How it Works

What is lean manufacturing, and what types of businesses use it? What are the benefits, and is it right for my manufacturing company? In this blog post, we will answer all these questions and more. 

We’ll discuss what lean manufacturing is, how it works, and the various benefits it can offer to businesses of all sizes. So if you’re wondering whether or not it is right for you, read on. You may be surprised at just how beneficial this production method can be for your business.

What Is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a production philosophy that is focused on waste reduction. It was originally developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation in the early 20th century and has since been adopted by businesses in a variety of industries around the world.

The goal of this production method is to create more value for the customer while using less resources. In other words, lean manufacturing eliminates waste in all forms, whether it be wasted time, materials, or energy. There are many different techniques that businesses can use to achieve this goal.

Some common methods techniques include:

• Just-in-time manufacturing: This technique involves producing goods only as they are needed, rather than stockpiling products. This reduces wasted materials, labor, and storage costs.
• Kanban: Kanban is a communication system that uses visual cues to signal when a product needs to be replenished. This helps to ensure that inventory levels are always just-right, which reduces waste.
• Value stream mapping: This technique involves creating a map of the steps involved in producing a product or service. This helps businesses to identify and eliminate wasted time and effort.

These are just a few of the many lean manufacturing techniques that businesses can use to reduce waste and create more value for their customers.

What Are The Benefits of Lean Manufacturing?

There are many reasons why businesses choose to use lean manufacturing methods for their production needs. Some common reasons include:

• Reduced costs: It can help businesses to reduce their production costs by eliminating waste.
• Increased efficiency: These techniques can help businesses to streamline their production process, making it more efficient.
• Improved quality: By eliminating waste, this method can also help businesses to improve the quality of their products and services.
• Increased customer satisfaction: These techniques can help businesses to create more value for their customers, leading to increased satisfaction.

What’s Right For My Business?

Lean manufacturing is a versatile production philosophy that can be used by businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, this production process can help you to reduce waste and create more value for your customers. In turn, that means increased savings for you and your business. 

If you’re looking for ways to improve your production process, this production method may be the answer. We assist hundreds of manufacturing companies in designing, implementing, and maintaining their production processes and we’d love to help you too. Contact us today to learn more about how lean manufacturing can benefit your business. 

When it comes to lean manufacturing, communication is key. In fact, lean manufacturing relies on efficient and effective communication in order to succeed. Communication is essential for transferring information between team members and ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

By improving communication, lean manufacturing can benefit your business and help you achieve improved efficiency and productivity. In this blog post, we’ll discuss lean manufacturing benefits and how it can help improve communication in your business. 

What Is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a system that helps businesses eliminate waste and achieve higher levels of efficiency. The lean philosophy is based on the following principles:

• Identifying value from the perspective of the customer
• Creating value through a continuous flow of products and services
• Managing and reducing wastes

The goal of lean manufacturing is to create more value for the customer while simultaneously reducing waste. In order to achieve this, lean manufacturing relies on efficient communication between team members.

Lean Manufacturing Benefits

There are many benefits that come with lean manufacturing, including:

• Increased communication and collaboration among team members
• Improved quality
• Reduced costs
• Increased productivity and efficiency

As you can see, lean manufacturing comes with a number of benefits that can be extremely beneficial for your business. Not only does it help improve communication, but it also helps improve quality and increase productivity.

How Does Lean Manufacturing Increase Communication?

Now that we have discussed the basics of lean manufacturing and some of the benefits, let’s discuss how lean manufacturing can help increase communication.

As we mentioned before, lean manufacturing is based on the principle of creating value through a continuous flow of products and services. In order to achieve this, team members must be able to communicate effectively with each other. By improving communication, lean manufacturing can help reduce waste and improve efficiency.

In lean manufacturing, there is a strong emphasis on teamwork and collaboration. This means that team members must be able to communicate effectively in order to work together efficiently. By improving communication, lean manufacturing can help your business achieve its goals.

Increase in Manufacturing Technology

A key staple of lean manufacturing is fast, reliable, new technology. By utilizing the latest technologies, businesses can improve communication and achieve a higher level of efficiency.

Some examples of lean manufacturing tech include:

• Real-time data collection and analysis
• Automated reporting
• Cloud-based collaboration tools

These technologies can help improve communication by providing team members with the ability to share information and work together in real-time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, lean manufacturing is a system that helps businesses eliminate waste and achieve higher levels of efficiency. The lean philosophy is based on the following principles: identifying value from the perspective of the customer, creating value through a continuous flow of products and services, managing and reducing wastes.

To learn more about lean manufacturing benefits and how to implement it in your business, reach out to a representative from VersaCall today. We’ve helped dozens of businesses reduce waste, improve communication, and increase their productivity and we’d love to help you too.

Lean manufacturing is a collection of practices and tools that companies use to improve their efficiency and profitability. It’s a continuous improvement practice meaning lean manufacturers will always be looking for ways to make their operations better.

In Lean manufacturing, tools are used as a way to standardize efforts. They also help manufacturers create and maintain consistency across their business operations by eliminating wasteful processes and implementing Lean principles where they’re needed most.

Lean tools can be highly effective in helping manufacturers cut costs, streamline operations, reduce downtime and improve quality control in a variety of ways.

Why Lean Manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a manufacturing method that focuses on reducing costs through the elimination of waste, which in turn results in improved profitability for manufacturers. The practice can be applied to any company across all industries.

Lean manufacturing saves you money in a number of ways. It eliminates the need for excess inventory, reduces the total time it takes to get products from suppliers to warehouses, removes unnecessary steps from manufacturing processes, and increases transparency by improving visibility into operations.

Learn all about Lean manufacturing practices here.

The Best Tools for Lean Manufacturers

1. OEE Systems

OEE stands for Overall Equipment Effectiveness, and it’s a Lean tool that uses data to help manufacturers understand what’s going on in their plant. The system enables manufacturers to monitor the performance of their equipment from one central location.

OEE systems provide real-time communication, performance monitoring, and reporting analyses to give you insight into what’s going on with your equipment.

2. Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks use technology to monitor equipment in real-time. They collect information about the performance of different types of equipment, allowing manufacturers to improve their processes.

Wireless sensor networks create a Lean manufacturing environment that enables manufacturers to continue Lean practices during plant downtimes or plant shutdowns.

3. Smart Andon Systems

The practice of just-in-time manufacturing involves producing products only when they’re needed. This concept relies on the manufacturing tool called an Andon, which encompases the idea that workers request assistance and let everyone in the factory know that there’s a problem with the production line.

Smart Andon systems create Lean manufacturing environments by automatically stopping the production line when problems are detected. Calling for help and getting resources to a line by increasing accountability will reduce downtime and increase productivity.  Tracking and acknowledging response times is a recommended part of a complete Andon system.  

4. Cloud-Based Manufacturing Software

Cloud-based software systems provide manufacturers with the Lean manufacturing tools they need to manage their operations from anywhere using any device.

Manufacturers can upload data to cloud-based systems, which creates Lean manufacturing environments that help them understand what’s happening with their operations at any time, from anywhere.

5. Visual Management Solutions

Visual management solutions provide immediate visual status on production output and display the current issues impacting production. One screen can show the whole picture of your production floor, allowing you to get a comprehensive view of your production processes.

Visual manufacturing tools allow manufacturers to quickly prioritize issues that need immediate attention.

Lean manufacturing tools allow your business to run efficiently without extra effort from you. VersaCall offers a wide variety of services to help your manufacturing business run smoothly.

Sign up for a free demo today!

Productivity is the measure of how much output a worker produces in a given amount of time. The more productive a worker is, the more they can produce in a shift, and the more efficient the factory as a whole becomes.

There are many things that can slow the production process in manufacturing, and it’s critical to avoid them if you want to be productive. Here are the top 10:

1. Lack of Standardization

When different parts are made by different people and to various specifications, it can be difficult to achieve consistent quality. This can lead to defects and rework, which lower productivity. A lack of standardization can also make it difficult to automate manufacturing processes and to track inventory.

– To avoid this pitfall, develop standardized processes and specifications, and make sure that everyone on the production floor understands and follows them.

2. Lack of Training and Knowledge

If employees don’t have the training and knowledge to do their jobs properly, it can lead to defects and wasted time and money. This is especially true when new systems and software are integrated into your operations and training may need to be updated.

– To avoid this, make sure that everyone who works in the plant is properly trained and has the knowledge they need to do their jobs effectively. When changes are introduced to your processes, provide updated training.

3. Defective Parts

Defective parts can cause a number of problems in a manufacturing plant, including rework, scrapped product, and downtime. All of these reduce productivity and profitability.

– To avoid defective parts issues, make sure that quality control is a top priority in the plant, and invest in quality assurance measures such as good manufacturing practices (GMP) and statistical process control (SPC).

4. Poor Quality Control

As mentioned, defective parts can come as a result of poor quality control. Poor quality control can also lead to customer complaints and loss of business.

– To avoid quality control issues, implement manufacturing technology that can improve quality control through automation. Robust quality control systems can help avoid loss of scrapped products and valuable customers.

5. Poor Equipment Maintenance

If your equipment is not properly maintained, it can lead to unnecessary downtime. Equipment and software not only needs to be updated regularly, it also needs to be: protected from cybersecurity incidents; seamlessly integrated with your other software and hardware systems; and replaced when necessary.

– To avoid this pitfall, make sure that the equipment is kept up to date. Keep track of all your devices and which users are authorized to use it. Hire a manufacturing technology expert to make sure your systems are properly integrated and protected.

8. Poor Inventory Management

In a manufacturing plant, inventory can take up a lot of space, searching through inventory can take up a lot of time, and it can be easy to lose track of what you have. This can result in wasted time and money looking for parts that are not in stock and having to order them using costly rush shipping methods from suppliers.

– To avoid inventory issues, develop and implement an effective system for tracking inventory and make sure that everyone on the production floor is aware of it. Keep a close eye on inventory levels and reorder parts only when necessary.

9. Lack of Standardized Packaging

Lack of standardized packaging can cause major confusion in the warehouse and on the production line. When packaging isn’t consistent, products can get mixed up, messed up, and improperly sent to clients.

– To avoid this issue, create consistent packaging guidelines across all departments. Ensure your employees understand what the packaging labels mean and the issues that come from improper packaging.

10. Lack of Communication and Collaboration

Poor communication across your production plant can lead to major issues. For example, if marketing sends out specifications for mass customization without coordinating with production, it can cause delays in getting the product to market.

– To avoid communication issues, Encourage communication and collaboration between departments.Make sure that everyone in the company can be notified in real-time of changes that need to be made or updates that need to occur, as well as how their department contributes to it.IMplementing technology such as Andon systems can notify you as soon as there is a problem or disruption on the production floor. 

In order to ensure that your manufacturing plant is productive, it’s important to avoid these common issues that manufacturing facilities are often faced with.. By implementing the right measures and systems, you can keep your plant running smoothly and increase productivity.

The manufacturing industry often utilizes expensive and specialized machines to perform  operations for production. These machines require both preventative maintenance and on the spot maintenance, which is not possible without a straightforward method of evaluating the serviceability of a machine.

One of the best methods of assessing and maintaining a large facility is machine monitoring. Apart from helping you know how the device operates in real-time, machine monitoring allows for immediate action to improve a machine’s efficiency.

What Is Machine Monitoring?

Machine monitoring is a process that involves the extraction, storage, and display of machine data in an industrial context. A machine monitoring system is a reliable, scalable system that turns manufacturing data into valuable real-time insights, providing better visibility and highlighting targeted improvements. 

You can use machine monitoring to make significant improvements and maximize your company’s efficiency and profitability. It works by installing a machine monitoring system consisting of hardware and software tools for processing raw information coming from machines when in use.

A typical monitoring system includes the following:

• Industrial sensors
• Monitoring and analysis software
• Touchscreen interfaces
• IIoT platforms
• Frontline operations platform

Machine monitoring systems are used on a variety of industrial machines, including electric motors, pumps, compressors, heat exchangers, piping and steam boilers, and additional machinery.

Machine Monitoring Best Practices

Machine monitoring is easier to implement than you might think. Most modern systems come with plug-and-play software that requires an internet connection. Once you find the right machine monitoring system provider, here are the simple steps you should take:

Assess Your Current Needs and Capabilities

Start by assessing the number of machines you currently use on your shop floor, output diversity, production schedules, whether analog or digital, and operators’ importance.

You also need to check the kind of protocols the machine uses and whether the protocols are deprecated or proprietary. Finally, check your infrastructure and security requirements to make sure your standards are up-to-date. 

Establish Your Machine’s Working Condition

Before you implement a machine monitoring system, you need to establish its current working condition. Some of the data points to assess may include the production capacity during uptime and downtime. For example, you could discover that your current uptime was only 60% when you thought it to be 80%.

Account for the Operator

Since machines do not operate in isolation, it is essential to consider the impact of the operator’s work on a machine’s performance. You could require your machine operators to enter reasons for downtime, process completions, and log errors at the source.

Applications can record the operator on duty, the machine program running at a particular time, and the operational hours of a machine.

Design Applications Unique to Your Operations

Once you have collected enough human and machine data, you can design unique applications to track production volume and quality throughout the value system. You can then scale the program to additional machines or the entire manufacturing plant.

Conclusion

Machine monitoring is essential in collecting and analyzing real-time data on your machine’s operation and condition. It can help catch and resolve machine faults quickly, improving productivity and efficiency.

To learn more about machine monitoring and how it can improve your manufacturing business, contact us today.