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Let me ask you this question. Which of the following body type would you like to have?
If you belong to the majority section, you would like to have a lean muscular body shown in the sketch. Isn’t it?
Lean manufacturing is a lean muscular form of manufacturing.

So, Lean manufacturing is a  systematic method for waste minimization through continuous improvement.

Waste has three components:

1. Waste within a manufacturing system. Also called as Muda.
2. Waste created through the overburden. Also called as Muri.
3. Waste created through unevenness in workload. Also called as Mura.

Lean manufacturing also concentrates on improving the flow of products by producing as per pull of customer requirement.
In nutshell, lean manufacturing is a strategic reduction of waste through continuous improvement leading to better flow of parts in the production system.

What are the goals of Lean manufacturing?

1. Lean manufacturing helps reduce cost by the elimination of waste.

There is 7 type of  wastes :
A. Transportation Waste

B. Inventory Waste

C. Motion Waste

D.  Waiting Waste

E.  Overproduction Waste

F. Over-processing  Waste

G.  Defects

Lean manufacturing helps reduce or eliminate these 7 types of wastes by using various lean manufacturing tools. Reducing these wastes reduce the cost of poor quality.

2. Lean manufacturing streamlines and smoothens process flow.

To improve the flow of products in a production system Lean manufacturing uses Pull system. In a Pull system, strategy production is done based on the actual customer demand.
Production is done only when customer demand comes. This system is inspired by the strategy used by Shopping Marts. In Shopping Mart material shelf is refilled only once the product is sold.
This kind of strategy helps reduce WIP material. It helps avoid overproduction waste. It also helps in balancing of workload around different processes.

3. Lean manufacturing helps improve the quality of the products manufactured.

One of the most important aspects of Lean manufacturing is to make defects visible. Lean manufacturing promotes stopping production to rectify defects in parts or problems in the manufacturing process.3G principles are inspired by this philosophy of Lean manufacturing. 3G stands for  Gemba “Actual Shop floor”, Gembutsu “ Actual Product” and Genjitsu “The Facts”.

It basically says whenever a defect occurs first go to the shop floor, see the actual product and collect all the relevant facts required to solve the problem.
This philosophy of Lean manufacturing helps improve the quality of products manufactured as immediate action is taken on the defects generated.

4. It helps improve customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is the central goal of an organizational. It can be achieved through delivering the product on time, as per quality requirements of the customer.
Lean manufacturing helps us achieve these goals.

5. It inculcates a culture of continuous improvement throughout the organization

As we mentioned in the definition itself one of the most important parts of the lean strategy is continuous improvement. Continuous improvement helps us refine our product and processes on a consistent  basis.
Kaizen is an amazing tool for continuous improvement.  Kaizen is a Japanese word which means continuous improvement.

How does Lean manufacturing works?

Lean manufacturing follows the customer first approach. Lean manufacturing is not just mindless selfish pursuit for eliminating internal waste. It is much more than just eliminating internal waste.

To understand how Lean manufacturing works. We need to  understand the five principles of Lean manufacturing :

1. Identify value from the customers perspective

What features and services does customer want? What is the price? With which customer is comfortable?

We need to find answers to these questions, before designing our ideal Lean manufacturing system. The first step in the implementation of a lean strategy to any manufacturing process is to identify features customer Value.

2. Mapping value stream

Once the customer requirements or end goal has been  determined, the next step is to map all the step and processes involved in converting raw material to the final product. The goal is to identify nonvalue adding steps and find ways to eliminate those steps.

3. Create a flow

Next step is to remove all the bottlenecks available in the manufacturing process. It Involves the synchronization of each aspect of production and delivery. Tools like just in time are used for creating flow.

4. Establish Pull

Pull system strategy promotes production based on the actual customer demand. Production is done only when customer demand comes. this system is inspired by the strategy used by Shopping Marts. In Shopping Mart material shelf is refilled only for the products sold.

5. Seek perfection

First four steps help you reduce waste, but the first step is the most important one. it requires you to make lean thinking and process improvement a part of your organizational culture. every employee should be involved in implementing a lean strategy.

Creating a Lean organization

The central idea of Lean manufacturing is to maximize customer value while reducing waste through continuous improvement.  The core idea of a lean strategy is to create more in less. More value in fewer resources, less time and less inventory.