Sustainable Manufacturing through Systematic Reduction in Cycle Time (original) (raw)

A case study of lean, sustainable manufacturing

A small furniture production company has integrated lean tools and sustainability concepts with discrete event simulation modeling and analysis as well as mathematical optimization to make a positive impact on the environment, society and its own financial success. The principles of lean manufacturing that aid in the elimination of waste have helped the company meet ever increasing customer demands while preserving valuable resources for future generations. The implementation of lean and sustainable manufacturing was aided by the use of discrete event simulation and optimization to overcome deficits in lean's traditional implementation strategies. Lean and green manufacturing can have a more significant, positive impact on multiple measures of operational performance when implemented concurrently rather than separately. These ideas are demonstrated by three applications.

Lean Manufacturing and Sustainability: An Integrated View

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2016

Lean Manufacturing has always been seen as a mean to improve efficiency by reducing operations costs, but the recent focus on sustainability and its three pillar (economic, environmental and social) brought new issues to be addressed. In this paper, a new framework that links lean manufacturing with sustainability is proposed and then refined through a cross-sectoral multiple case study. The results highlight the need to align the lean implementation process with the sustainability strategy in order to avoid the negative impacts that lean production could have on the environmental and social components of sustainability.

Sustainable Practises in Lean Manufacturing: A Critical Review

International Journal of Management Studies, 2018

The key to attain sustainable development lies in the customer gratification through improved quality, reduced cost, reduced delivery lead times and proper communication. Lean manufacturing philosophies help managers to identify and eliminate waste at every stage of operations in a systematic approach. The changes in culture have contributed to every lean failure. While prevailing research implies that successful lean implementations lead to a profitable organisation it focuses on the low numbers of successful lean conversions. The opulence of lean manufacturing will not be entirely based on application of appropriate tools and techniques alone but also on the participation of top management and their leadership, workers attitude, resources and the organizational culture.

IMPROVEMENT OF PROCESS CYCLE EFFICIENCY BY IMPLEMENTING A LEAN PRACTICE: A CASE STUDY

„Lean‟ is an established industrial paradigm with proven track record in various sectors of the industry (Womack and Jones, 1996). World-Class multinational companies such as Toyota (second biggest global car manufacturer), Porsche‟s (most profitable Global OEM), Boeing (largest global aerospace business) and Tesco (third largest global retailer) have adopted Lean at the Corporate level. It is an applied methodology and step by step technique that results work tasks in a process to be performed with the least involvement of non-value adding activities greatly resulting in reduced process time, wait time, queue time, operation time, move time, administrative time and other delays. This paper addresses the implementation of Lean Manufacturing in a small scale production industry. The main objective of this practice was to minimize the waste on the shop floor. This paper shows the application of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) in detail. By identifying the waste and its sources the present and future states of value stream maps are developed to improve the production. This improvement technique focuses the benefits of Lean production techniques in various stages of V.M. Auto Parts Pvt. Ltd. and results 6-7% potential cost saving reduction in cycle time and increase in cycle efficiency is guaranteed. The flow process or cycle time was enhanced thus minimizing various non value added actions and times such as bottle necking time, waiting time, material handling time, etc. More generic approach to design lean environment can be developed by this case study. Keywords: Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream Mapping, cycle time, Takt time Cycle efficiency.

Relationships Between Lean and Sustainability Manufacturing : A Literature Review

Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management

The Manufacturing Industry is not only required to continue to increase productivity but must fulfill products that are environmentally friendly both in terms of raw materials, processes and finished products must produce impacts that do not damage the environment. The purpose of this paper is to explore and present the relationship between lean manufacturing and sustainability manufacturing. Specifically focusing on identifying and analyzing existing literature to see gaps and see future research opportunities. This paper also looks at lean manufacturing from a TBL (Triple Bottom Line) perspective, namely an economic, social and environmental perspective.

The Impact of Lean Production on the Cycle Time: A Case Study of a Welding Assembly Line in Kerala

IJSRD, 2013

The growing global competition is forcing the organisations to reduce the cost for increasing the profit. Lean manufacturing is a powerful tool for attaining this. The history of lean manufacturing starts from the craft production of 1900's. It is evolved through the contributions of F.W. Taylor, Henry Ford, Eiji Toyoda & Taiichi Ohno. The main concept of the lean manufacturing is the reduction in cost by eliminating waste. However, not all lean implementations have produced such results. In this study, a critical examination of lean manufacturing implementation experience at the welding department of a medium size industry located in Kerala, India. . Cycle time reduction is an important way by eliminating or reducing non-value-added activities. To reduce the overall cycle time of manufacturing, the cycle time of each sub-assembly needs to be reduced. Reducing cycle time will have a significant impact on a company's bottom line when implemented. The outcome of this study leads to substantial reduction in cycle time, reduced defects, better utilization of human resource and machines, and reduced cost of maintenance. It has been proved and validated by an empirical relation. The cause and effect diagram is used for analysing the cycle time reduction. The Quality control chart is also used. The improved return on investment (ROI) and reduction in cycle time shows the feasibility. The data for this study were obtained through interviews, Questionnaire survey and archival sources.

Lean Manufacturing: a concept towards a sustainable management

Communications in Applied Sciences, 2014

In this paper, we will analyze the concept of lean manufacturing, starting from the example illustrated by TPS (Toyota Production System) which is renowned for its focus on the reduction of the original Toyota seven waists in order to improve overall customer value, in spite of the existence of varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world's largest automaker (Bailey, 2008) has focused its attention on how it has achieved this success. It is a starting template that was also developed by other automotive makers, and not only. We will also identify the main elements of lean philosophy and propose a typology of the fundamental concepts of lean, using data analysis from research findings across studies on lean manufacturing and lean production published in the past two decades.

The Relationship between Lean Operations and Sustainable Operations, International Journal of Operations and Production Management

Purpose The adoption of lean operational practices and independently the uptake of business practices related to sustainability and corporate social responsibility continues to grow. Past research has hinted at relationships between these two areas – suggesting that ‘lean is green’ (e.g. Florida, 1996). The lean mantra of waste reduction and ‘doing more with less’ is immediately apparent as delivering environmental benefits and has formed the basis of past research (e.g. Hughes, 2012). Almost all research linking lean operations or lean supply chains to sustainability issues have focused exclusively on environmental impact. The purpose of this paper is to explore the broader sustainability benefits of lean operations. Design/Methodology The paper uses a longitudinal multi-year (up to four years observation), multi-case analysis (n=5). Findings The paper reports that lean operations meet a wide range of sustainability outcomes beyond environmental benefits (including supply monitoring, transparency, workforce treatment, and community engagement). The paper specifies the internal and external policies, procedures, tools, and strategies for implementation of lean and sustainable operations management. This is encapsulated in the development of a stage based theoretical model of lean-sustainability. Further, it is proposed that lean implementation and sustainability performance are in fact interlinked. 6 Originality/Value Past research on the role of lean operations in improving sustainably has focused almost exclusively on environmental benefits accruing from toolkit/workplace level waste reduction. This paper demonstrates that lean provides more than a toolkit (a philosophy and strategic direction) and that this meets a wide range of sustainable outcomes. This finding makes major contributions to conceptualizing how lean operations influence sustainability outcomes. The paper develops the first integrative stage based model of lean and sustainable operations management. Keywords: lean, green, sustainability, operations management Article Classification: Research paper

Alina Ţenescu, Mirela Teodorescu : Lean Manufacturing a concept towards a sustainable management. InfinityPress.Communications in Applied Sciences, 2014, Vol.2, No.1

In this paper, we will analyze the concept of lean manufacturing, starting from the example illustrated by TPS (Toyota Production System) which is renowned for its focus on the reduction of the original Toyota seven waists in order to improve overall customer value, in spite of the existence of varying perspectives on how this is best achieved. The steady growth of Toyota, from a small company to the world's largest automaker (Bailey, 2008) has focused its attention on how it has achieved this success. It is a starting template that was also developed by other automotive makers, and not only. We will also identify the main elements of lean philosophy and propose a typology of the fundamental concepts of lean, using data analysis from research findings across studies on lean manufacturing and lean production published in the past two decades.