Case Study: Lean Implementation at Siemens' Kalwa Plant

Production practices have had an important role in satisfying the dynamic market. Many approaches have being developed in order to respond effectively to specific business requirements. In fact, some areas of management have focused its study on the overseeing, designing, and controlling the process of production in an effort to find the best methodology that ensures the business success and performance. However, complexities arise in this field because many variables such as costs, inventory, scheduling, suppliers, etc have to be considered in any business. Lean approach and the traditional approach are two points of view that aim to address this complexities, and those will be examined in this essay.

This essay is going to analyze a case study based on lean thinking principles and techniques. It could divide in five significant parts. First, outline the definitions of a sequence of process and techniques, next introduce the categories of costs and benefits in establishing the cell, and also non-financial benefits which be taken into account, furthermore, critically discussed the stage should Deane sell his idea to the Joinery Manager and the workers, and additionally, evaluated four main differences of cell work in main Joinery Department, and illustrated the risks in Deane 's suggestion at final.

The company should also focus on lean manufacturing because it has certain positive points like increase of efficiency, decrease in the waste, improvement of control and also this will create the unique demand and need of the customer in terms of products. It will also offer cost savings strategy and will maximize the high amount of values ​​with high

The implementation of lean operations is one the most popular ways to improve efficiency and productivity in operations. This strategy has afforded many businesses the opportunities to streamline processes that resulted in improved systems and efficiency. However, many businesses face obstacles with implementing lean practices for various reasons such as unclear directions, employees that are resistant to change, and poor planning. Businesses that encounter issues with lean implementation must identify performance metrics to improve operational strategies. This paper will examine the obstacles businesses experience with lean implementation.

Since the lean operation and the total quality management model are based on a highly technical approach, toolsets and qualitative analysis, hence sufficient training in leadership, functional and technical skill will be mandatory for the employees in every category, including the operation, functional and business area to ensure a successful operation and to communicate and maintain proper control in the process. The Company will follow the agile manufacturing practice which comprises a set of quality standards, practices and iterative testing process driven by the end user feedback method to deliver a high quality customizable product that fits the exact need for a specific market segment and keep constant focus to reduce production overheads and eliminate any unnecessary steps in the process engineering that could potentially increase the cost and the delivery timing (Schnaars,

History above shows growth. Switchgear market is fully developed see exhibit 4. Customer orders increased by 75% and expected to keep rising. Lean implementation is needed to meet demand utilizing existing capacity to improve financial performance for the factories. The order follows the route see exhibit 5. Each department fulfils its responsibilities before passing on to the next. Lean started with meetings between management and lean team explaining its benefits in response to panels demand rise. Layout and processes were restructured. Mapping process was done. Lean team held discussions with every department in value chain to understand the current working process. Brainstorming and awareness sessions were done resulting in process flow chart that changes the way

Lean production, or lean manufacturing, is a philosophy adopted in the Japanese manufacturing industry to help the automobile industry improve its processes. Today, lean production has enlarged in many different repetitive manufacturing industries and other organizations (de Treville & Antonakis, 2006). For example, lean production is now common in the healthcare industry to improve the processes in hospitals. Since remaining competitive in the increasing global market is of upmost importance to many organizations, adopting a lean manufacturing philosophy could be the difference in obtaining a competitive advantage and surviving in a global changing economy (Abdulmalek & Rajgopal, 2006). Also, managers have come to view lean as a way to improve operation and organizational performance (Longoni, Pagell, Johnston, & Veltri, 2013). Therefore, the goal of lean production is to improve efficiency by getting rid of unnecessary processes or waste en route to delivering a service or product to the customer that is of great quality. Lean production attempts to add value to the customer by removing waste that does not add value. Since lean production is dependent on how well it is implemented in the organization, it will be important to see what effects, if any, lean production has on worker health and safety as

This essay is going to analyze a case study based on lean thinking principles and techniques. It is could divide in four significant parts. First, to outline the definitions of Lean manufacturing philosophy and applied the strategies to achieving, next create future state Value Stream Map, Furthermore justification Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques, which would appropriate, and critically discussed the key successful should his idea to the Evenort Company.

Your organization, a company that manufactures automobile brake pads, is about to introduce lean concepts into its operations in order to be more competitive with foreign manufacturers. The lean project manager does not understand why you, the safety manager, want to be a part of the process. Provide a convincing argument about what you can contribute if you are included.

Related to the large workload, there were also not enough proper quality check points to check the quality of the work in progress. Quality is mainly controlled during assembly, and not checked while being packaged. If a product was not controlled during assembly and was damaged during shipping, the correct department is not able to be addressed to correct the issue resulting in bad quality control. If all the above task inefficiency is taking place the processes cannot deliver a quality product and on time. For the lean system to be implemented all the concerns need to be addressed, and employees are one of the keys to this change. Currently employees are worried to lose their jobs and are over worked, with this state, employees might not be acceptable to the changes. Machines and systems need to be updated to save money, time, and to reduce raw material waste. Quality can be achieved when employees and management are dedicated to make this their priority, it is not only on the quality team but the whole companies.

Most companies leaving on lean manufacturing soon find that their accounting processes and management methods are inconsistent with the lean changes they are making. The reason for this is that traditional accounting and management method were intended to support traditional manufacturing; they are based upon mass production thinking. Lean manufacturing breaks the rules of mass production, and so the traditional accounting and management methods are unsatisfactory and more often than not effectively unfriendly to the lean changes the company

The success of the Toyota Production System is the evidence that Lean Systems help manufacturing companies in improving their operations and the process of manufacturing. Lean is an approach to eliminate waste and maximize the value for the customers. Lean has made its place in today’s market. Apart from Toyota, companies like John Deere one of the largest manufacturers of agricultural machinery, Textron- leading systems which offers products and services to support the defense and the aerospace, Intel- the world’s largest chip makers, Nike-one of the leading super-cool clothing company have occupied their place in the success list of lean systems.

The respondents of the study were selected personnel of Dunlop Hiflex Ltd. The personnel selected for the study were so selected because of their direct involvement with the original lean manufacturing change programme. The respondents were all members of the various lean implementation teams. They were multi-skilled and also possessed specialist knowledge in areas such as Kaizen, Customer Services, Production Control, Maintenance and Human Resources. A full respondent portfolio can be seen at appendix D. The Kaizen engineers that were involved in the original lean implementation programme were trained formally in the tools and techniques of kaizen, and had previous experience working within World Class Organisations such as Unipart Industries.

According to (Rouse, 2013), lean management is a method of running a business that supports the concept of constant improvement. Therefore, lean management is a long-term approach to work that thoroughly seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. The theory was first established between 1948 and 1975 by Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo the two Japanese engineers (Arnheiter and Maleyeff, 2005). But the method was initially found in the works of Henry Ford, who “Ohno greatly appreciated and studied Ford because of his accomplishments and the reduction of waste at early Ford assembly plants” (Arnheiter and Maleyeff, 2005). Thus Lean management eliminates all forms of waste, decreasing errors, shrinking inventory and ordering or supplying parts “just-in-time,” therefore decreasing warehousing costs. (Rand, 2013) identified the seven forms of waste, including waste in unnecessary motion, over-processing and transportation. Thus by doing this it will saves the business money and allows workers to pay attention to more value-creating activities. There are four main principles of lean which are (Rouse, 2013) firstly defining the value from the perspective of the end customer, identifying each steps in a business process and eliminating non value activities, making the value-creating steps occur in tight sequence and then finally repeating the first three steps on a constantly basis until all the waste has been eliminated. The

Implementing lean into SMEs within Saudi Arabia manufacturing industries faces difficulties, while in larger companies, it is more likely to be implemented succesfully and gain the advantages of lean systems (Karim et al., 2011).