How to convert to lean manufacturing for a low cost

Are you interested in converting your manufacturing company towards a lean manufacturing?This may seem like an expensive endeavor for you to make this switch to lean manufacturing, but it doesn't necessarily need to be!Remember, a switch to lean manufacturing will help your company to work more efficiently, which will help you to save money in the long run.Even in the actual conversion process it is also possible to convert to lean manufacturing at a low cost!Here are a couple things that you can to so that you convert to lean manufacturing for a relatively inexpensive price:

1) Set priorities:When people go about starting to make a conversion to lean manufacturing, they often try to tackle everything at once to make improvements. This can sometimes lead to hasty behavior and your might have to go back afterwards and fix some problems that you created in your haste.Not only is this a waste of time, but it also can be a more expensive way to convert to lean manufacturing.Instead, you will be able to convert to lean manufacturing at a low cost if you set priorities first.Look at the things that need to be changed, and set a time table and list of goals for the conversion.Know what you are doing to make the conversion.Then you will automatically be able to fulfill one of the missions of lean manufacturing, which is to eliminate waste, and in this case it's referring to wasted money and time!

2) Interview your staff and employees carefully:When switching over to lean manufacturing, you may feel the need to let a lot of employees go, or to hire new employees to meet the conditions of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.Before you do either of these things, you should first interview all of your current staff members closely and review their resumes.There might be very qualified individuals that are within your company who could multi-task and take on some of the new responsibilities.You will save a lot of money doing this, because you will not have to hire a new employee or give severance pay to a less-qualified employee who had to be fired.Try to hang onto as many employees as you can, and see if they are able to assume more responsibilities, and you will be able to make the switch to lean manufacturing for a lower cost!If you do find that you need to hire new employees, try to find the most diverse and competent people as possible.The more roles and responsibilities these new employees can fulfill, the more money you'll save, and the switch to lean manufacturing will be all-the-more easier.

3) Try Kaizen Blitzes: A kaizen blitz is a focused, short-term project which helps to improve a certain process (as part of lean technology).Usually these kaizen blitzes take anywhere from two to ten days.These short-term projects can be helpful in saving costs, because all of the energy is expended towards getting the job done, and extra labor and money aren't wasted.Sometimes if you take too long working on a specific aspect of lean manufacturing technology, too much money can be lost and it can become expensive.Instead, you should try to do these short-lived exercises instead.They are especially recommended for companies that are starting the conversion to lean techonology.Two of the more common kaizen events are workcell implementation and setup reduction.Try some of these kaizen events out as your make the conversion to lean manufacturing, and you will likely be able to make this conversion at a much lower cost than your competitiors!