Y P Rao

Abstract

There are many productivity improvement techniques like Method study & Work measurement, Cost reduction, Modernisation, Investment in machines & equipment, Re-engineering, etc. Lean manufacturing technique, through old concept, is gaining importance in recent years in manufacturing industries. Lean manufacturing is about FAT reduction. There are still a lot of fats and wastes in Indian Manufacturing sector resulting in its inefficiencies, poor performance and low productivity leading to lower profitability. These fats are in term of excess resources like manpower, materials, inventories, unutilized machines and capital. Wastes like Inventory, over production, unnecessary movements, delays, defects, reprocessing, etc are required to be reduced, if not completely eliminated. Lean manufacturing talks about identification of Waste in the manufacturing system causing inefficiency and poor performance and suggests tools and techniques to eliminate them and improve productivity. Lean manufacturing is the combinations of tools, techniques and practices to eliminate waste and improve productivity. This paper talks about the concept of lean manufacturing, tools & techniques to be used for improving productivity, process of implementation of lean manufacturing and its advantages.

Keywords- Lean, Fat, TPS, Waste (Muda): Over production, Inventory, Excess motion, Reprocessing, Defects; 5S, Kaizen, JIT, Kanban, Value Stream Mapping, Pull Production, Super market.