Lean manufacturing as a management tool. The essence and methods of lean manufacturing. Review of the basic principles of lean manufacturing

To reduce costs, lean manufacturing principles are often used, which involve eliminating activities that do not add customer value. When optimizing a business, all employees must be clearly customer-oriented. Such a system of approach can not only change the situation for the better, but also establish a completely new way of life.

Historical data

The principles of lean production at the enterprise were founded in the middle of the last century by a Japanese engineer. A significant contribution to the development of the concept was made by his colleague, who created the fast changeover technology. The first of them knew ways to eliminate losses, and the second knew options for putting them into practice.

Later, American scientists studied the system and began to actively use it under their own name. At first, the concept was applied only in industries with discrete production. These include, for example, the automotive industry. However, gradually the principles were able to be adapted to process production. Later, the basic ideas began to be actively used in trade and other areas of life.

The main meaning of the concept

The starting point of lean manufacturing principles is to assess the value of a product for a specific consumer at each stage of its creation. The main goal of the concept is to create a situation in which continuous elimination of losses will be ensured. Actions that consume resources to one degree or another, but do not create values, are removed.

For example, the average consumer does not need the manufactured product or its elements to be stored in a warehouse. However, with a conventional management system, all costs associated with various indirect costs are passed on to the potential client. The concept involves dividing all enterprise activities into separate operations. Processes that do not add value are systematically eliminated from them.

Existing types of losses

The use of lean manufacturing principles should lead to the prevention of major losses. They should not only be eliminated, but also prevent the possibility of their occurrence in the future. The main task of management is to optimize the production process.

There are seven types of losses associated with the following points:

• overproduction;
• waiting time;
• the presence of unnecessary processing stages;
• manufacturing of defective products;
• making unnecessary movements;
• the existence of excess stocks;
• transportation.

Overproduction is considered the main problem. One of the easiest ways to increase profits is to increase productivity. At the same time, they often forget that the quantity of manufactured products is determined by demand. Sooner or later, manufactured goods accumulate in large volumes in the warehouse.

Review of the basic principles of lean manufacturing

The concept is aimed at organizing an optimal production process. One of the famous books provides information on how this can be achieved. 5 principles of lean manufacturing are taken into account in stages:

1. Determining the value of the manufactured product.
2. Establishing the flow of value formation of the manufactured product.
3. Ensuring process continuity.
4. Providing the consumer with the ability to pull the product.
5. Commitment to improvement.

This includes achieving high quality and forming long-term relationships with end consumers. This is achieved by sharing risks, monetary costs and information sources.

The pull principle in lean manufacturing involves supplying material resources to another process operation as needed. In this case, there is no strict schedule for the movement of material flows.

Basic methods of achievement

There are a number of tools through which the concept is brought to life:

1. Kanban is a system for organizing and supplying a production process. With its help, you can transfer the product to the next technological stage just in time. With this option, there is a balance between supply and consumer demand.
2. Kaizen is a special Japanese practice that emphasizes continuous improvement of technological processes. Not only production, but management is improving. Modernization affects workers and management, and does not require large material costs.
3. Poka-eke is a way to prevent mistakes. The method involves protecting items of use from careless human actions during the production process.
4. Rapid changeover is a method that involves reducing various costs and losses when re-equipping equipment. Initially, such a system found application in optimizing operations related to the replacement of dies and the subsequent readjustment of certain devices.
5. The principles of lean manufacturing 5S allow you to organize your workspace as efficiently as possible. The system presupposes a clear separation of things, their proper storage, standardization, strict adherence to established rules, and maintenance of cleanliness. The concept is aimed at reducing the number of accidents, improving the quality of products, creating a comfortable microclimate, improving labor productivity and unifying workplaces.
6. The total equipment maintenance system consists of a number of techniques that are necessary to ensure that the machine is always ready for operations. The overall effectiveness of the mechanisms used is calculated taking into account the degree of readiness, level of intensity and quality.
7. One-piece flow allows materials, services, and invoices to be processed as they are received. In some cases, the system may not be very profitable or physically impossible.

Implementation phases

There are special principles for implementing lean manufacturing. They can be divided into three main phases, which must be implemented in a certain sequence:

1. Demand research process. First you need to determine which category consumers belong to and what requirements they have. Of the tools used, the best ones are calculations of pitch, takt time, as well as buffer and insurance reserves.
2. The stage of achieving continuity of value flow. The phase involves taking certain measures to provide consumers with the necessary products in a timely manner and in the required quantities. To do this, ensuring balance in the loading of production lines, planning work areas and a number of other measures are carried out.
3. The smoothing phase allows you to achieve a balanced distribution of the volume of work carried out directly over certain time intervals (by day, month). At this stage, logisticians are involved and boards are used to consider new ideas.

Under what conditions can implementation be successful?

For the implementation of lean manufacturing principles in an enterprise to be successful, certain conditions must be met:

1. First of all, a plan for training and advanced training of employees should be established, taking into account the specifics of the business entity. All organizations have different resources, financial capabilities and needs. All people have different knowledge, skills and experiences. When planning the learning process, all this should be taken into account.
2. When implementing the concept, it is necessary to use a full range of tools and resources that are suitable for the majority of employees. Some people prefer to attend training courses, while others prefer to observe the activities of their colleagues.
3. Information should be obtained through benchmarking. The employee training stage involves the development of creative abilities. It is important to teach employees to go beyond the boundaries of a specific enterprise in order to effectively conduct business. They must be able to find options for applying fresh ideas in their own organization.

Manifestation in industries

The main principles of lean manufacturing can be clearly seen in many industries. The concept allows you to increase the efficiency of the work process:

1. Lean healthcare is a set of measures that reduces the time spent on medical staff. This does not apply to direct patient care.
2. Lean construction is a special management strategy aimed at increasing the efficiency of construction of objects. Each stage is considered separately.
3. Lean logistics is a pull system that combines the entire network of suppliers participating in the value stream.

Final part

Competent implementation of the basic principles of lean production at an enterprise provides an opportunity to improve the efficiency of its work. Business can be optimized only through maximum focus on certain categories of consumers and the involvement of all employees in this process.

Lean production is:

A systematic approach to identifying losses and finding ways to eliminate them in order to reduce the time between the customer’s order and the shipment of the goods;
business processes that require less human resources, capital investments, production space, materials and time at all stages.

This methodology is aimed at combating losses in all their manifestations: excess inventory, inter-operational backlogs, downtime, unnecessary movements, while taking into account the convenience and safety of operations for personnel.

Action plan:

1. Determine the expected value of a specific product that has certain characteristics and a certain price through dialogue with interested consumers.
2. Determine the entire flow of creating the value expected by the consumer for each type of product: from the concept to the product reaching the consumer.
3. Organize the movement of the flow of creating the value expected by the consumer, i.e. focusing not on the enterprise and equipment, but on the product and its “needs”.
4. Constantly listen to the voice of the consumer, allowing him to pull products from the enterprise when he needs it.

The basic methods and ideas of lean manufacturing were proposed by H. Ford and were used at Ford factories in the 20s of the last century, but for the first time they were fully implemented in Japan. Toyota has created a system whose goal is to reduce or eliminate activities that consume resources and do not add value, that is, those for which the consumer is not willing to pay.

Today this system is known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), the principles and tools of which are reflected in its American version - the Lean Production system. Many of the elements were still in the Soviet version - the scientific organization of labor (NOT).

Lean manufacturing is approaches and methods aimed at reducing all possible costs and increasing productivity. These tools are aimed primarily at the production part of the company. By changing the production system based on lean manufacturing principles, we reduce internal losses (inventories, movements, etc.) and at the same time free up people, premises, and energy.

Staff efforts are concentrated on those activities that do not add value to the product from the consumer's point of view and, therefore, do not increase the added (incremental) value for the company.

Additional Information:

1. The concept of lean manufacturing is easy to understand, but the hardest part is making it part of everyday work.
2. To successfully implement lean manufacturing, a change in the company's culture is necessary.
3. The concept of lean production is focused on maximum consideration of the interests and demands of consumers.
4. If you keep a constant focus on reducing losses of all types, there is virtually no limit to the benefits that can be achieved.
5. Lean manufacturing is an approach aimed at the quality of compliance of manufactured products with established requirements. The principle of working with quality according to the TPS system is described as three NOTs: do not take into work defective workpieces, do not make defective products, do not transfer defective products to the next operation.
6. The abbreviation TPS - Toyota Production System (Toyota Production System) stands for, in particular, this way: Thinking Production System - Thinking Production System.

Highly organized processes allow you to completely avoid unnecessary costs and successfully compete in the modern market.

Lack of staff involvement and difficulties in implementing changes in the company.

Delivery of the required products in the shortest possible time upon receipt of an order without the accumulation of intermediate stocks.

Implementation of lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing is a management concept that focuses on optimizing business processes with maximum market orientation and taking into account the motivation of each employee. Lean manufacturing forms the basis of a new management philosophy. The goal is to: minimize labor costs and time frames for creating new products; guarantee of product delivery to the customer; maximum quality at minimum cost. The basic idea is to eliminate waste from any activity that consumes resources but does not create value.

Taiichi Ohno, the founder of this system, identified seven types of waste: due to overproduction; time due to waiting; during unnecessary transportation; due to unnecessary processing steps; due to excess stocks; due to unnecessary movements; due to the release of defective products. There are also two more sources of losses - “load exceeding capacity” and “unevenness of load”, which ultimately leads to the release of defective products.

Overproduction. Overproduction is usually called the production of excess quantities of products or their premature production before real demand arises. In workshops, overproduction leads to the production of excess products, and in offices it leads to the creation of unnecessary documents or redundant information. The production of excess quantities of products or their premature production does not contribute to increasing efficiency, since they are associated with the consumption of additional material and labor resources, and the need to store excess products. This forces employees to work faster than necessary, which is accompanied by other losses.

To eliminate losses caused by overproduction, it is required:

Develop technological processes in such a way that previous operations reliably provide subsequent ones;
- establish production norms and standards for each workplace of the process;
- provide signals to prevent premature start of production.

Expectation. Any expectation - people, documents, equipment or information - is always a loss. Waiting means running idle, and this causes the entire process to stop. No added value is created while waiting, and the consumer is naturally reluctant to pay for downtime. This type of loss is the easiest to detect. They are especially annoying to workers. In any office, it is not uncommon for employees to wait for a long time for signatures from their bosses, the opportunity to use busy equipment, phone calls, receipt of materials from suppliers, etc.

Analyze which signatures on documents are really necessary, eliminate all unnecessary ones and standardize the new procedure;
- train employees in related professions so that they can replace each other;
- evenly distribute workloads throughout the day in order to optimally use available labor resources;
- ensure production with all necessary equipment and timely supplies of purchased products and materials.

Overprocessing. Superfluous operations are considered to be those operations that are not needed by consumers who do not want to overpay money for their implementation. Often such operations involve unnecessary actions (for example, mutual checks of work performed by different employees), obtaining an excessive number of signatures, unnecessary consideration of documents and work results.

To eliminate this type of loss you need:

Analyze all work that creates added value, optimize or eliminate all unnecessary operations;
- determine which approval signatures on documents are really necessary, and eliminate all unnecessary ones.

Excess inventory. Any excess inventory available at the enterprise is a loss. Storing such supplies requires additional space and can negatively impact safety by cluttering aisles and production areas. These inventories may become unnecessary and become obsolete as demand for products changes. Lean manufacturing requires a radical change in the way we think about inventory. Having excess inventory means that additional effort is required to manage it, and it can slow down other production processes as you have to turn over piles of paper and materials to find what you need.

To eliminate this type of loss you need:

Produce at each site or workplace only the quantity of products that is required by consumers located downstream of the production flow;
- standardize the layout of production areas and their loading;
- ensure the receipt of everything necessary for subsequent sections of the production process exactly at the appointed time and avoid delays in the further movement of materials through the production process.

Extra movements. Any movement not required to successfully complete the operation in question is a waste. Such movements are considered a form of waste, since each movement made should increase the added value of the product or service. Often, ineffective organization of the labor process and improper layout of workplaces cause unnecessary movements of performers - walking, reaching, bending, etc.

To eliminate this type of loss you need:

Standardize document folders, drawers and cabinets throughout the office, and use color coding as widely as possible;
- arrange files (with documents on tables or electronic ones in computers) in such a way as to facilitate access to them;
- locate common office equipment in the central part of the office, purchase additional equipment to reduce the number of employees moving around the office.

Losses from defects or rework. The costs of rework, or re-doing work that has already been done in which defects are found, certainly fall into the category of losses, since any work beyond what is necessary is unnecessary, increasing the losses of the enterprise. Defect losses also include lost productivity due to interruption of the normal flow of work to correct defects or rework products. This type of waste is much easier to identify than other types of waste.

To eliminate losses from defects you need:

Introduce standardized work methods and forms of office documents;
- develop and implement aids to make work easier.

Transportation. Transportation over distances greater than necessary, or the creation of temporary locations, storage and warehousing, unnecessary movements from place to place of materials, people, information or documents - all this leads to loss of time and energy. Materials and purchased items are often moved from place to place within a plant several times until they reach their final destination. Naturally, all these movements lead to losses. In addition, placing products in temporary storage areas increases the likelihood of damage, loss and theft, and interferes with normal movement within the enterprise.

To eliminate losses caused by excess transportation, the following is required:

Minimize the distances of any transportation;
- eliminate all places of temporary storage or storage of materials.

The problem of determining economic efficiency predetermines the need to correctly take into account and analyze the level and scale of implementation of lean production measures. This means that determining efficiency requires the use of quantitative analysis and measurement methods, which involves establishing a relationship between increasing the scale of implementation of the lean manufacturing concept and the increase in enterprise profit.

Lean manufacturing in the enterprise

At first glance, frugality is saving, stinginess, stinginess. In fact, lean manufacturing does not work with cutting costs, which could lead to a decrease in product quality, but with reducing losses that exist in every workplace, be it a turner, a banker, a civil servant, or a director. This approach makes it possible to improve the quality of products and services, ensure an increase in labor productivity and the level of staff motivation, which ultimately affects the growth of the enterprise’s competitiveness.

Lean manufacturing is a system of production organization aimed at continuous improvement of the organization’s activities and achieving its long-term competitiveness.

World experience shows the following results of implementing lean production tools:

Increase in labor productivity by 35-70%;
Reduction of production cycle time by 25-90%;
Reduction of defects by 58-99%;
Increase in product quality by 40%;
Increasing the operating time of equipment in good condition up to 98.87%;
Release of production space by 25-50%.

In every system, in every process - from manufacturing and assembly to hospitality, healthcare, transport and social services - there are hidden losses. Identifying and eliminating these wastes saves millions of dollars annually for those organizations that regularly evaluate their operations against lean manufacturing standards. These losses increase production costs without adding the customer value that the customer actually needs. They also increase the payback period of investments and lead to decreased employee motivation. These losses must be identified and then eliminated.

It should be noted that the ideas of “lean manufacturing” were first formulated and implemented by Henry Ford. But these ideas were in the nature of isolated events and did not affect the very worldview of the workers. In-line, low-cost production was created, and the Ford-T car had no competitors in the world in terms of price, quality, and level of service. But Henry Ford's ideas did not become widespread, since the country's economy was developing dynamically, the market was closed to other countries, and there were opportunities for extensive development. Japan did not have such opportunities, and therefore immediately followed the path of rational use of resources, eliminating all types of losses, increasing the initiative and responsibility of workers, and constantly systematically improving quality and procedures. The center for the development and implementation of the principles and methods of “lean production” was the Toyota automobile company, which borrowed the best from the production systems of companies around the world. By 1980, Japan had not only restored its economy and created the most efficient production system in the world, but also began active expansion into other countries.

Returning to Russia, I would like to highlight 9 reasons why it is advisable to implement lean manufacturing in an organization:

1. High production costs.
2. Low quality products.
3. Outdated technologies.
4. Outdated equipment.
5. High energy intensity.
6. High production costs.
7. Violation of delivery deadlines.
8. Lack of qualified personnel.
9. High competition in the market.

It is lean manufacturing tools that allow us to solve these and other problems.

When people talk about lean manufacturing, Lean management and the achievements of the Japanese company Toyota are often mentioned. There is another word - kaizen (continuous improvement).

All these unusual words for us indicate that the organization sets itself a global goal - to improve every day, to progress day by day. Moving forward depends on the managers themselves, because it is not enough to introduce tools, you need to change the management culture and the behavior of managers.

These are the issues that will be discussed at the conference in Izhevsk “Vision and implementation of Lean using the example of Toyota.” It is important that the conference will discuss practical issues of implementing lean production tools in a modern organization.

Lean is a type of thinking

In lean manufacturing, the attention of senior management and the first person at the enterprise is important. If the first person is concerned about the implementation of lean production, the result will be, if he is not interested, it is a waste of time. Lean is a type of thinking. The experience of implementing lean manufacturing in Russia and developed countries has one important feature. At Russian enterprises, great importance is given to lean production tools, in foreign organizations - to the formation of a lean production ideology and corporate management culture. Note that lean manufacturing tools do not work without ideology. The primary issues are thinking and implementing rationalization proposals. It is necessary to create a corporate culture that would facilitate the implementation of this system. Corporate culture, in turn, is always based on the behavior of the leader and his team. And actions follow from thoughts, which are important to know about. Therefore, the locomotive is the right thinking, and then the carriages are lined up - certain Lean tools.

Rule – 5 why

As for the way managers act, in a lean production system they will have to reorient themselves to finding the cause of problems, and not to punishing the employee. It is important to understand why the failure occurred, what caused the error? The manager’s opinion that everything should be done without a hitch is incorrect - in any business, no one is immune from mistakes, and lessons must be learned from them. Errors are an incentive to optimize the process, a way to ensure that it does not happen again, to eliminate it once and for all. Modern managers, in pursuit of errorlessness, set themselves simple tasks, this is wrong - tasks should be complex, and mistakes made in solving them are in the order of things.

The Lean tools themselves are simple, but applying them requires effort. Following the Toyota philosophy, Lean is a science that forces us to put forward a hypothesis, test it, and look for confirmation of it. In all areas: safety, quality, costs - the main factor for success will be the corporate culture and behavior of the leader. It is impossible to change his thinking quickly (Toyota has been doing this for over 60 years). But if you show employees a new approach and help them choose a tool, then they will see for themselves all the advantages of such work.

Lean manufacturing is based on the 5 C system - a system of establishing order, cleanliness, strengthening discipline, increasing productivity and creating safe working conditions, with the participation of all personnel. This system makes it possible, practically at no cost, not only to restore order at the enterprise (increase productivity, reduce losses, reduce the level of defects and injuries), but also to create the necessary starting conditions for the implementation of complex and expensive production and organizational innovations, ensuring their high efficiency due to radical changes consciousness of workers, their attitude towards their work.

Lean production system

The presented definition of a lean production system very succinctly expresses the essence of this concept. Let's try to reveal some provisions of this definition.

An important principle of the lean manufacturing concept is continuous improvement and the participation of the entire team in this process.

“Creating clearly defined customer value” involves understanding what value is to the customer. And here you cannot rely solely on your own knowledge. Work should be carried out to identify all components of consumer value, sometimes directly with the end consumer of the product/service. This is a guarantee that consumer requirements will be satisfied most fully and at the lowest cost (excessive work is eliminated).

If a company is engaged in lean manufacturing, it means that it puts the interests of the customer, buyer, client, partner and its own employees at the forefront, and everyone benefits from this. Therefore, the implementation of lean manufacturing is the best business card for introducing the company to partners and customers.

“With less labor, on a smaller production area, with less capital and in less time” - in the concept of lean manufacturing, this means the elimination of all types of losses (overproduction, unnecessary processing, waiting losses, transportation losses, personnel movements, wastage). for defects/rework, etc.).

The lean manufacturing concept is based on five principles that provide guidelines for managers in the transition to lean manufacturing:

Determine the value of each product family from the customer's perspective.
- Identifying all stages of the value stream for each product family and eliminating, where possible, non-value-creating activities.
- Arranging operations that create value in a strict sequence that ensures smooth movement of the product in the flow directed to the client.

Upon completion of the flow formation, creating the opportunity for clients to “pull” value from the previous stage.

Once value is defined, value streams are identified, waste-causing steps are eliminated, and a pull system is created—repeating the entire process as many times as necessary to achieve a state of perfection in which absolute value is created and there is no waste.

It is necessary to clarify what push production and pull production are.

Push production is the processing of products in large batches at maximum speed based on predicted demand, followed by moving the products to the next production stage or warehouse, regardless of the actual pace of the next process or the needs of the customer (consumer). Within such a system, it is almost impossible to implement lean manufacturing tools.

Pull production is a method of production management in which subsequent operations signal their needs to previous operations.

The supermarket pull system is the most popular. With it, at each production stage there is a warehouse - a supermarket, in which a certain volume of products manufactured at this stage is stored. At each stage, as much product is produced as was removed from the supermarket. Typically, when products are removed from a supermarket by a downstream process, the consumer, the latter sends information about the withdrawal upstream to the upstream process using a special card (kanban) or other means.

Each process is responsible for replenishing the stocks of its supermarket, so operational management and the search for objects of continuous improvement (kaizen) is not difficult. However, its use is complicated when there are a large number of types of products produced.

It is advisable to use a sequential pulling system when there is a large range of products produced by one process, i.e. when it is difficult or practically impossible to maintain a stock of each type of product in the supermarket. Products are essentially made to order, keeping overall system inventory to a minimum. A consistent system requires maintaining short and predictable lead times; one must have a good understanding of the pattern of orders received from the client. The functioning of such a system requires very strong leadership.

Mixed pulling system - involves a combination of the two listed systems. It is advisable to use it when the 80/20 rule applies, i.e. when a small proportion of product types (approximately 20%) account for the largest portion of daily output (approximately 80%).

All types of products are divided into groups according to production volume: large volume, medium volume, low volume and rare orders. For the “rare orders” group, it is advisable to use a sequential pull system. For other groups - a supermarket pull system. With a mixed pull system, it may be more difficult to manage improvement and identify deviations.

The concept of lean manufacturing is aimed at maximizing resource savings in the production process, primarily temporary ones. The basic principle of this concept is to identify and eliminate processes that do not add value or reduce it (for example, processes that lead to excess inventory, waiting processes, unnecessary transportation processes, unnecessary processing processes, processes that create defects, etc.) .

The value stream refers to all the activities - both value-creating and non-value-creating - that allow a product to pass through all stages of the process:

1) from concept development to the release of the first product,
2) from order acceptance to delivery. These activities include processing information received from the client, as well as operations to transform the product as it moves to the client.

When lean manufacturing was widely introduced into management practice, it turned out that it was in dire need of a process description of the business.

Business can be characterized as a collection of interconnected and interacting processes. Then, if we carefully describe each process and study the relationships between the processes, we will understand how any business works and will be able to use this description for a variety of purposes.

For the practical application of the lean production system, it is necessary to be able to systematically describe business processes, that is, the most important business processes that bring us money to pay for our products or services.

How to learn to see processes? At an enterprise, first of all, we see machines, apparatus, transport systems, people busy with their work.

A process is a sequence of actions aimed at obtaining some product and/or service. Moreover, these actions are distributed in time and space. These actions can rarely be seen all at once from one point. "So what?" - you say. The processes are ongoing, everything is working. Why document them, describe them? Isn’t it enough to keep everything in your head, as it is now?

First of all, describing the process speeds up the exchange of information and reduces the risks of making untimely and erroneous decisions and actions.

Processes can be described in words, but words are understood differently. In this regard, the most visual and publicly accessible is the visualization of business processes using a visual picture of the process.

First of all, we need a description of the process as it currently exists to provide a starting point for further improvement. Having a current description of the process, we can build an “ideal” process and outline a plan for transition to it. And only after this does continuous process improvement begin in accordance with the lean manufacturing concept.

Lean Manufacturing Tools

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is one of the lean manufacturing tools that helps reduce losses associated with equipment downtime due to breakdowns and excessive maintenance. The main idea of ​​TPM is the involvement of all enterprise personnel, and not just the relevant services, in the equipment maintenance process. The success of implementing TPM, like any other lean manufacturing tool, is related to the extent to which the ideas of the methodology are conveyed to the consciousness of personnel and are positively received by them.

The peculiarity of the TPM methodology is that, on its basis, a smooth and planned transformation of the existing service system to a more advanced one is possible.

To this end, it is convenient to present the TPM implementation path as a sequence of stages, each of which pursues very specific goals and, most importantly, gives a very tangible effect:

1. Prompt repair of faults - an attempt to improve the existing maintenance system and find its weak points.
2. Maintenance based on forecasts - organizing the collection of information about equipment problems and their subsequent analysis. Planning preventive maintenance of equipment.
3. Corrective maintenance - improvement of equipment during maintenance in order to eliminate the causes of systematic malfunctions.
4. Autonomous maintenance - distribution of equipment maintenance functions between operating and maintenance personnel.
5. Continuous improvement is a mandatory attribute of any lean manufacturing tool. In fact, it means involving personnel in activities to continuously search for sources of losses in operation and maintenance, as well as proposing methods for eliminating them.

Visual management is the arrangement of all tools, parts, production stages and information about the performance of a production system so that they are clearly visible, and so that anyone involved in the process can assess the status of the system at a glance.

Visual management is implemented in several stages:

Stage 1. Workplaces are organized; this is the stage at which you need to use all the power and capabilities of 5S.
Stage 2. Important information that is located at workplaces is visualized: information about safety, quality, how operations are performed and what and how equipment should be used.
Stage 3. The results and performance indicators of a particular process are visualized.
Stage 4: Decision making based on this visualized information is introduced.

Standard operating procedures (SOP) are a document that defines step by step the sequence of execution of any production operation:

Oral instructions are forgotten and distorted, so they must be replaced with written ones - SOP.
- SOPs should not take much time to understand, so they should use visual symbols, drawings, diagrams, photographs, etc.
- SOPs must be constantly updated to reflect changes in the order of operations.
- When developing an SOP, employees should be involved, this will guarantee its reliability and will not cause rejection.

Just-In-Time (JIT) is a method of reducing production cycle time by providing materials, services and other resources only when they are needed:

Reducing the batch volume to the minimum economically viable (ideally to one unit of product).
- Balancing the number of human resources, the amount of materials and equipment.
- “Pulling” of products. The performance of the current operation is determined by the needs of the next one.
- Use of audio-visual means of monitoring the condition of the product and equipment load.
- Delegation of the decision-making process for managing the movement of products to the lowest possible level.

Value stream mapping is a fairly simple and visual graphical diagram depicting the material and information flows necessary to provide a product or service to the end consumer. A value stream map makes it possible to immediately see the bottlenecks of the flow and, based on its analysis, identify all unproductive costs and processes, and develop an improvement plan.

Mapping is a visualized description in a certain form of the flow (material, informational) of creating the value of a business process. Mapping is carried out in terms of “as is”, “as should be” and “as will be”.

Using this tool, a value stream map is created that will clearly identify the time of value creation and waste that exists in the value stream.

A creation flow map is a tool that can be used to display the material and information flows during value creation. The time to create value is considered to be the time it takes to complete the work that transforms the product so that consumers are willing to pay for it. A value stream is all the activities (value-adding and non-value-adding) needed to produce a product.

Unfortunately, practice shows that losses in our country make up the lion's share of the process, their size reaches 80% - this is the field of activity for the Kaizen system: continuous improvement; a way of striving for excellence through eliminating waste; proposals for eliminating losses.

Everyone knows that consumer needs are constantly growing, which means that the process of improvement is also continuous, since it is aimed at transforming consumer needs into specific products.

Value stream mapping includes the following steps:

At this stage, a detailed description of the process of creating any one product (or family of products) is created, indicating all operations and states, the required time, the number of workers, information flows, etc.

The purpose of constructing a map of the current state is to identify: actions that create any consumer value, and actions that do not create it.

Of the latter, some may be necessary and cannot be eliminated (for example, accounting), such activities should be optimized as much as possible, others can be reduced or optimized (for example, transportation or warehousing). To do this, the customer’s requirements for the quality and properties of the product are clarified.

Product characteristics that cannot be changed under any circumstances and characteristics that can be changed by agreement are determined. Only on the basis of such information can one accurately determine where customer value is created and where it is not.

The future state map reflects the ideal state after all planned changes have been implemented. Hidden losses are also identified with a view to their subsequent elimination.

Determining methods for transition to a future state, assigning specific tasks, deadlines and those responsible for implementation.

Built-in quality is a methodology for managing product quality directly at the point of production.

Basic principles of built-in quality:

1. The ability for an employee to stop the conveyor if a defect occurs or equipment breaks down (Jidoka).
2. Designing equipment so that deviations are detected and stopped automatically.
3. Using a problem reporting system on the production line (Andon).
4. Using techniques to prevent unintentional operator errors or technology deficiencies (Poka-Yoke).
5. Standardization of quality control procedures and assignment of control responsibilities to equipment operators.

Examples of lean manufacturing

At the enterprises of Tatarstan, on the initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Republic, active work has been carried out for almost three years to introduce the Lean Manufacturing methodology.

Today, more than 80 enterprises and organizations from various sectors of the republic’s economy have joined the development of the lean technology implementation project: mechanical engineering, light industry, petrochemicals, energy, agriculture, transport and communications, housing and communal services, healthcare: KAMAZ OJSC, Production Association Yelabuga OJSC automobile plant", Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Production Association "Plant named after Sergo", OJSC "Kazan Engine Production Association", in OJSC "Kazan Aviation Production Association named after S.P. Gorbunov" and others.

Such a wide dissemination and application of lean technologies in the production activities of enterprises in various industries is facilitated by the work of an interdepartmental working group.

The effect of introducing Lean Manufacturing technologies at the enterprises of the republic, which have been systematically using lean technologies for several years, is especially noticeable.

As part of the implementation of projects to optimize costs and increase labor productivity, 360 thousand sq. m. were released at KAMAZ. m of area, an economic effect was obtained - 16 billion rubles, the costs of developing the production system amounted to less than 1% of the economic effect.

In the fall of this year, KAMAZ launched the Mayak project - a system for organizing and managing production using Lean production technologies - a joint project of KAMAZ and Daimler. The implementation of the Mayak project on the main assembly line on only one line will increase the volume of car production to 48 thousand units per year when working in two shifts.

At ElAZ, as part of the implementation of the Lean Manufacturing philosophy, more than a thousand employees were trained, and 37 internal corporate trainers were trained. 11 reference sites have been created, about 2 thousand proposals for improvement have been introduced, and 180 projects have been implemented. The economic efficiency of resource saving amounted to more than 290 million rubles.

Another example is the Kazan Engine Production Association. The introduction of Lean Manufacturing tools at the pilot site of the enterprise made it possible to reduce the number of operations by 2 times, the distance of movement by 22 times, and the production cycle of part processing by 4 times.

In general, enterprises following the path of implementing the principles and tools of “Lean Manufacturing” achieve the following results with minimal investments: increase in labor productivity - up to 70%; quality increase - up to 60%; release of production space - up to 50%; reduction of defects - by an average of 65%; reduction in the implementation time of investment projects - up to 20%.

It should be noted that as a result of the introduction of the Lean Manufacturing philosophy, the psychology and mentality of workers, engineering personnel and enterprise managers are changing.

Lean Manufacturing Concept

The concept of “lean production” appeared almost simultaneously with the “kaizen” system. The ideology of “lean production” is that the enterprise focuses on the most efficient use of resources, with a minimum of defects, waste, garbage, work space, and does not do unnecessary work.

The origin of the Lean Production concept is also associated with the engineer Co. T. Ono, who in the late 1940s with his colleagues visited American factories and laid the foundations for organizing the production system of the Toyota Motor Company.

T. Ono developed a simple set of goals for building a car production system: produce a car in accordance with customer requirements, deliver it immediately and not hold any intermediate inventory. He concluded that this could only be achieved by ensuring quality at all stages of the production process.

This system became known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), and its principles and techniques were later reintroduced and popularized in America under the name Lean Manufacturing.

At the initial stage of creating TPS, the following tools were used:

1. Refusal from the “push” system that creates unnecessary inventories at all stages of production, regardless of demand, and transition to a “pull” “just in time” system.
2. Autonomy - granting workers the right to stop the conveyor or production to prevent a defective part or assembly from entering a subsequent operation.
3. Decentralization of management - open access to information about the production system, expanding the independence and responsibility of work performers, their participation in decision-making on problems related to the performance of their work.
4. Taking into account production requirements when designing products - modular design and participation of suppliers in the design of the components they supply.
5. Elimination of defects, since otherwise, in the absence of backlogs (stocks) of raw materials and semi-finished products, production is impossible.

In traditional mass production, there are mainly eight types of waste, the elimination of which is the goal of Lean Manufacturing:

Overproduction - producing more volume earlier and faster than required in the next step of the process;
excess inventory is any excess input of a single-item flow into a production process, whether raw materials, intermediate products or;
defective product - products that require inspection, sorting, disposal, downgrading, replacement or repair;
additional (excessive) processing or movement - additional efforts that, in the opinion of the consumer, do not increase surplus value (value);
waiting – interruptions in work associated with waiting for human resources (labor), materials, equipment and information;
people – incomplete use of skills and experience, mental and creative abilities of personnel;
Transportation losses are unnecessary movements of parts and materials within production.

Many authors, in addition, highlight additional types of losses, for example, “false economy”, which consists of the following actions: the use of cheap and low-quality raw materials; simplifying the design leading to a decrease in quality; staff reductions leading to failure to perform necessary functions; variety of structural elements, means and production methods, when it is possible to standardize and unify them.

Lean is based on the premise that if you keep a constant focus on reducing waste of all types, there is no limit to the benefits that can be achieved.

In addition to the TRS tools we previously reviewed, the system also offers the use of:

1. “5S” in order to improve labor organization and quality in the workplace by establishing order, maintaining cleanliness and discipline;
2. Continuous improvement "kaizen";
3. Value Stream Management (VSM);
4. Process mapping - a graphical representation of the process indicating the flow of information, materials, inventories, metrics (standard characteristics) of operations;
5. Error protection system – decision-making based on multi-level analysis of risks, possible failures and consequences;
6. Reducing batch sizes to a minimum;
7. Visual control means - all tools, parts, production activities and indicators are visible, so that everyone interested and involved in the process can understand the status of the system at a glance. Visual information tools (cards, maps, diagrams, etc.) are widely used to show what each operator should do;
8. A well-thought-out equipment placement plan based on their optimal sequence of operations. Close and convenient placement of workpieces and tools;
9. Normalized work. Performing work in accordance with established (standardized) methods, without losses, taking into account worker movements (ergonomics). Standardization and unification are used from the product design and operation stage;
10. Teamwork, both in performing work and in improving;
11. Quality in the process of work. Checking and managing the quality assurance process is carried out by performing operators who make sure that the products entering the next stage of the process are of the required quality;
12. Place to store necessary items. Raw materials, parts, information, tools, work standards and procedures are located where they are needed;
13. Production flexibility. The ability to quickly readjust equipment and change tools allows one and the same workplace to produce a wider range of products and reduce batch sizes;
14. Pilot project. The most “bottleneck” in production is selected. Using the so-called "Kaizen Blitz" (surprise attack) approach, they make breakthrough improvements and then move actions to other most important problem areas;
15. Analysis of overall equipment efficiency and losses. Using the Pareto chart, determine the losses, the elimination of which can produce the greatest return.

Deploying Lean involves the following steps:

1. Management decides to implement lean manufacturing. At this stage, staff need to explain the reasons for the decision, select goals, form a team, outline a plan and provide the resources necessary to implement lean production. Senior management must continually demonstrate commitment, involvement in day-to-day work, and support.
2. Selection of the initial implementation object (pilot project). For these purposes, select from 1 to 3 of the most material- and labor-intensive processes, the improvement of which can have a significant effect.
3. Staff training. All participants in the deployment of lean production, both management and ordinary process performers, must undergo training. The learning objectives are to understand the goals and the means to achieve them (just-in-time technology, the tools used, methods for evaluating processes and products).
4. Mapping the reorganized process “as is”.
5. Calculation of characteristics (metrics) of the current process.
6. Mapping the “as it should be” process.
7. Calculation of metrics for the reorganized process, and, if efficiency is low, its further improvement.
8. Project implementation.
9. Creation and implementation of plans for continuous improvement of the kaizen process.
10. The experience gained from the pilot project in deploying lean production is gradually being extended to other processes.

Experts consider the concept of “lean manufacturing” to be an integrated set of production management tools, generally defined through the just-in-time (JIT) system, total quality management (TQM), total equipment maintenance (TPM) and a set of personnel management methods, including team organization labor and involvement of employees in decision making. At the same time, many experts note that in terms of tasks, content and tools used, it is not fundamentally different from the “kaizen” system.

Lean Manufacturing Principles

Lean principles are a Japanese invention, inspired by the development of Ford Motors in the 1950s. After seeing how an American assembly plant built cars much more efficiently than they could at home, two Japanese executives developed the Toyota Production System (TPS). This approach helped transform the Toyota Corporation from a modest Japanese company into an international giant in the automotive industry. Indeed, at a time when most automakers were suffering from a downturn in the economy, Toyota recorded a 23.2% year-on-year increase in net profit for the half-year. It should be noted that this increase in profit occurred against the background of an increase in corporate income by only 8%. "Today, when other companies are struggling to survive, Toyota continues to make money," says Sharma.

Once TPS was deployed at Toyota, it became clear that many of the system's potential benefits would not be realized unless the company's partners were included. Therefore, in the 1970s. Yoshiki Iwata and other enthusiasts of the new principles of the Toyota Corporation founded the consulting company Shingijutsu, designed to widely promote these principles. Shingijutsu began working with the Jacobs Equipment Company brake plant of the Danaher conglomerate and helped transform it into the first lean manufacturing plant in the United States. As a result, after the opening of the Toyota Supplier Support Center (TSSC) in the American state of Kentucky, the TPS system became widespread in the United States.

In the years since the invention of the TPS system, lean principles have expanded beyond the Japanese automotive industry and spread to other industries and territories. Most international enterprises located in Asia are already involved in Lean programs. Automotive manufacturers in the United States are already using Lean principles, but other industries are just beginning to take interest in the new possibilities.

US manufacturing companies that used other techniques, such as just in time manufacturing, were able to quickly implement and establish lean manufacturing methods in their plants. Industries with low profit margins, such as automobiles and manufacturing companies, were among the top performers.

Lean principles are often combined with Six Sigma methodology, which allows for impeccable quality and repeatability of the cycle. This concept was developed in the USA when Bill Smith, a scientist and senior engineer at Motorola (USA), came up with a standardized method for counting defects. The concept is named after the Greek letter sigma, which is commonly used in statistics to represent standard deviations. Six Sigma programs, used by companies as diverse as GE, Allied Signal and Tyco, use detailed data analysis to improve entire business processes. The ultimate goal of implementing this methodology is to achieve a defect rate of no higher than 3.4 per million. The combination of Lean and Six Sigma principles helps ensure sustainable benefits.

Ten principles of lean manufacturing:

1. Provide support from senior management. Before you take any action, get the support of your company's decision makers. "If you want to transform your enterprise into a lean enterprise, make sure senior management understands what the plan is," says TBM's Sharma. Emerson's Hamby adds: "You need to take an approach that touches every level of the enterprise from top to bottom, not just middle management and executives."
2. Roll up your sleeves. Lean principles can deliver dramatic improvements in results. But this cannot be said to be easy to achieve. "Many people look for quick fixes to complex problems," says Sharma. "They don't realize that there's some work to be done first."
3. Communicate and learn. “We spent a lot of time communicating before, during and after completion to make sure everyone was on the same page,” says Pella's Van Zanten. – Communication is necessary. When we achieve success, we actually report it." Adds Emerson's Stephen: "There's a lot to learn. Create awareness, educate people, and get record results."
4. Don't skimp on training. The principles of lean manufacturing go against many traditions. “Spend a long enough time to change the company's thinking,” advises Parker. “Be sure to achieve the necessary level of understanding. If [employees] do not achieve it after the first training cycle, do another cycle. Before moving on, make sure that changing corporate culture." It should be remembered that the introduction of Lean principles changes not only production processes; All aspects of the enterprise's activities are subject to change - from methods for determining employee productivity to methods for assigning delivery dates for finished products to customers.
5. Apply appropriate metrics. Change how you measure success and failure. “In the old cost accounting system, results were considered very good if the most expensive equipment was running 24/7,” Parker notes. “Lean principles will not succeed,” he says, “unless the evaluation criteria change.” Traditional criteria for success—efficiency and utilization—should be replaced by responsiveness, lead time, inventory turnaround time, and product quality.
6. Help your partners. "If you don't extend Lean beyond your own enterprise, you will displease your suppliers," warns Oracle's Modi. "Successful companies have taught Lean to their suppliers as well." In fact, the most successful lean companies involve their suppliers in product development to improve product quality and simplify production. They are also working together to improve communication methods and reduce lead times throughout the supply chain.
7. Think bigger. As the company shortens production cycles, experiments can be performed faster and more painlessly. Therefore, every attempt at improvement carries enormous potential and can be implemented without serious consequences, even if it fails. “In doubtful situations, be bold,” advises Van Zanten. “We set aggressive goals. You can’t just take small steps.”
8. Change your reference points. “Don’t rush to declare victory,” advises Sharma. And Van Zanten of Pella Corporation likes to recall how, a year after implementing resource-saving practices, his IT director asked him to prepare a report on the results. “About 25%,” Van Zanten estimated. A year later, the IT director asked the same question, but this time the answer was 10%. This example shows that lean manufacturing is like a new pair of glasses that help you constantly see new ways to reduce waste and improve your business. "The more you do, the more opportunities open up to you," adds Pella's Prince.
9. Believe in success. “Continuous improvement (Kaizen method) is a way of life,” says a representative of the industrial conglomerate Danaher, which has been using resource-saving methods since the 1980s. Only constant attention and commitment to new principles will allow the company to achieve advantages. “We found that clients who embraced Lean as a religion saw greater results,” says Mody.
10. Prepare for a long journey. Lean doesn't stop once the first set of goals are achieved, it is not a limited project with clear start and end dates. Rather, it is a style of doing business that must be continually supported by management. “There needs to be vigilance on the part of management,” says Parker. "You always have to look for a better way," adds Robert Azavedo, Oracle's director of discrete manufacturing in Europe. "It's a journey that never ends."

Lean efficiency

The LIN approach allows you to better meet customer needs, while using fewer resources, in smaller areas, with less equipment, using less human effort, in less time.

Firms that have taken the path of lean manufacturing are able to approximately double productivity and speed up production time, halve production space, halve inventory - with virtually no financial costs.

Not always, but often there is no need to purchase new expensive equipment, no need to switch to new materials and technologies, no need to computerize production and implement expensive ERP systems, etc. You just need to change the culture of enterprise management, the system of relationships between different levels and divisions of the enterprise, the system of value orientation of employees and their relationships.

Thus, the use of lean manufacturing principles can have significant effects. Professor O. S. Vikhansky argues that the use of lean manufacturing tools and methods makes it possible to achieve a significant increase in the efficiency of the enterprise, labor productivity, improvement in the quality of products and increased competitiveness without significant capital investments.

Wastes in lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing identifies seven types of waste:

1. Losses of overproduction (excessive production of products).
2. Transportation losses (excessive movement of raw materials, products, materials).
3. Waiting losses (no production activities are carried out during working hours).
4. Losses due to inventories (excessive amounts of raw materials, materials, semi-finished products).
5. Losses due to the production of products with defects (defects).
6. Waste of unnecessary processing (processing that does not add value or adds unnecessary functionality).
7. Losses due to unnecessary movements (not directly related to production activities).

Most of the working time is spent on losses, and only 1/8 is spent on creating value and, accordingly, making a profit.

It is also customary to distinguish 2 more sources of losses - muri and mura, which mean “overload” and “unevenness”, respectively:

Mura - unevenness in the performance of work, such as a fluctuating schedule of work caused not by fluctuations in end-user demand but rather by the characteristics of the production system, or an uneven pace of work to complete an operation, causing operators to rush and then wait. In many cases, managers can eliminate unevenness by leveling out planning and paying close attention to the pace of work.
Muri - overload of equipment or operators that occurs when working at a greater speed or pace and with greater effort over a long period of time - compared to the design load (project, labor standards).

Overproduction losses

One of the most obvious ways to increase profits is to increase enterprise productivity. However, in the pursuit of productivity, top managers often forget that the amount of a product that consumers are willing to buy is determined by market demand. Suddenly, a moment comes when a product that was so in short supply just yesterday accumulates in the warehouse.

Overproduction is the production of more goods than the customer needs.

Sources of losses:

Additional storage costs;
excessive use of materials and resources;
violation of delivery schedules;
forced discounts on sales.

Ways to improve:

Produce only on time and only what the client wants;
production in small batches;
quick changeovers.

Transportation losses

Any more or less complex production is a sequence of operations to transform raw materials or semi-finished products into the final product. But all these materials need to be moved between operations. Of course, transportation is an integral part of production, but unfortunately it does not create value at all, although it requires costs for fuel or electricity, for maintaining a transport fleet, for organizing transport infrastructure (roads, garages, overpasses, etc.). In addition, transportation is time consuming and risks damaging the product.

Sources of losses:

Loss of time for moving materials/products until they are delivered to an internal or external consumer;
overproduction of products and their spoilage during storage.

Ways to improve:

Control of routes for the movement of valuables, reduction of unnecessary movements due to redevelopment, redistribution of responsibilities, elimination of remote inventories;
reduction of distances for physical movement of valuables;
reduction of distances between operator and equipment.

Waiting losses

Losses associated with waiting for the start of processing of material (parts, semi-finished products) indicate that the planning process and the production process are not coordinated with each other. The planning process itself is quite complex, since it requires the analysis of a large number of factors. Such factors include: the structure of consumer orders, the state of the market for raw materials, equipment performance, shift schedule, etc. Truly optimal planning requires serious mathematical training and refined interaction between sales, purchasing and production services.

Reasons for waiting:

Varying throughput of operations;
planning not for the needs of consumers, but for loading equipment;
stockpiling for high-throughput operations.

Ways to improve:

Flexible production planning based on orders;
increasing the throughput capacity of the least productive area;
suspension of the production process in the absence of orders;
Flexible schedule for workers and equipment.

Inventory losses

Inventories are frozen money, i.e. money taken out of circulation and losing its value.

Sources of losses:

Special warehouses of materials and products to ensure timely deliveries, which hide production problems and do not add value to the client;
materials and semi-finished products paid for by the company, but at the delivery stage.

Areas of improvement:

Analysis of the demand for products with a long shelf life;
analysis of timeliness of price changes for illiquid inventories, analysis of complaints for illiquid inventories;
balancing production and sales;
analysis of inventory dynamics and reduction of inventories of materials and raw materials between operations.

Losses due to defects

The release of products that do not meet consumer requirements entails obvious costs of raw materials, working time, labor, processing costs and disposal of defects.

Sources of losses:

Costs of inspection and control operations;
reworking defective products;
disposal of defects that cannot be corrected.

Areas of improvement:

Monitoring the effectiveness and expediency of inspections;
establishing a connection between process parameters and quality;
calculation of the economic feasibility of scrap recycling in relation to production stops;
rewarding high-quality work and punishing low-quality work;
integrating quality control into the production process;
integration of defect prevention systems (Poka-Yoke).

Waste of unnecessary processing

The consumer is willing to pay only for those properties of the product that are valuable to him. If the consumer, for example, expects that the TV case should be black (white, silver, etc.), but you only have green plastic and after making the case you repaint it in the desired color - this is also a waste of unnecessary processing. After all, this requires time, people, equipment, paint, but the body, which really has value for the consumer, has already been manufactured.

Sources of losses:

Bringing the product to the state required by the consumer;
automatic equipment requiring continuous operator presence;
making products better than customers demand, adding unnecessary features or manufacturing steps that mask defects.

Areas of improvement:

Purchase of raw materials that do not require additional processing;
removal of additional processing processes outside the enterprise (outsourcing);
research into the need for product improvements;
Achieving stable results is preferable to improving them.

Losses due to unnecessary movements

Unnecessary movements that lead to losses could be called more simply - vanity, thereby emphasizing their unreasonableness and chaos. From the outside, such movements may seem like a lot of activity, but upon closer inspection, you will notice that they do not contribute to the creation of value for the consumer.

Sources of losses:

Unnecessary transitions, movements, settings when performing work;
lack or incorrect standards of work performance;
lack of labor discipline.

Areas of improvement:

Monitoring compliance of activities with the standard;
developing or improving performance standards;
identifying and eliminating non-value-creating activities;
distribution of responsibility for the result of work;
training personnel in proper work (5S);

The philosophy of organizing industrial relations, now known as Lean, lies the experience of the leader of the global automotive industry - Toyota. In the production workshops of this company, the basic principles of the production system, which now enjoys authority throughout the world, were formulated and tested. It was the Toyota production system (TPS), enriched with the experience of numerous companies and repeatedly confirmed by phenomenal practical results, that formed the basis lean manufacturing. The article discusses the general principles of organization lean manufacturing, basic concepts and tools. The article can be used as an explanation (for this purpose, the chapter titles completely repeat the headings of the presentation sheets), as well as as independent material.

Production formula

The transition from conventional production to lean production marks a complete revision of the fundamentals of organizing both industrial relations within the enterprise and relations with suppliers and consumers. It is no secret that for manufacturers (hereinafter, manufacturers also mean service providers), the main task of enterprise management is the task of maximizing profits. Favorable conditions of the recent past - high consumer demand with an insufficient supply of goods and services, contributed to the fact that the price of goods was set based on the enterprise's costs of producing products by adding often unjustified “mark-ups”.

However, over time, the market situation has changed. The market for goods and services is gradually entering saturation mode. Offers from various manufacturers stimulate competition between domestic and foreign suppliers. A situation in which supply exceeds demand leads to a forced fall in the market price of goods and services, and, as a consequence, to a fall in the profit of the enterprise. The only way in such conditions to avoid a drop in profits is to reduce production costs, since prices for raw materials and resources are also determined by the market situation.

Basic Concepts

The opportunity to reduce production costs is not always obvious to manufacturers. The enterprise is operating. The consumption standards for raw materials and materials are met, productivity increases. How can we talk about cost reduction here? Let the government better support domestic producers and once again change import-export duties... However, it is increasingly difficult to put pressure on the government’s pity in connection with integration into a single economic community. And here our domestic competitors are pressing in. What to do?

There is only one thing left to do - to return to the analysis of the structure of production costs. First of all, expenses should be classified into those that are really necessary and those that can be eliminated. To do this, let's try to imagine what the consumer pays his money for when buying a manufactured product. In lean manufacturing terms, the ability of a product to meet consumer expectations is called value. The consumer is willing to pay only if the characteristics of the product meet his expectations (for functionality, quality, lead time, price, etc.). If during the production process any activity is carried out for which the consumer does not intend to pay, i.e. Non-value adding activities are called loss. In Japanese, this term has a very sonorous name - Muda.

Eight Types of Loss

Lean identifies eight types of losses.

1. Losses of overproduction (excessive production of products).

2. Transportation losses (excessive movement of raw materials, products, materials).

3. Waiting losses (no production activities are carried out during working hours).

4. Losses due to inventories (excessive amounts of raw materials, materials, semi-finished products).

5. Losses due to the production of products with defects (defects).

6. Waste of unnecessary processing (processing that does not add value or adds unnecessary functionality).

7. Losses due to unnecessary movements (not directly related to production activities).

8. Loss of creative potential (incomplete use of human resource capabilities).

In subsequent chapters, these losses will be discussed in more detail.

Loss 1: Overproduction

One of the most obvious ways to increase profits is to increase enterprise productivity. However, in the pursuit of productivity, top managers often forget that the amount of a product that consumers are willing to buy is determined by market demand. Suddenly, a moment comes when a product that was so in short supply just yesterday accumulates in the warehouse (for some reason, such a moment always comes suddenly, regardless of whether we are talking about seasonal fluctuations in demand or changes in market conditions :)). Sales managers are forced to bend over backwards to sell stale or damaged goods. What a profit! Costs would be compensated or worse - to minimize losses! The strangest thing in all this is that this state of affairs is considered normal - the consumer, you can’t guess him! And it is considered normal to incur certain losses due to changes in demand (but on the wave of demand they made a big profit).

Is it possible to exclude such losses altogether? Can. And the solution to the problem is by no means as utopian as it might seem at first glance. What do you need:

Produce only on time and only what the client wants (in fact, work only “to order”);

Produce goods in small batches that are guaranteed to be sold (if demand falls, quickly switch to another type of product);

To reduce losses during equipment changeovers, reduce changeover time to a minimum, making production in small batches profitable.

All this means that the time has come to forget about the profitability of large-scale production. Today's clients are demanding. They need variety. What, not profitable? Is it profitable to suffer losses due to storing illiquid assets, due to excessive consumption of raw materials, or due to problems with clients?

Loss 2: Transportation

Any more or less complex production is a sequence of operations to transform raw materials or semi-finished products into the final product. But all these materials need to be moved between operations. Procedures for moving valuables are present even in conveyor production. After all, you need to bring raw materials to the conveyor or take finished products to the warehouse. Of course, transportation is an integral part of production, but unfortunately it does not create value at all, although it requires costs for fuel or electricity, for maintaining a transport fleet, for organizing transport infrastructure (roads, garages, overpasses, etc.). In addition, transportation is time consuming and risks damaging the product.

In order to reduce transportation losses, you should create a map of vehicle routes and conduct a thorough analysis of the feasibility of a particular movement. After this, you should try to eliminate unnecessary transportation through redevelopment, redistribution of responsibility (so that you don’t have to travel through two workshops for the controller’s signature), eliminating remote stocks (stocks should be gotten rid of altogether, but if they are, let them be at hand), etc. P. In addition, a system will not interfere in the matter of transportation: each movement of valuables must be justified by the appropriate regulatory document, and there is no amateur activity.

Loss 3: Waiting

Losses associated with waiting for the start of processing of material (parts, semi-finished products) indicate that the planning process and the production process are not coordinated with each other. This state of affairs is not uncommon for domestic enterprises. The planning process itself is quite complex, since it requires the analysis of a large number of factors. Such factors include: the structure of consumer orders, the state of the market for raw materials, equipment performance, shift schedule, etc. Truly optimal planning requires serious mathematical training and refined interaction between sales, purchasing and production services. It is perhaps rare for any enterprise to be engaged in planning by a scientist who is able to systematize all the factors and find the best solution to the problem. As a rule, the planning process is pseudo-optimal in nature and is based on the subjective approach of people with some experience in production. A priori, we can assume that there is always an opportunity to improve the planning process.

In addition to suboptimal planning, losses associated with waiting are significantly affected by uneven equipment throughput. In this case, a backlog of products awaiting processing may occur in front of the lowest throughput operation. The productivity of such operations should be improved. If this is not possible, flexible scheduling of equipment or redistribution of personnel between operations should be considered.

Loss 4: Inventory

There are probably few people who cannot answer the question - why are stocks bad? Inventories are frozen money, i.e. money taken out of circulation and losing its value. But for some reason, the presence of inventories in production is considered quite common, and most importantly, acceptable! After all, thanks to reserves, it is possible to compensate for surges in consumer demand. Inventories allow the company to produce products during interruptions in the supply of raw materials. Finally, inventories help smooth out production flow. So is it possible to do without supplies if they are so useful? To answer this question, we need to look at the inventory problem from a different point of view. Supplies seem to be needed, but:

As already mentioned, inventories are frozen working capital;

Inventory needs maintenance (warehouse space, personnel, logistics, etc.);

And most importantly, inventories hide production problems: poor planning, strained relationships with suppliers, uneven production flow, etc.

In fact, inventories hide losses of other types, creating the impression of a prosperous production environment.

Loss 5: Defects

The release of products that do not meet consumer requirements entails obvious costs of raw materials, working time, labor, processing costs and disposal of defects. A traditional measure to reduce losses associated with the release of defective products is the organization of various control departments and services. It is believed that such units must take timely measures to prevent the release of defects. Moreover, sometimes all responsibility for the marriage falls on the relevant services! But the fact that quality control services do not have the required leverage over production units is usually not taken into account. It turns out that asking regulatory authorities is the same as treating the symptoms of a disease, and not its causes.

It is advisable to begin eliminating losses due to defective production by analyzing the effectiveness of the functioning of control units. This is not about finding out whether inspectors miss defects or not (this, of course, is also important). The main thing is to understand how much control services contribute to eliminating the causes of defective products. In any case, control is usually carried out only after the product has been produced. Consequently, inspectors do not have the opportunity to quickly influence the quality. The only way out of this situation is to integrate quality management procedures into the production process.

Loss 6: Overprocessing

As already mentioned, the consumer is willing to pay only for those properties of the product that are valuable to him. If a consumer needs, for example, a TV, then he expects to receive a product of appropriate quality, endowed with appropriate consumer properties for a certain price. Therefore, if you build, say, a holder for ski poles into a TV, while doubling the price, then it is not a fact that the TV will find its consumer. That's because the extra functionality doesn't add value to the TV. Another example. If the consumer expects that the TV case should be black (white, silver, etc.), but you only have green plastic and after making the case you repaint it in the desired color - this is also a waste of unnecessary processing. After all, this requires time, people, equipment, paint, but the body, which really has value for the consumer, has already been manufactured. The losses of unnecessary processing should also include the maintenance of automatic equipment. For example, parts move along a conveyor that regularly stops due to their misalignment. A special worker monitors the conveyor and corrects skewed parts. The labor of such a worker is also unnecessary processing.

Loss 7: Movement

Unnecessary movements that lead to losses could be called more simply - vanity, thereby emphasizing their unreasonableness and chaos. From the outside, such movements may seem like a lot of activity, but upon closer inspection you will notice that, like the losses discussed earlier, they do not contribute to the creation of value for the consumer. There is usually only one source of this type of loss - poor organization of work. This may include the lack of necessary instructions, poorly trained personnel or low labor discipline. This type of loss is distinguished by the fact that they can be detected quite easily, and having found it, quite obvious measures can be taken to eliminate them. Lean offers a number of tools for these purposes: standard operating procedures, workplace organization system (5S).

Loss 8: Lost Creativity

Do you know the state when you feel the strength to do more, when you have the will, knowledge, creative impulse, but circumstances do not allow you to express yourself properly? In this case, the circumstances that prevent an employee from expressing himself fully mean: the unreasonable will of his superiors, the lack of time and funds to implement ideas, and the tense situation in the work team. All this leads to the fact that a person feels like only an appendage of the production system, a part that can be easily replaced by another. In such a situation, the employee formally performs his duties to the required minimum and hurries to leave the enterprise that is alien to him. Meanwhile, all people are prone to creativity to one degree or another, even if the need to create is generated by the desire to avoid unnecessary work or reduce the burden of routine activities. In addition, who else but an employee, that is, a person directly related to the creation of value, can, by observing the same activity every day, notice shortcomings and ways to improve. That is why one of the most important tasks that needs to be solved during implementation lean manufacturing consists in the overall involvement of personnel in continuous improvement activities - Kaizen (Kaizen) in order to fully utilize the potential of each employee.

Loss Elimination Approach

So, the main types of losses have been identified. How to determine their presence in production and come close to eliminating them? The approach proposed within the concept lean manufacturing, is based on a mandatory, comprehensive and detailed understanding of the mechanism for creating consumer value of manufactured products. To this end, the first step should be to draw up a detailed description of the entire production process. If the production is complex, then the entire process can be divided into subprocesses, which are described and analyzed separately. To describe production processes, a visual schematic representation called a value stream map is used. The complete sequence of actions to eliminate losses includes the following steps.

1. Development of process value stream creation maps.

2. Development of checklists to help identify the causes of losses at each stage of the process.

3. Collection of statistical information about the time of value creation and time of losses, as well as any other information indicating the presence of losses, using developed checklists.

4. Construction of a future value stream map (without losses).

5. Analysis of the causes of losses and elimination of procedures that do not create value.

6. Standardization of work procedures and use in other processes.

The process can then be repeated. In addition, targeted efforts can be made to eliminate certain types of waste using appropriate lean manufacturing tools (more on this later).

Value stream map

A value stream map is a detailed description of the process of a manufacturing activity. When drawing up a map, you should not miss even small and seemingly insignificant details. If the movement of material assets is controlled by a document flow system, then the types and trajectories of executed documents should be displayed on the map. Often, it is the irrationality of document flow that causes loss of time or accumulation of inventory. For clarity, it is necessary to highlight on the map in a special way the places where any of the losses listed above may occur (warehouses, transportation, queues, etc.). More details on the process of developing value stream maps can be found in the available literature, for example, in the book by Mike Rother and John Shook.

Checklists

Control sheets serve as primary documentary evidence reflecting the results of monitoring the performance of a particular production operation. Filling out checklists should be assigned to independent observers in order to eliminate the subjective component of observations. Moreover, at the most critical points, supervision should be assigned to several independent supervisors. This will allow us to obtain a consistent statistical sample of observation results. During the observation process, controllers must make notes characterizing the specifics of a particular operation, as well as notes indicating the possible presence of one of the types of losses. Based on the analysis of checklists, a decision is made about the presence or absence of losses in the operation and a value stream map is drawn up, taking into account the desired flow state. After this, a complex and lengthy process of eliminating detected losses begins using certain tools. lean manufacturing.

Lean Manufacturing Tools

So, the value stream is described, losses are identified, and the desired state is described. What's next? Next comes the hard part. If up to this point you could solve problems relying only on a narrow circle of fairly conscious people around you, then in order to begin a direct fight against losses, you will need to use the resources of the entire workforce of the enterprise. Here I would like to emphasize that Lean You can’t just take it and implement it like new equipment. First of all, it is necessary to teach people to think in new ways. It is necessary to convey to the consciousness of all personnel the importance of analyzing their environment and their own activities from the position of searching for rational beginnings and losses. This is a separate and very complex task, the solution of which largely depends on how ready the enterprise management is for this.

To eliminate losses, as well as to prevent their occurrence within lean manufacturing Many methods for the rational organization of production activities have been developed. It is not possible to discuss all methods within the framework of this article. Let us dwell only on the most important ones, the use of which is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of the implementation program lean manufacturing.

Continuous improvement - Kaizen

The concept of Kaizen comes from Japan. It is formed by two words: Kai (change) and Zen (for the better). Continuous change in small steps that do not require significant investments - this is the meaning that the concept of Kaizen encapsulates. In order to demonstrate the features of the Kaizen path, it is usually contrasted with innovative development.

Innovation
Major changes.	Minor changes.
Once every 5...10 years.	Every day.
Made by managers.	Made by workers.
Requires high costs.	There are minimal or no costs required.
The effect is achieved in the future.	The improvements are noticeable immediately.
The main focus is on the means of production (equipment).	The focus is on industrial relations (processes).

Organization of workplaces - 5S

The 5S workplace organization methodology is a very easy to understand but very effective tool for improving the work environment. In a busy production schedule, workers stop paying attention to such “little things” as clutter, dirt, unnecessary things, etc. Meanwhile, this does not add any efficiency to the actions of personnel or safety to the production itself. The 5S system defines five clear rules for bringing order to the workplace: sort, keep order, keep clean, standardize, improve. Compliance with these rules significantly improves the quality of work, the level of production culture and leads to a reduction in losses due to disorderly movements.

Standard Operating Procedures

At the everyday level, in our social circle, we very often reach such a level of mutual understanding that with the help of several interjections we can convey the meaning to our interlocutor. An outsider who finds himself in such a social circle will understand absolutely nothing. It also happens that the interlocutors themselves, entangled in the intricacies of their communication dialect, cease to understand each other. The commonality of interests of the work collective also leads to the emergence of a kind of specific language of communication. However, if at the everyday level mistakes are unlikely to lead to serious consequences, then in production misunderstandings lead to significant losses of the most varied kinds.

To obtain stable results, any production activity must be carried out strictly in the prescribed manner. This procedure must be regulated in a form that would eliminate errors in performing any work procedures and be understandable to beginners. A document that describes how to perform a particular operation in a clear and accessible form is called a standard operating procedure (SOP). Ideally, employees should create their own SOPs. If this is not possible, then at least they should be involved in the development process, at least at the testing stage. In this way, the full consistency of the document will be guaranteed.

Total Productive Equipment Maintenance

The condition of production equipment is one of the main factors in achieving planned production indicators: quality, productivity, safety. In the best case, the equipment should operate smoothly without breakdowns or accidents. Is this possible? It is quite possible if you approach the problem of its maintenance competently.

In a normal situation, the operation of equipment is carried out by technological (operational) personnel, and preventive maintenance and repairs are carried out by repair services. The tasks facing these services are different. For the former, this means meeting production targets; for the latter, it means maintaining equipment in good condition and timely repairs. This difference in the goals of the services leads to the fact that operators are not interested in the problems of repair services, and repairmen are not interested in the problems of production departments. Naturally, the performance of the equipment suffers.

In order to inextricably link equipment care and the production process, the approach to equipment maintenance must be completely reconsidered. One of the tools allows you to do this lean manufacturing, which is called Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). The TPM methodology is based on the postulate that work and maintenance are inseparable. This means that all maintenance work that does not require special skills must be carried out directly by the operators of the production equipment. All maintenance procedures must be standardized. During repairs, equipment must be completely restored and modernized to prevent recurrence of accidents. Problems must be recorded and analyzed to plan maintenance activities.

TPM is discussed in more detail in the article "Total Productive Maintenance - TPM" and in.

Right on time

One of the losses considered was previously called waiting. Waiting waste occurs when parts come out of a previous operation but cannot be processed in the next one. If the previous operation continues to produce parts, then another loss is formed - stock. If inventory increases too quickly, it becomes necessary to transport it to the warehouse (another waste). As you can see, it is very important to submit parts for subsequent operation only when the need arises. This method of working is called just-in-time (JIT). In fact, JIT is work to order for the next operation. Like any “to-order” work, JIT requires clear planning to achieve flexible equipment loading. The main factor for successful planning is to reduce the volume of batches processed and transferred to the next operation and the use of production flow control methods. One of the tools for monitoring the throughput of production operations is Kanban cards.

Kanban

Kanban is a card or label that communicates the characteristics or condition of units of product being processed. Kanban can be used to determine the number of items in a batch, to determine the need to take a batch for processing, to determine the order in which batches are processed, etc. Typically, Kanban cards have a bright, attention-grabbing design. For example, batches that must be processed first are provided with red cards. Less urgent shipments are green. The use of cards helps eliminate waste due to unnecessary movements, work just in time and improve the overall production culture.

Fast changeover

Traditionally, it is believed that batch production is profitable only for large volumes of processed batches. However, large batch sizes lead, in turn, to waiting losses, increased inventories and unnecessary product movements. Competition in a market economy has led to the fact that enterprises must focus not on the volume of products produced, but on their range. A wide assortment is only possible if goods are produced in small batches with frequent equipment changeovers for a different product range.

Changeovers are a waste of time. Therefore, it is very important to reduce the time of one changeover to the minimum possible value. In order to do this, you should use a technique to reduce changeover time. Within this methodology, all changeover operations are classified, after which the operation time is reduced to the minimum possible. This is achieved by standardizing the changeover process, improving equipment, and performing part of the changeover procedures before stopping or after starting the process (for example, tooling can be transported during operation without any damage to quality and productivity).

Built-in quality

To achieve a high level of product quality, the vast majority of enterprises have in their organizational structure divisions responsible for quality control of manufactured products (here are the technical control departments known from Soviet times - Quality Control Department and modern quality management departments - OUK and similar organizational units). Products that have not passed inspection by such departments are subject to rejection, disposal, rework, grade reduction, markdown, etc. As a result of the listed procedures, either reworking losses occur (additional processing, processing and storage of defects) or the consumer value of the products decreases. This happens because already released products are subject to control.

To reduce these losses, it is advisable to move quality control to earlier stages. The best solution would be to carry out quality control directly during production operations. The technique of combining production operations and quality control operations is called built-in quality. The methodology is based on standard procedures that allow checking the conformity of the quality of manufactured products and regulating the procedure for action in case of detection of non-conformity. Marriage should not be carried out - this is a kind of law that must be learned by all workers. If this requires stopping the conveyor, then this must be done. A restart can only be carried out after the causes of inconsistencies have been eliminated. Another direction to reduce the likelihood of defects is the modernization of production equipment, or rather the integration into it of mechanisms for the timely detection of unsuitable products.

What is needed for success

Lean it is not just a set of concepts, tools and rules. This is, first of all, a philosophy that changes established views on the organization of industrial relations, a philosophy that affects all layers in the organizational structure of an enterprise, a philosophy that requires the presence of its oracles and followers in the enterprise. Basics lean manufacturing are simple, and their implementation does not require serious financial investments, however, the ease with which one can take the path of this philosophy is adjacent to the colossal difficulty of staying on this path.

Two main components determine most of the success of the implementation of the philosophy lean manufacturing. First of all, the enterprise needs leaders who are able to “ignite” their subordinates with new ideas, instill in them the confidence of the need for change and, together with them, step by step, endure all the difficulties associated with solving long-standing problems. And secondly, a system of motivation and involvement of enterprise personnel in the common cause of implementing new approaches that is understandable to everyone. In mathematical terms, these two components are necessary condition for successful implementation lean manufacturing. Everything else (tools, techniques) is the technical side of the issue, which complements the necessary condition to a sufficient one.

Literature

1. Rother Mike, Shook John Learn to see business processes. The practice of constructing value stream maps / Transl. from English, 2nd ed. - M.: Alpina Business Books: CBSD, Center for the Development of Business Skills, 2006. - 144 p.

For a successful business organization, it is important to use a lean production system. The very name of this system contains the main principle - to organize work in such a way as to eliminate unnecessary labor, time, financial and other costs. If we talk about what lean manufacturing is briefly, then it is a concept of competent management that allows you to optimize any business processes.

Main goals of lean manufacturing

Application of the concept allows you to achieve several goals. The general goal of introducing lean manufacturing is a full-scale reduction in the costs of all resources used in business, without compromising the quality of products, goods or services.

The identification of which the implementation of lean production is aimed at relates to:

• Overproduction, when products that no one needs are produced or too many products are produced;
• Inventory, when the production process receives an excess amount of materials needed to make a product;
• Excessive processing - effort that does not affect the final value of the product for the consumer client;
• Unnecessary movements when moving workers, tools, equipment, which does not in any way affect the improvement of products;
• Defects, defects in products that are checked, sorted, and, if necessary, disposed of, or their grade is changed, repaired, or replaced;
• Expectations – time costs associated with waiting for workers, materials, equipment, information;
• Transportation – moving parts or materials within a production organization.

Principles and tools of lean manufacturing

Any concept is built on principles specific to its characteristics. The basic principles of lean production in an enterprise are:

1. Determining the value of the manufactured product for the final client-consumer.
2. Determination of the value stream for manufactured products.
3. Ensuring continuity of updated product production.
4. The desire to do only what the end consumer needs.
5. Continuous business improvement.

Let's take a closer look at each of the above 5 principles for implementing lean manufacturing.

Principle No. 1 allows you to identify what is valuable in the selected product for the end consumer. Often, an enterprise puts in extra effort that does not affect the value of the product. These are the ones that need to be determined in order to achieve the desired result from the implemented system.

Principle No. 2 makes it possible to determine losses during the production of a product. To do this, you should describe all the actions taken by the enterprise, the result of which is the delivery of the product to the final consumer.

Principle No. 3 ensures that activities in the production chain are modernized so that they are carried out in a continuous manner. There should be no time or other losses between actions.

By applying principle No. 4, it is possible to achieve the production of a product only of the type and quantity that is required by customer-consumers. Taking into account the needs of the latter is mandatory if the goal is to organize lean production at the enterprise.

Principle No. 5 is very important when using lean manufacturing technology. Production will remain lean only by constantly improving it, reducing unnecessary effort and costs.

As a result of applying all the basic principles, it will be possible to achieve a significant reduction in costs. The result of implementation will be the opportunity to:

• Offer the consumer the product he needs;
• Reduce the cost of the product if necessary;
• Increase sales volumes due to customer satisfaction.

Methods and tools for implementing lean manufacturing

The basic methods are the practical elements for effectively achieving the goal.

Scope of application of lean manufacturing tools

Today, lean manufacturing methodology is used in various manufacturing areas. It is used in different industries, in large and small enterprises. The application of the lean manufacturing method is observed in the activities of companies engaged in:

• Production
• Providing logistics services;
• Banking and trade;
• Creation and implementation of information technologies;
• Construction;
• Medical care;
• Extraction of oil, various minerals, etc.

It is important that lean production in an enterprise engaged in a certain type of activity is subject to adaptation to specific production conditions. In this case, it is always possible to achieve an increase in the level of work efficiency, reducing various types of losses.

The concept of “lean manufacturing” was created at Toyota, and since the success of the latter is well known, lean manufacturing methods began to be widely used in other enterprises. The greatest application of the lean manufacturing concept occurs where this concept was created - in mechanical engineering. Note that it can be successfully applied in construction and in other industries characterized by either a huge set of tools or a huge set of “components”.

In accordance with the theory of lean manufacturing, all activities of an enterprise are divided into operations and processes that add value to the consumer, and operations and processes that do not add value to the consumer. The goal of “lean manufacturing” is the systematic reduction of processes and operations that do not add value. This is the economic “ideology” of lean production as a type of management.

And first of all, this concerns logistics and storage of tools, raw materials, materials, components, i.e. "intermediate products" of activity. Streamlining this entire system with large volumes of production allows you to significantly save on “wasting employee time” searching for the “needed”, making unnecessary movements, aimless walking, etc. operations that are “unnecessary” from the perspective of the final product in an environment of “poorly organized” production.

In general, in our opinion, and not only ours, the main advantage of “lean production” is the guidance ORDER, which immediately affects productivity, quality, and discipline of labor and production. And this is all good!

It is well known that any activity requires a conscious and emotional attitude towards it. In the conditions of collectivism of Japanese society and the positions of the traditional Japanese worldview, all this led to the totality of “lean ventilation”, to strict observance of all the rituals of this new “religion” of production culture. American management specialists have turned the concept and methods of "lean manufacturing" into a high-quality commercial product and have been very successful in doing so. Paying tribute to “lean manufacturing” itself, we advise you not to be fascinated by all the aspirated foreign words and terms (especially Japanese words that sound like magic spells), because the point is not in them, but in the very system of ESTABLISHING ORDER, OPTIMIZING THE PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT AND PRODUCTION OPERATIONS!!! This, not the names, is the power of lean manufacturing. And one more very important point!

The Japanese traditional production culture is essentially based on collectivism, on the natural acceptance of corporate values, on the fact that the worker considers production “his own” and works on it not out of “fear”, but out of “conscience.” The ideal model of the relationship between employer and employee is a kind of “paternalism” model, when the employer takes care of the worker as a member of his family, and the grateful worker behaves accordingly and “listens to his elders,” which is reinforced by the desire and traditions of working in one place (in one organization) ALL LIFE! If we take into account that the traditional system of classical education in Japan really teaches (no worse than under Soviet socialism) and “selects” the successful ones very, very harshly, then the Japanese “management” is several heads taller than its workers. You can listen to them! They know the deal!

In contrast to the Japanese model or the Soviet model, the main capitalist model of relations in production (most clearly embodied in America) is based on individualism and Taylorism, as a means of integrating the “individual” with his “I” into the production “conveyor” - a chain of individual actions and motives. It is known that this model lost the competition with the Japanese one, and Japanese cars conquered the world, including America, significantly displacing the great American auto industry, from which the “miracles” of the 20th century began.

This “Japanese model” began to be promoted into the practice of American enterprises, of course, not as a collectivist model, which is unacceptable to the American mentality, but as part of either the “implementation” or “functioning” of lean manufacturing. And it doesn’t matter what or how the workforce is taught. The important thing is that the workers feel the ATTENTION of the administration to them as PEOPLE, as PERSONS, as SUBJECTS OF ACTIVITY, and not as stupid and silent cogs of a huge conveyor belt for the production of wealth for distant owners. And this also contributed to the SUCCESS of lean manufacturing.

But the idea of ​​involving the team in the management and organization of production is one of the most powerful ideas in labor protection, recognized throughout the world, but most effectively implemented in Finland, a country that is a leader in success in labor protection. This is the idea of ​​INVOLVING ordinary executive workers in OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY MANAGEMENT, who do not participate in management in any way, just working at their jobs and that’s all! This idea is embodied in our country in the institution of authorized (trusted) persons for labor protection. So it is implicit, but the deep ideas of the ORGANIZATION of lean production and the basis of its SUCCESS are very, very fruitful for labor protection.

But where is occupational safety in lean manufacturing itself? How is she related to him? What does it do for her?

Strictly speaking, from the position of reducing production processes and operations that do not add value to the finished product, labor protection has no place in lean manufacturing, because “worker safety” does not add any visible value to the finished product. This is why there is no Safety in the famous 5S methodology. She stayed behind the scenes.

But it is IMPOSSIBLE to remove labor protection and production safety procedures even in lean production, which limits itself to everything EXCESSIVE, because, although the consumer value of the product does not increase, it grows (and in a crazy way) DAMAGE. And that's already money! And the goal of lean manufacturing is OPTIMIZATION OF COSTS AND “EXTRA” MOVEMENTS. But labor protection has never been superfluous ! It is an integral element of any production, let’s repeat ANY production! Whether we want it or not is not the point!

The task of labor protection has nothing to do with increasing PROFIT, but is exclusively aimed at preventing DAMAGE!

That is why labor protection, one way or another, exists in ANY MANAGEMENT MODEL, the only question is - How does it exist? Optimal or bad?

In our opinion, the organization of lean production allows labor protection to exist in a given organization in the most optimal way.

Why is that? Because “lean production” is just one of the many models of “scientific organization of labor”, which brings (we repeat!) ORDER and once again ORDER in the production of work, technological operations, ORDER both technical, and technological, and organizational and managerial.

Once, in 1931 in Moscow, the Central Institute of Labor (director - A.K. Gastev), which developed the ideas of scientific organization of labor, compared the influence of different methods of laying bricks. The American method, which made it possible to lay out 350 pieces per hour, was considered the highest achievement at that time. Using the traditional Russian method, the worker then laid out 327 bricks, using the improved American method - 452, and using the scientifically based method - 907 bricks. So much for the benefits of scientific organization of labor!

Lean manufacturing is very effective. His ideas are also effective in labor safety - they mean that workers must master ONLY the correct movements and techniques of work, they mean that safety instructions should be filled not with what is PROHIBITED, but with what is PROHIBITED. what and exactly what needs to be done!

But even if lean manufacturing only brings “order” during its implementation, then this is a huge benefit, because order is the true “food of the gods” for labor protection.

There is a persistently propagated opinion that safe working conditions are working conditions without danger!!! This is a very wrong and very dangerous opinion. Its origins are in the vocabulary of the Russian language, in the words “danger” and “safety”, which are so close. But “safe” does not mean “free from danger.” Safe working conditions are working conditions with a low, acceptable, practically acceptable risk; these are working conditions not without dangers, but without risks, “risk-free” working conditions.

Let's explain this. Note that correct protective actions can only be based on a correct understanding of reality, and correct understanding occurs in words. If there are not enough words in your language, then you need to look at what is being done in other languages. The leader here is the English language, since all the ideas and initial regulatory documents about control systems came to us from the UK.

In English – “ dangers “name such properties of objects or processes that, when in contact with a person, “cause harm” to his body in a huge range of consequences from fatigue to death (!!!), and “ risks “name such conditions of human activity that do not exclude or even allow the possibility of such contact, which is AUTOMATICALLY and UNCONDITIONALLY followed by “causing harm” as “danger”.

Our world is a world of DANGERS AND RISKS! We are accustomed to living in a “military camp” environment, surrounded by numerous and varied dangers, constantly keeping them under vigilant control and in every possible way reducing the risks of their exposure.

Think about it - the most terrible thing for all life on Earth is fire! It kills the life of organic bodies by burning them! But exactly " domestication"fire gave ancient man incredible power over the world, subject only to him! Modern civilization would never have arisen if we had not been able to “control” fire. No wonder they call it a fire “uncontrolled (or uncontrolled) combustion outside a special fireplace”. These words say it all. This is how a fire differs from a stove on which food is cooked!

And the third example. Every day we use boiling water to make tea, coffee, compote, soup! And it’s rare, rare that we get burned if we do everything RIGHT!

There are many dangers, but we must manage them in such a way that the risks of their adverse effects do not develop into an actual accident!

So, the main thing in labor protection is to “fight” risks!

It is known that all the causes of all unfavorable events are divided into: technical (technological, sanitary and hygienic, etc.), organizational, and personal (related to the so-called “human factor”). The latter prevail!!!

If we look at them in more detail, then about a quarter of all personal reasons are associated with “loss of vigilance,” short-term loss of proper “concentration of attention,” with impaired motor skills and other psycho-physiological processes.

This is why the ideas of long shifts are “crazy” from the point of view of labor protection - fatigue leads to a loss of “caution,” “thoroughness,” and precision of actions in conditions of “coexistence” with dangers. Punishment follows instantly and inevitably!

The remaining three-quarters of the causes of injury are associated with the INABILITY TO WORK correctly, in the absence of knowledge, skills and abilities to perform work safely!!!

Personnel need to be TRAINED TO WORK SAFELY! There is no other option.

And we need to create conditions where you CAN AND WANT TO WORK SAFELY!

A huge role here is played by the usual ORDER + CLEAR SEQUENCE OF ALL PRODUCTION OPERATIONS, as well as VISUALIZATION of hazardous areas and individual hazardous objects or their properties.

Visualization very important because activates ours, developed over millennia of human evolution as a biological being, sense of danger . "Feeling" ( in the history of mankind - seeing!!! ) danger (and it is a source of stress!!!), the body automatically releases adrenaline into the blood, due to which all ailments recede into the background, the head begins to think clearly, the arms and legs begin to move exactly as they should, the muscles are ready to work to the maximum and so on. - as a result, we “gather our courage”, straighten our shoulders, concentrate our attention, are ready to move mountains, and act clearly and SAFELY!

But how can we see what we cannot see? We do not see gas, we do not distinguish liquid by type (water or alcohol, or ether or...) and much more too! All this needs to be visualized - by sticking labels and inscriptions, by painting and tinting, by smoking or odorizing (giving a smell) - but you never know how this can be done - but it must be done, it must be done visualize dangers that we don’t see, don’t realize, don’t record without this!!!

In conditions when His Majesty the working class has completely forgotten how to read and is accustomed to watching pictures on TV or an iPhone, he needs to be given INSTEAD OF INSTRUCTIONS or IN ADDITION TO THE INSTRUCTIONS, a visually perceptible GUIDE TO ACTION!

That's why coloring and zoning floors, equipment, using safety signs, light-reflecting elements, etc. – a huge achievement and a benefit for labor protection! For with all this visualization she leads the employee “by the hand” along the path of safety, making known situations impossible: “A bird walks cheerfully along the path of disasters, not foreseeing any consequences from this”!!!

This is why lean manufacturing, by putting things in order, e.g. creating “good” conditions for productive work, optimizing the production environment and the labor process, i.e. preventing the worker from involuntarily entering the dangerous zone and making incorrect movements, visualizing invisible dangers, and thereby activating our caution, involuntarily and unwittingly, consciously or not, but create safe working conditions, new in methods and progressive in ideas “ lean labor protection»!

And the use of lean manufacturing ideas in labor protection should be welcomed!

Since 1997, we have been helping our clients in the field of labor protection and personnel records management. We provide services throughout Russia. Remotely, in a short time, our specialists will help resolve any issue.

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