Lean Principles

“Lean” operating principles began in manufacturing environments and are known by a variety of synonyms; Lean Manufacturing, Lean Production, Toyota Production System, etc. It is commonly believed that Lean started in Japan (Toyota, specifically), but Henry Ford had been using parts of Lean as early as the 1920’s, as evidenced by the following quote:

“One of the most noteworthy accomplishments in keeping the price of Ford products low is the gradual
shortening of the production cycle. The longer an article is in the process of manufacture and the more it is
moved about, the greater is its ultimate cost.” Henry Ford 1926

In order to reduce or eliminate the above wastes, Lean practitioners utilize many tools or Lean Building Blocks. Successful practitioners recognize that, although most of these may be implemented as stand-alone programs, few have significant impact when used alone.

Today, many large manufacturers are demanding that suppliers adopt lean practices. Lean organizations are able to be more responsive to market trends, deliver products and services faster, and provide products and services less expensively than their non-lean counterparts. Lean crosses all industry boundaries, addresses all organizational functions, and impacts the entire system – supply chain to customer base.

How EuroQuest can Help

EuroQuest Lean Initiative begins with an on-site event of approximately 5 days. EuroQuest will conduct an assessment of the client’s facilities and a strategy session resulting in a formal plan. The scope of this assessment will include business metrics (such as Quality Objectives), procedural controls, team environment, maintenance programs, scheduling methods and issues, inventory status, workplace organization, and any obvious or previously identified productivity problems (e.g., bottlenecks, excessive downtime, etc.). The resulting plan will include selection of the target Value Streams, identification of key global productivity issues, and a preliminary sequencing of follow-on events. This event will conclude with basic training of a Core Team on lean concepts and a set of initial assignments facilitated by the EuroQuest consultant. These initial assignments may include, for example, 5-S projects or Value Stream Mapping.

In subsequent visits of 3-5 days each, the EuroQuest consultant will follow up on progress, recommend further actions, and initiate the next round of projects. These projects, sometimes called kaizen events, could include setup time reduction (SMED Teams), line balancing, work flow improvements, total productive maintenance, etc. as deemed appropriate at the time or in accordance with the original plan.

EuroQuest is uniquely positioned to leverage the client’s existing management systems such as ISO 9001, ISO 14000, or safety to support the Lean Initiative. We are very familiar with various approaches to problem solving, error proofing, continual improvement, and process monitoring/measurement. By combining the lean philosophy of eliminating waste and the 6-Sigma ideal of eliminating chronic non-conformances the organization will be able to do more with less while meeting or exceeding customer requirements.