Objectives and methods of Lean Manufacturing

1. INTRODUCTION

This report is a broad introduction to Lean Manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is a group of methods which are being gradually more implemented around the world and the greater competitiveness for manufactures. This assignment report reviews the main objectives of lean manufacturing and the method of eliminating waste. The organisational, operational and human barriers that need to solve to achieve the successful lean manufacturing strategy. The challenges and problems faced by the company named Bajaj Motors in terms of quality of its process and the brief knowledge of the main approaches of lean manufacturing like Kaizen, Just-in-time, Total quality management (TQM) and Six sigma to achieve a successful organisation.

1.1 LEAN MANUFACTURING

Radhakrishnan (2008) states that Lean manufacturing is a systematic phenomenon to determine and eliminate the transportation waste, waste of time, waste of human resource and other waste. In Lean manufacturing small lots are prepared and dispatch at the same time. It an aim at providing best and optimum quality through formation of the technique where in each subpart is examined before putting step further.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF LEAN MANUFACTURING as mentioned by Alavala 2008.

1.2.1 QUALITY: Improvement in quality means elimination of number of errors. The main objective of lean manufacturing is to attain optimum level in quality without any or low fluctuation in operating cost.

1.2.2 PRODUCTIVITY: Productivity is the result of lean manufacturing because same amount of resources which were used earlier now produces better result leading to increase productivity.

1.2.3 WASTE: The other main objective of lean manufacturing is to reduce waste like waste of time, waste of efforts, waste of resources etc which will help to get higher productivity and higher profit level.

1.2.4 HELP TO KEEP IN ORDER: Lean manufacturing help to keep everything in order, which will help to find right tool at immediate situation, clean and tidy work place, economic of scale and leading to fast functioning of operations.

1.2.5 STANDARDIZED: Adopting Lean manufacturing result in standardized of resources like place for everything and everything in its right place. This makes performance of operation smooth and steady.

1.2.6 OPTIMUM UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES: Lean manufacturing aims at optimum or full utilization of resources (time, money, efforts, humans, machines etc.) full utilization in accordance to set standards of organization are always beneficial to organization.

1.2.7 THOROUGH CHEKING: Lean manufacturing involves in depth examination of the process as soon as the task is over. As a result short comings are sought out at the very first step before moving to next stage and efficiency is maintained at every stage.

1.3 REDUCTION OF WASTE: One of the most important aspects of lean manufacturing is cut down of waste or scrap as a result unnecessary flow of raw material, time, money and efforts are save thus manufacturing cost decreases and net profit increases and the ultimate goal of any concern is to achieve profit like optimising the profit and satisfying the employees working in there and thus it is very important for the organization.

As lean manufacturing work on the mechanism of “work for everyone and every one on the right work” if organization follows this phenomenon it would result in reduction of waste and hence could be easily achieved.

1.4 HISTORY OF LEAN MANUFACTURING: Moore (2007) demonstrate that the foundation of lean manufacturing was formed late back from 1910 when assembly line technique of ford was formed, later on a Japanese company name Toyota motors use assembly line technique of ford and many other technique which were combined together and formed Toyota production system or just in time but it was later termed as lean manufacturing which was originated in Toyota manufacturing plant.

1.5 MASS PRODUCTION: The manufacturing of the product in large quantity. It is done by using assembly line or another means of production. It is totally different from the lean manufacturing. Mass production produces in large size whereas lean production produces smaller lots just that much as market required. Mass production is a push type production whereas lean production is pull type production.

1.6 APPLICATION OF LEAN MANUFACTURING: Lean manufacturing is mainly followed in manufacturing systems as the concept is made in accordance to manufacturing concerns. Though many other business are trying to apply this phenomena but the majority of result was in negative as each organization have there own process, technique, variability, objectives etc.

But while considering the competitive market business other than manufacturing are also going for lean manufacturing.

1.7 FUTURE OF LEAN MANUFACTURING: The future of lean manufacturing is very titanic (big, bright). The main reason for this is the nonstop rising of inflation rate. As we know lean aims at cutting the cost of waste so in this competitive world the organization that can cut down the waste cost will be the most feasible among all so its importance will definitely goanna rise in the future and organizations, business would be running after it.

2. CULTURAL CHANGE: Wilson (2009) states that Cultural change is the process of bringing the change in the beliefs which are deep rooted, assumptions, perception, values and shared feelings etc which influence the decision process of the organization. In short we can say that application of changes in the prevailing or existing culture leads to cultural change. Lean manufacturing bring the cultural change through the application of 5S, SIX SIGMA, KAZINE etc which change the route of the organization and lead organization to achieve optimum level goals.

2.1 EXPENSIVE: lean manufacturing is a expensive process as implementation of lean strategies in the organization involve huge expenditure example applying kazine, just in time, 5s, six sigma in organization involve stopping up of daily routine, new mindset are needed, new philosophy and so on. Moreover lean aims at reducing WASTES this process of reducing waste is also very expensive and many small industries may not opt lean.

2.2 MISSING OUT SOME OF THE TOOLS: Lean cannot be implemented successfully if their applications are missing because every different application have different set of goals and objectives which cannot be achieved by other applications like six sigma cannot substitute cell manufacturing and so on.

Thus we can say that foundation for the successes of lean are lay down by the proper implementation and understanding of all its applications.

2.3 NORMAL PRODUTION: Lean manufacturing do disturb the normal production as applying lean involve setting up of entirely new procedures and application. As a result the normal production process is disturbed for some period. It may consider as a barrier because applying lean would require some time for effective performance. Till the time lean produces effective result it is considered as a barrier.

2.4 ROLE OF PERSONAL SKILLS: Lean manufacturing aims at bringing change and this change would work efficiently only when human resource involved in lean manufacturing are having some widely common personal skills. Personal skills like working in a team, working along with team, communication, problem handling etc are utmost important for people in lean manufacturing. If people of any organization lack in such personal skills than in such a condition these skill would act as a barrier for lean manufacturing.

2.5 EFFECTIVE MANGEMENT LEADERSHIP: Moyles (2006) demonstrates that Effective management leadership is very crucial for the organization as in the absence of the leadership the employee will do what they wish like moreover they may refused to achieve the goals set by lean manufacturing. Lack of leadership control in organization would led to delay in results, Delay in task operation, delay in achievement of goals. Thus an effective management control is necessary for organization otherwise it will act like a barrier.

3. CHALLANGES FACEDE BY BAJAJ (INDIA) IN ACCORDANCE TO ITS PRODUCT:

Bajaj one of the leading company of two wheelers in India. Bajaj in India aims at achieving customer satisfaction. The prim motive of Bajaj motors in India is customer satisfaction first and then profit. But Bajaj motors made one wrong decision that was launching Baja pulsar200 which proved as a threat to the company soon after it was launched as customer problem with Bajaj was rising day by day and was hampering the company image. The prime challenges faced by BAJAJ MOTRS were its product named Bajaj pulsar 200. This particular product was refused by market due to following reasons:

1: Poor handling poor handing of Baja pulsar 200 was a major problem as its cutting on the curve was quite difficult and as a result it leads to many major accident and thus creating a wrong or negative image in mind regarding the product and company.

2: Start up problem which is faced by Bajaj pulsar 200 was the starting problem especially during winters as Baja pulsar 200 was not having a kick to start and itself starter was not that good.

3: The other major drawbacks faced by Bajaj pulsar 200 was its look. It dint look attractive at all infact it was bulky and dish aped.

4: uncomfortable while riding this problem was usually felt during the long ride as it seat are divided into two sections which make it more uncomfortable and inconvenient while riding.

5: Problem with gear pattern which make inconvenient for rider in shifting the gear while riding and this again lead to large number of accident of the riders.

6: The other major issue with the bike was its average its average was not that good in comparison with the other bike in the same segment.

All the above mentioned problems were in accordance to manufacturing process. The impact of failure of Bajaj 200 was so powerful that the entire image of Bajaj was getting down in customer mind as a result Bajaj pulsar 200 was totally banned by Baja motors in India and new product named Bajaj pulsar 220 was added to the list.

3.1 APPROACH FOR THE REMEDIES: The best approach for the quality improvement is ISO 9000. If Bajaj would have followed this certification there would have been no reason to shutdown pulsar 200. As this certification would have sort all the manufacturing problem through quality standardization and as a result product problem would have been sort out and customer friendly product would have been made.

3.2 PERMANENT STRATEGY: In accordance to my knowledge and views Bajaj motors should permanently adopt ISO 9000 because at present products of Bajaj motors like pulsar 220, pulsar 150, pulsar 180, pulsar dtsi faces the same common problem of handling and repair which were in pulsar 200. Application of ISO 9000 would help the Bajaj motors to overcome the quality defects at manufacturing stage and moreover the standard would be set below which nothing would be acceptable by the organization thus problem would be sort out within the organization. In the other hand company will be beneficial in marketing as being ISO certified.

4. KAIZEN: Alukal et al. (2006) states that Kaizen is a Japanese concept of management. The meaning of kaizen is in it word only kai (which means change) and Zen (which means good or better) i.e. bringing in the change which is good for the organization. Kaizen is a continuous process of bringing in small small change that accounts for very big and positive results. And it is based on the phenomena that every single phase of our life need little but constant changes.

4.1 MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF KAIZEN as mentioned by Alukal et al. (2006)

1: Aims at providing world class manufacturing process is to the concern in which it is applied as change are effective only on those manufacturing concern where manufacturing process is of world class standards and in accordance to the prevailing technology.

2: Aims at improving quality improvement is the core of kaizen. According to kaizen phenomena no matter how small or big the change is but there should be a change like keeping it simple and dynamic.

3: Aims to provide job environment safe and secure. Kaizen aims at providing safe healthy and secure work climate for its employees and management. As change is effective in a place where people are supportive and environment is healthy.

4: Aims at eliminating waste, the most important objective of kaizen is to eliminate the waste

(waste are the thing that things that do not add anything to the product still is the part of manufacturing process) this would enhance manufacturing process and would speed up the process moreover resources like men, money, time etc of the organization are saved and ultimately leading to the organizational profit.

4.2. JUST IN TIME: Lai et al. (2009) demonstrate that Just in time technique was developed by Toyota motors and this technique was copied at almost all manufacturing plant. JIT is a technique where in superior management is needed and large work force. Just in time technique is a phenomenon of making the raw material and finished products at the time they are needed i.e. eliminating the time lag. And it generates no substantial risk to the organization.

4.3. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF JUST IN TIME:

1: Maintain the proper stock level. It means that an adequate level of stock is maintained in the warehouses so that the holding cost and other expenses related to stock are all manageable and most importantly the need of the manufacturing concern are meet as an when needed.

2: Maintain proper or true position of inventory. It denotes that there should be no fake data recorded in the books. The data and facts recorded should denote the actual position of the stock.

4.4. TOTAL QUALITY MANGEMENT: Sashkin et al. (1993) states that Total quality management is a management phenomenon that seeks to full fill the need of the customer without compromising in quality like providing customer quality they want or better than what they want. It could be achieved with integration of quality related functions. This phenomenon is based on the concept that the set standards should be achieved and anything below the standards is not acceptable at all and anything above the set standards is appreciated. As a result no compromise is done with the product quality and ultimately the customer is satisfied as quality is set and based on the taste preference and requirement of the customers.

4.5. SIX SIGMA: Tennant (2001) demonstrates that six sigma is methodology developed by Motorola which emphasizes setting high objectives, collecting data and analyzing results to achieve the different way to reduce defects in products and services.

It is important to find the appropriate method for the company to achieve the goal for quick response for the customer and increase the customer satisfaction. The requirement encouraged them to adopt either six sigma to improve process or Kaizen to reduce waste in process. However both have some limitations as a result company need to combine their strength. Six sigma focus on the quality improvement and satisfaction of the customer whereas Kaizen focus on elimination of waste which arise in process. However the Kaizen cannot put a process under statistical control and six sigma cannot increase process speed alone.

5. CONCLUSION

By completing this report it is clear that the lean manufacturing play a very important role in organization. It helps to reduce waste and the process which is not necessary to reduce the production cost. It explains how to increase the efficiency of the organization.