Lean Manufacturing

In this world of competition without proper production management a company cannot survive. Using a manufacturing concept for competitive advantage is relatively a new concept.Lean manufacturing is a concept actually brought up y Toyota motor company, Japan. But it was popularized to the world by the book “THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD” by Womack, Jones and Roos of MIT in 1990. Adding value by eliminating waste, being responsive to changes, focusing on quality and enhancing effectiveness of workforce is what achieved by lean manufacturing. It needs a systematic and continuing search for non value added activities.This seminar provides an overview of basic elements, techniques and benefits of lean manufacturing. The term lean manufacturing is a more generic term and refers to the general principles and further developments of becoming lean.The term lean is very apt because in lean manufacturing the emphasis is on cutting out “FAT” or wastes in manufacturing process. Waste is defined as anything that does not add any value to the product. It could be defined as anything the customer is not willing to pay for. Manufacturing philosophy is pivoted on designing a manufacturing system that perfectly blends together the fundamentals of minimizing costs and maximizing profit. These fundamentals are Man (labour), Materials and Machines (equipments) called the 3 M’s of manufacturing. A well-balanced 3M is resulted through lean manufacturing.