The Significance of Lean Manufacturing: Essay Sample

Introduction

Lean manufacturing refers to the production process that involves a continuous effort to reduce or eliminate wastes; on the other hand, it involves activities that utilize resources without bringing any value in the processes of distribution, customer service, design, and manufacturing. The lean manufacturing process was developed by the Toyota Company in the year 1912. Lean manufacturing can be utilized in any production process or business activity in every industry. For example, lean is currently applied in most of the healthcare industries to reduce costs and improve efficiency. The principles of lean can also be used on a smaller scale to manage laboratories, offices, and workspaces. Lean manufacturing plays significant roles in different management and production processes.

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According to the article by Bert Markgraf, lean manufacturing aids in the increase in efficiency of the production line and reduction in the volume of waste products released during production processes. On the other hand, the lean process also has impacts on different parts of the business. Changing from conventional production processes to the lean manufacturing system needs several adjustments within a company as well as alterations in the supply chains. Before changing to or adopting the lean manufacturing processes, the management of a business ought to plan for the lean production impacts in order to realize the absolute benefits of lean initiative (Bert 11). The above article elaborates how the lean manufacturing process can impact the outcome of the business process. According to the writer, some of the impacts of lean manufacturing include increased quality of products, reduction of waste products produced during production processes, increased efficiency and reduction on the needs to keep inventories.

The application of lean manufacturing often leads to the increased products quality. The process often imposes manufacturing processes and designs that detect problems at the beginning of the production process or at the source. The application of lean manufacturing often reduces warranty claims, testing requirement as well as the customer service calls. According to the article, the manufacturers usually focus on the resources to produce quality products and come up with manufacturing processes to create them without any defects. The reduction and reuse of the waste materials allow the producers to reduce spending on other processes that do not add any value directly to the products. According to Bert Markgraf, the lean production lines often use consumable materials; in addition, they generate defective and off-cut parts. Lean manufacturing, therefore, lessen wastes to the minimum. During the production processes, manufacturing lines usually generate waste, lean manufacturing methods on the other hand; implement ways on how to re-use the material waste produced, it also aids in the elimination of the sources of wastes. The lean manufacturing increases efficiency in the production lines, it usually identifies the wait periods in the production lines and minimizes them. Through identification of wait times, the manufacturers are able to analyze different sections of the manufacturing processes.

Conclusion

The implementation of lean manufacturing is common on most of the current industry since it saves costs and reduces the volume of waste products. For companies willing to engage in the lean manufacturing process, it is necessary to consider different factors such as costs, viability and the kinds of products that an organization is engaged in. Lean manufacturing process often leads to the increased quality, efficiency and reduction in the waste products from manufacturing processes.

Work Cited

Markgraf, Bert. "The Business Impact of Lean Manufacturing." (2016).