An Ultimate Guide For Top Lean Manufacturing Tools

Are you struggling to improve your manufacturing process but don’t know how to do so? You are in the right place. In this blog, we will share the top lean manufacturing tools you can use to change the manufacturing game. Keep reading to learn more. 

Lean manufacturing tools help you solve manufacturing problems, monitor work performance, and assess and optimize the process. These tools simplify everything in your business by reducing or eliminating waste, developing efficient workflow, and enhancing quality control systems. 

Many tools are available for lean manufacturing, and we will discuss them here. Look at the following points to learn about tools. 

10 Top Lean Manufacturing Tools 

Kaizen 

Have you heard this word before? This is a Japanese word that indicates “continual improvement.” This term talks about the things that multiply the growth of organizational functionality. This works best in the manufacturing industry. 

If we talk more about Kaizen, all upper and lower management employees need to be involved in boosting supply chain efficiency. 

Jidoka 

Jidoka is a helpful manufacturing tool that was introduced in 1896. This tool was about helping an automatic loom to function correctly. It reduced the problems when threading. People were able to work with several looms at the same time by applying this tool. 

The principles on which Jidoka works are:

• Finding a problem or anything unusual 

• Resolving the problem 

• Exploring the root cause of the problem to eliminate future issues

Further, when Jidoka was introduced, it revolutionized the manufacturing industry by figuring out the problem in the ongoing process instead of at the end. 

Poka Yoke 

This lean manufacturing tool was introduced by Toyota and is almost the same as Jidoka. This tool was developed to eliminate mistakes and stop them from turning into defects. After all, mistakes are what can be corrected if noticed at the right time. 

But if you don’t know where the problem is, it becomes difficult to prevent and correct it. That turns into a defect in the final product.

Poka Yoke helped manufacturers with quality control and found defects automatically. 

Visual Management 

Do you know what visual management is? Well, it is a way to communicate with the help of visual aids. It helps speak to someone quickly and effectively. 

The goal of visual management includes:

• Clarifying waste.

• Highlighting problems simply. 

• Contribute to efficient communication.

• Knowing efficiency goals. 

Many examples of Visual Management include stock controls, audition boards, and shadow boards. 

After all, if you want to represent work instructions to your employees, you can use this tool. Anyone can use this tool if explaining their work is not accessible using words. 

Kanban 

Kanban comes from a Japanese word called “ Signal Card.” In the old days, manufacturing workers used to fill a signal card when something was wrong with a manufacturing part. A team or an employee received this card and took the necessary action to bring more parts. 

All these things are done using computers these days. The idea behind the lean manufacturing tool is to get the necessary parts if needed. If we talk about the primary goal of Kanban is reducing waste. 

Demand Management

How will you know about the demands coming for your product from an external environment? You need to use this great tool: Demand Management. This tool helps to find out the sources of demands in a company. 

There are some goals of Demand Management that include:

• Enhancing forecast accuracy. 

• Reducing inventory investment. 

• Establishing a good balance between supply and demand. 

After all, Demand Management works well when it has a clearly defined supply chain. For example, you must maintain transparency with your suppliers, whether they are small or large. 

Heijunka 

You have heard the word “leveling” many times. But do you know what it is called in Japanese? It is Heijunka in Japanese. This lean manufacturing tool can be used to develop an efficient manufacturing process. 

The idea behind implementing this tool is to minimize inventories, capital costs, manpower, and production. Lean consultants recommend implementing this practice when a manufacturer has already used the fundamentals of lean principles.   

Just in Time 

As the name says, this tool requires you to fulfill the need for the hours. This means when, what and where a customer wants a particular product should be met. 

This lean tool doesn’t require you to manufacture more and more products and create inventories. Instead, one should develop products based on what customers want. By doing so, you can quickly get rid of the waste that comes from unnecessary inventory. 

If we take a look into the history of “Just in Time,” it was discovered by Toyota. This tool helped the company when it was a costly affair to produce the extra stock. 

Takt Time 

This comes from a German word called “Pulse.” This lean manufacturing tool talks about the time needed to produce a product while keeping in mind consumer demand. This tool ensures the demand from the consumers is met with the made products at the right time.

As we have discussed above, the goal of this tool is to meet the demands while ensuring minimal waste. 

Bottleneck Analysis 

You might have heard the word “Bottleneck” before. But do you know how it works in manufacturing? Let’s see. 

The bottleneck, in other words, is a constraint that requires time in operations. For example, the slowest person is no less than a bottleneck of a hiking group. In hiking, all the members need to work like a team. No one is separate in a hiking group. 

So, if someone gets slower or is not able to hike with other members, it can be considered a bottleneck. Due to the one slower persona, the speed of the entire group will be hampered. 

After all, when applied in manufacturing units, no constraint hampers the manufacturing process. 

Conclusion 

That’s all. These are some lean manufacturing tools you need to know about to optimize your manufacturing work. If you want to learn about more tools and techniques, hire a lean consultant. Lean Leaders Plus is what you need to know and implement lean tools. Contact us to learn more.