Muda is all about waste and Lean manufacturing is about eliminating Muda. It is any activity that adds no real value to the product or service being created or delivered. The diligent attention to the elimination of waste in how work is performed is a fundamental tenet of Lean manufacturing, the operational excellence strategy that was developed over many years and is widely used in business today.

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The construction industry has been mired in an environment that has been siloed and antiquated for years. The view has been that things have always been done a certain way and there is no reason to change. Meanwhile, numerous industries have embraced lean methodologies and have significantly reduced waste, improved efficiency and delivered higher quality products which meet or exceed customer expectations. Surveys show that at least 50% of processes involved in planning and construction are wasteful. The industry has adopted lean construction methods, which are starting to change an industry that lagged behind others.

Learn more here about lean construction!

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Muda means waste and refers to a wide range of non-value-adding activities; eliminating waste is the key to efficiency. When you look at the Toyota Production System (TPS), eliminating Muda waste is one of the main principles of the Just-in-Time system. Some things that are considered waste are unnecessary financing costs, storage costs and worthless stock of old items. Toyota divides Muda into seven categories:

1. Transportation – increases risk of product being damaged, lost or delayed.
2. Inventory – Outlay of capital that doesn’t immediately produce income.
3. Motion – Damage inflicted through the production process.
4. Waiting – Product sitting idle.
5. Over-processing – Doing more work than is necessary.
6. Over-production – Making more product than is required by the customer.
7. Defects – Replacing faulty parts or products.

Processes consumes resources and naturally, waste can occur. The more resources that are used, the more opportunity exists for waste. The tools of Lean manufacturing and the TPS help focus on the elimination of Muda waste and create a heightened awareness. Understanding exactly what waste exists and where it is exists is crucial to any Lean manufacturing process. Even though products differ between manufacturing organizations, lean practitioners understand that the types of wastes are very similar.

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Boeing builds the venerable 737 workhorse at a rate of one every nine days! That is a monumental feat of Lean manufacturing. The Boeing 737 is the workhorse of many airlines across the globe, flying short and medium range flights. It was originally designed in 1964 and took its first flight in 1967. In 1968, Lufthansa airlines put the Boeing 737 into service across their service areas. Since its inception, the aircraft has been through numerous upgrades and modernization changes that continue to make it an in-demand aircraft among airlines. As of 2006, there were an average of 1,250 Boeing 737s airborne at any given time, with two either departing or landing somewhere every five seconds. 

Watch this video and see how they do it!

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Since 2006, Great American Cutlery has built the reputation for making the finest quality traditional pocket knives in the US. Located in historic Titusville, PA, the brand focuses on a hands-on process which yields the most beautiful and high quality pocket knives on the market. Their products exceed expectations from customers by producing a product that first became a mainstay in the late 19th century.

Check out the unique insights to the process that is Great American Cutlery!

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Since 1906, the name Rolls Royce has been recognized as quality and luxury in transportation. Throughout its legendary history, discerning people from around the globe have chosen Rolls Royce vehicles for their transportation. They are understood to be the finest example of luxury and comfort in motor vehicles. Take a few minutes and immerse yourself in the luxury of Rolls Royce.

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Take a step back in time with a vintage Honda factory tour! Since 1959, Honda has been setting records. They are the largest manufacturers of motorcycles and internal combustion engines in the world. In 2001, they became the second largest Japanese auto manufacturer. Honda also manufactures garden equipment, marine engines, personal watercraft, power generators, and other products. Since its inception, Honda has applied the principles of Lean manufacturing, and this timeless video will take you back and show you how they do it.

Take some time and enjoy a flashback in Lean manufacturing!

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With Tesla and Elon Musk hitting the news almost everyday on a variety of topics other than manufacturing, it seems like a good time to refocus and revisit one of the most innovative manufacturing processes in action. Tesla, under the leadership of Elon Musk, is breaking the mold in manufacturing and doing just what everyone said he couldn’t do. Musk is confident that Tesla will become the example for mass car production of the future.

Take a few minutes with Elon Musk and enjoy the tour!

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Walters & Wolf are a premier commercial cladding manufacturer. They have established the industry reputation of being able to produce products of every cast and color, to precise and exacting specifications. They draw and engineer all systems in-house, both shop and fabrication drawings for project submittals and shop fabrication and field installation. Their quality and customer satisfaction could not be reached without engraining a firm core of Lean manufacturing in their culture and everything they do.

Take a few moments and learn from Walters & Wolf!

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Key performance indicators (KPIs) are among the most common tools used in business to help manage more effectively and guide the progress of the organization. They provide clarity to murky issues and put the spotlight on potential opportunities. Key performance indicators can help an organization predicate an impending storm and avoid potential downfalls.

Leaders often misunderstand or overuse the term. They tend to relate key performance indicators to any type of business data measurement. To be effective, key performance indicators need to be metrics that matter to the business of the organization. KPIs need to be linked to the overall strategy of the organization, which means to first identify what matters the most and what provides the proper measurement. Leaders and key stakeholders can monitor these indicators over time and adjust plans and programs as needed to improve the KPIs in support of the organization’s strategic goals. The ideal process for identifying and implementing key performance indicators involves the leaders and contributors regularly revisiting and revising the measures. This is a fine-tuning process, which takes time and diligence by all parties.

Key performance indicators can shape strategy and fact-based decision making inside organizations. It doesn’t matter how brilliantly you’ve aligned your KPIs to your strategy, or even how brilliantly you have captured and presented the relevant KPIs. If leaders aren’t using your KPIs to inform their decisions and drive performance, then they are wasting time and effort. A well-designed set of KPIs should provide a clear indication of current levels of performance and help leaders make better decisions that brings the organization closer to achieving its strategic objectives. By avoiding the pitfalls, leaders can ensure KPIs are designed, implemented and used exactly as they were intended – to help the organization succeed and avoid the inevitable storm.

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Kanban is a lean method to manage and improve systems and process across an organization. The methodology balances the demands with available capacity, and improves the handling of system level bottlenecks. The Kanban board is a tool within the methodology which will allow the visualization of any process. The goal of a Kanban system is to limit the amount of work in process so the work flowing through the system matches its capacity.

Check out this informative video on the Kanban Board!     

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In Lean production, it is commonly understood to use pull production instead of push production, which is implemented with a Kanban system. But what makes the pull production system the way to go?  Why not use a push production system? For most, the answers are about as clear as muddy water.

A pull production system simply limits the amount of work in a process which can be in the system. Work methods that use pull systems allow people to manage the flow of resources by limiting work in progress and allowing those doing the work to focus. They are driven from a high level that strictly focuses on capacity and material based on actual customer demand. Pull production design is perfectly balanced due to the demand placed on the organization. They are designed to be agile, with the ability to quickly respond to any changes in customer demand. It is often referred to as a Kanban’ system, which is a method for planning, executing and replenishing inventory that allows for greater control.

Push production revolves around extensive planning and forecasting. It does not have limits on the amount of work that can be in the system. The common assumption in a push production system is that everything remains constant. Everything that is required for capacity is on hand, which includes inventory and support staff. Even though it seems agile and proactive, in reality it is not. Often, pull production becomes obsolete before being executed because of the every changing market environment and customer demand. It is slow to adjust to these variations in a manufacturing environment.

While push production is heavily front loaded with planning and forecasting, pull production is agile and customer demand focused. It remains flexible enough to meet ever changing market adjustments and customer demands.

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In taking a cue from manufacturing, marketing departments are embracing the principles of lean agile practices. Research shows that over the past five years, 77% of marketing departments have embraced lean agile principles, and 67% of those have shown increases in both revenue and profits. Needless to say, lean agile principles are making an impact in the marketing community.

Please take some time and watch this informative video on the topic!

https://youtu.be/j-r5W_Eq4G4

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Marketing professionals are starting to take their cues from the manufacturing industry and adopt lean agile principles to improve performance and value. A common tool in lean agile practices used in manufacturing are sprints. The two practices are complementary, and achieve significant results when applied appropriately.

Recently, a marketing director with a Fortune 100 organization observed the lean agile process of sprints in their engineering team. They would use month long bursts (sprints) to create and test the potential value of projects. At the end of each sprint, the engineering team would examine what worked and what didn’t. If it was deemed a success, the process was adopted. If it didn’t, then the process was eliminated from consideration. The marketing director found inspiration in the process and success of the engineers, and imagined the same success in the marketing department. Research shows that 77% of marketing departments had adopted lean agile practices in the past five years. Of those respondents, 67% of those organizations increased revenue and profits. This clearly shows the potential of lean agile practice performance in the marketing profession.

Marketing Lean Agile Sprints Work

In this specific marketing department, the director adopted the lean agile process of their engineers and started on a new journey of excellence. The director prioritized a list of their most important projects and delayed lesser ideas until later months. They went to work and ran sprints on their top priorities. When they made their marketing process more customer centric, they also found they started sharing a common language with others in the organization. The overall team started working together and better understanding individual roles. The marketing department developed the process to where they would run a large project and two smaller ones each month. They were able to focus the efforts of marketing to better fit into what the rest of the organization really need form the team. They developed a year-long plan for their sprints, which significantly improved the overall effectiveness of the marketing team. The marketing department was better able to say no, not right now to requests and really focus on what made a difference for the entire organization. The entire team was able to become more comfortable with both failure and honesty. It was like new life came into the department. A mindset developed within marketing that they could experiment with campaigns to reduce workload and effort when putting a new product into the marketplace.

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When first learning about TPS and lean, most become focused on the tools. They tend to be flashy and lend to endless discussion about technique and application. But as you gain experience and understanding of lean and TPS, an epiphany occurs. The true essence and spirit of the applications are about continuous improvement and respect for people. The are truly the two pillars of lean and TPS. Waste reduction and management tools are not pillars of the methodology.

The essence of methodology is that each individual employee is given the opportunity to find problems in his own way of working, to solve them and to make improvements.

Wakamatsu and Kondo, Toyota experts

The essence of lean thinking and TPS is simply put. Keep the focus on building people, then building products, which includes creating an environment of challenging the status quo. The true brilliance and strength of the TPS and lean thinking is the ability to harness the intellectual power of the average employee. This concept is lost on many organizations who get themselves lost in the tools and miss the obvious simplicity of the concepts.

The concept of respect for people not just about the customer or end user. It refers to everyone inside and outside of the organization who has contact with the process. This means line workers, support personnel, vendors and supply personnel. If you follow through with this principle, you will continually analyze the process and seek perfection with involving the customer. This will nurture the ability of the organization to self-identify problems and lead to continuous improvement, or Kaizen. Ultimately, the organization will start to challenge everything and embrace change with ease. More important than the actual improvements, the true value of continuous improvement is in creating an atmosphere of continuous learning and an environment that not only accepts, but actually embraces change.

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