The 8 Essential LEAN Techniques You Need To Know

Lean Manufacturing is one of the best tools to eliminate waste in any process. Lean techniques are used typically used in a production environment and can be used in any environment that uses process. Let’s take a read about 8 different lean techniques.

1. Kaizen

Kaizen improves work process in several different ways. The work Kaizen comes from Japan and means continuous improvement or making things better.

2. Poka-Yoke

The second lean technique is Poka-Yoke. Its role is to prevent defects and mistakes. It uses a wide variety of ingenious devices to prevent mistakes. Poka-yoke is also referred as mistake proofing, in all aspects of manufacturing, customer service etc. It is one of the most important lean techniques that employ visual signals which make mistakes clearly stand out from the crowd.

3. 5S

5S lean technique focuses on organising. Its role is to lessen wasteful time & motion at a micro level. It is a framework to create & maintain your workplace. The 5S stands for – sort, set-in-order, shine, standardize and sustain. Sort means sorting all the unnecessary items and tools from the work place, set-in-order means putting all the necessary items in place that minimises waste of motion. Shine means keeping the work place in a clean and orderly manner. Standardise means all processes at work station are standardised and finally sustain means every single individual who is at work sustains all the previous S’s.

4. Kanban

The purpose of Kanban is to schedule production and minimise work-in-progress while encouraging improvement in several areas. It uses visual display cards to signal movement of material between steps of a product process.

5. Just in Time

It is a production strategy that aims to improve the ROI (Return on Investment) of the business by reducing in-process inventory & associated carrying costs. Just-in-time is actually a manufacturing philosophy which leads to “Producing the necessary units, in the necessary quantities at the necessary time with the required quality”.

6. Jidoka

Jidoka aims to prevent problems at one station of production line by building inventory and also to create urgency to find permanent solutions. It is basically the practice of putting an end to the integrated assembly or production line when any work station encounters problems. It implements a supervisory function in a production line and stops the process as soon as a defect is encountered.3

7. Takt-Time

Takt-time aims to balance the output of sequential production processes & prevent inventory build-ups & shortages. It is the average time required between output-units at a particular process coordinated with final customer requirements.

8. Heijunka

Heijunka, the last part of the Lean Manufacturing Technology means levelling up production by both volume and product mix. It takes the total volume of orders in a period and levels them out so the same amount and mix are being made each day. It is the technique of reducing waste which occurs due to fluctuating customer demand.