A beginner's guide to lean manufacturing

Are you looking for a way to increase your profits and create a productive working environment? Lean manufacturing is one of the best ways to meet customer satisfaction ratings and to strengthen your business as a whole. When you focus on implementing lean manufacturing, you will find ways to reduce wastes and produce higher quality products. This article will offer a simple guide to lean manufacturing so you can get on the fast track to running a successful business.

How does lean manufacturing benefit the customers?
When it comes to proper implementation of lean manufacturing, you are not only thinking about reducing waste for the business, you must also think in terms of your customers. Lean manufacturing provides the customer with a better product for the same or reduced price. The products they are provided are fresh as you no longer keep a large inventory stock on hand. Lean manufacturing involves meeting the demands of the customers and giving them what they want but making sure you are delivering quality to them.

How does lean manufacturing impact the employees?
When you implement lean manufacturing into an organization you are focused on developing stronger relationships with your employees. You are also focused on helping employees to become more productive. Productivity will increase as you work with your employees to clean up their workstations and to fix the defects and loopholes that may occur in your manufacturing processes. Each employee will have a balanced workload so you won't need to worry about employees that seem to have too much work or the employees that seem like they are underutilized. When everyone is able to have a specific workload, their job satisfaction will increase and your company will start to gain higher approval ratings from it's employees.

What does lean manufacturing provide to the organization?
Lean manufacturing can improve your production and it will reduce your waste output by 40% or more. The entire program of lean manufacturing is designed to improve the company. Your manufacturing lines will be changed into specific cells so it's easier to identify wastes and problems along the lines of your manufacturing process. Here are a few ways that lean manufacturing will improve your business:

• Inventory reduction. Carrying too much inventory can cause you to tie up your cash reserves and this can cause you to have problems purchasing other equipment and raw goods in the future. Too much inventory also takes up floor space and it can cause your facility to become cluttered, which can lead to workplace accidents.


• Overproduction. This is a big waste to a business as you produce products that won't sell for months or years. The products you produce should only be a few weeks or a few days old when they are sent out to the customers.


• Defects. Lean manufacturing helps to reduce wastes as you will evaluate your machinery and find a way to repair it and to make the overall process run faster. Each cell is in charge of a specific thing so you will be able to dramatically reduce your defect ratio.


• Waiting time. Do you have employees that stand around waiting for a job? What about your machines are they being used the way they should? You need to focus on reducing your waiting time so you aren't wasting money.


• These are just a few of the common lean manufacturing principles that you can implement and the results they will bring your company. Hire a lean manufacturing firm to come in and assess your business situation and train your employees on how they can switch to a lean manufacturing environment.