in the child post, which is provided to locate the card. Hence, the production worker delivers the card to the mother post, a centre point located at the end of the production line. At the mother post, the Kanban boy is responsible for collecting the card and sending it to the Kanban sorter room for sorting the Kanban cards by using Kanban sorter machine. During the sorting process, all information required regarding the materials or inventory is stored in an electronic system which are easily identified by the production workers and the vendors in their production line. After completion of the sorting process, the Kanban card is placed in the shopping bag according to the serial number stated in the Kanban card and finally the bag is placed at the logistics rack. The firm provides different shopping bags for different suppliers which are put in the mini truck and driven to the loading bay outside the

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