The 5 Core Principles of Lean
Pioneered by the Toyota Production System (TPS), lean thinking establishes five universal stages for continuous operational excellence:
- 1. Identify Customer Value: Determine exactly what attributes the customer is willing to pay for in the final product.
- 2. Map the Value Stream: Document every step required to produce the item, highlighting steps that do not add value.
- 3. Create Continuous Workflow: Reorganize workstations and cells so materials transition without idle queues or batch delays.
- 4. Establish Pull-Based Production: Build only what downstream operations or customer orders demand (Kanban pull).
- 5. Pursue Perfection (Kaizen): Empower operators to implement daily, incremental process refinements across every work center.
The 7 Deadly Manufacturing Wastes (TIMWOOD)
Eliminating the 7 Wastes (Muda)
- Transport: Excessive physical transit of parts across warehouse bays or factory sheds.
- Inventory: Piles of uncommitted raw materials or stalled WIP tying up working capital.
- Motion: Operators walking excessively or reaching for poorly arranged tools and hardware.
- Waiting: Idle machines or labor waiting on upstream parts, tool sharpening, or drawing approvals.
- Overproduction: Manufacturing products before customer demand, flooding floor space.
- Overprocessing: Applying tighter tolerances or unnecessary finishes beyond engineering specs.
- Defects: Scrapped components, rework hours, customer returns, and warranty claims.
Techniques such as 5S, Kaizen, Kanban visual cards, and Poka-Yoke error-proofing empower manufacturing plants to systematically purge these wastes from daily execution.
Production & Plant Control
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