Operations Management 14.3

What are the four building blocks of a lean production system?

1. Product design

2. Process design

3. Personnel/organizational elements

4. Manufacturing planning and control

What are the four elements of product design?

1. Standard parts

2. Modular design

3. Highly capable production systems with quality built in

4. Concurrent engineering

What do standard parts and modular design relate to?

Speed and simplicity

What is modular design?

An extension of standard parts. It greatly reduces the number of parts to deal with, simplifying assembly, purchasing, handling, training, etc.

What is the sine qua non (“without which not”) of lean?

Quality

What are the eight aspects of process design?

1. Small lot sizes

2. Setup time reduction

3. Manufacturing cells

4. Quality improvement

5. Production flexibility

6. A balanced system

7. Little inventory storage

8. Fail-safe methods

What is the ideal lot size?

One unit

What is the purpose of reducing setup time?

The time can be prohibitive to production and they require holding more inventory than with short setup times

Single-minute exchange of die (SMED)

A system for reducing changeover time

Manufacturing Cells

Highly specialized and efficient production centers

What does quality improvement focus on?

Finding and eliminating the causes of problems so they do not continually crop up

Autonomation

Involves the automatic detection of defects during production

Takt Time

The cycle time needed in a production system to match the pace of production to the demand rate

Failsafing

Building safeguards into a process to reduce or eliminate the potential for errors during a process

Poka-yoke

Mistake proofing

What are the 5 elements of personnel and organization that are particularly important for lean systems?

1. Workers as assets

2. Cross-trained workers

3. Continuous improvement

4. Cost accounting

5. Leadership/project management

Activity-based costing

More closely reflects the actual amount of overhead consumed by a particular job or activity

What are the seven elements of manufacturing planning and control?

1. Level loading

2. Pull systems

3. Visual systems

4. Limited work-in-progress (WIP)

5. Close vendor relationships

6. Reduced transaction processing

7. Preventive maintenance and housekeeping

Push system

Used in traditional production environments: When work is finished at a workstation, the output is pushed to the next station; or, in the case of the final operation, it is pushed on to final inventory

Pull system

Each workstation pulls the output from the preceding station as it is needed: and the output of the final operation is pulled by customer demand or the master schedule

Kanban Card

The authorization to move or work on parts

Production kanban (p-kanban)

signals the need to produce parts

Conveyance kanban (c-kanban)

Signals the need to deliver parts to the next work center

Shadow tool boards

Show outline shapes of where tools should be stored

Scoreboards

Display to employees the performance to goals

Work-zone color coding

Show purpose for each area of operation

Andon lights

Alert employees to problem status of operational areas

Visual maintenance

Indicators comparing equipment conditions to ideal status

Logistical transactions

Include ordering, execution, and confirmation of materials transported from one location to another

Balanced transactions

Include forecasting, production planning, production control, procurement, scheduling, and order processing

Quality transactions

Include determining and communicating specifications, monitoring, recording, and order processing

Change transactions

Primarily involve engineering changes and the ensuing changes generated in specifications, bills of material, scheduling, processing instructions, etc

Preventive maintenance

Emphasizes maintaining equipment in good operating condition and replacing parts that have a tendency to fail before they fail

Housekeeping

Involves keeping the workplace clean, as well as keeping it free of any materials that are not needed for production

What are the 5 S’s that are intended to make the workplace effective?

1. Sort

2. Straighten

3. Sweep

4. Standardize

5. Self-discipline