lean manufacturing case study examples

9 Real-Life Lean Manufacturing Examples

Lean manufacturing allows companies to better optimize processes, reduce waste, and speed up production times through different methods, tools, and philosophies. If you're wondering how to implement lean manufacturing techniques in your operations, you need to consider which lean production tools you use and what you want to accomplish.

How Does Lean Manufacturing Work?

Lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to improving efficiency and reducing waste in manufacturing processes. It focuses on creating more value for customers while using fewer resources. This is achieved by identifying and eliminating all types of waste, including defects, overproduction, waiting, unnecessary motion, excess inventory, overprocessing, and unused talent. Lean manufacturing also emphasizes continuous improvement, involving all employees in the process of identifying and solving problems. By applying lean principles, companies can reduce lead times, improve quality, increase productivity, and lower costs.

Why Is Lean Manufacturing Important and How Can It Help?

Lean manufacturing is important because it helps companies stay competitive in today's fast-paced and ever-changing business environment. By improving efficiency and reducing waste, companies can offer better products and services at lower costs, which can attract and retain customers. Lean manufacturing can also help companies reduce their environmental impact by minimizing resource consumption and waste generation. Moreover, lean manufacturing can improve employee morale and engagement by empowering them to participate in continuous improvement activities and take ownership of their work. Overall, lean manufacturing can help companies achieve long-term success by creating value for customers, employees, and stakeholders.

Getting Started with Lean Manufacturing Methods

A great way to start considering methods is by exploring real-life examples of lean manufacturing and lean management. This can provide a deeper level of understanding and help you build up the confidence to implement the same lean thinking philosophies. We've compiled a list of nine examples for you to start with.

9 Lean Manufacturing Examples in the Real World

Kaizen is a Japanese term that means "continuous improvement." In the context of lean manufacturing, it refers to the idea of involving all employees in identifying and implementing small, incremental improvements in processes, products, or services. Kaizen encourages continuous learning and innovation , as well as a sense of ownership and engagement among employees.  Some examples of kaizen activities include participating in quality circles, conducting 5S audits, or attending training sessions to learn new skills or techniques.

2. Just-in-time

Just-in-time (JIT) is a manufacturing philosophy that aims to produce only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the exact quantity needed. JIT helps companies minimize inventory and reduce waste, while also improving efficiency and responsiveness to customer demand. Some examples of JIT in action include using pull production systems, where production is triggered by customer orders rather than a forecast, or establishing close relationships with suppliers to ensure the timely delivery of materials.

Kanban is a visual tool that helps companies manage inventory and production by signaling when it is time to replenish supplies or move materials to the next stage of production.  Kanban can take many forms, such as colored cards, electronic displays, or physical containers. By using kanban, companies can improve communication and coordination between different departments or functions, as well as reduce lead times and minimize waste.

4. Standardization

Standardization refers to the process of creating and implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for a given process or task. SOPs help ensure consistency and quality in products or services, as well as reduce variability and errors. Standardized work instructions can include visual aids, such as diagrams and photos, to help workers understand the process, and they can be updated as improvements are made. For example, standardization can be applied to the layout and design of the factory floor. The location of tools and equipment can be standardized so that workers can quickly find what they need, reducing wasted time and motion. The use of color-coded labels and markings can also help ensure that workers can quickly identify different parts and materials, reducing the risk of errors and accidents.

5. Value stream mapping

Value stream mapping is a tool used to visualize and analyze the flow of materials, information, and activities required to deliver a product or service to a customer. Value stream mapping helps companies identify and eliminate waste, as well as optimize the entire value stream from end to end. Value stream mapping can also reveal opportunities for improvement and innovation, such as reducing lead times, improving quality, or increasing flexibility.

6. Pull production

Pull production is a manufacturing approach where production is triggered by customer demand, rather than a forecast or a push from upstream processes. Pull production helps companies reduce inventory, improve responsiveness to customer demand, and minimize waste. Pull production can take many forms, such as kanban systems, supermarkets, or direct customer orders.

5S is a workplace organization and cleanliness system that helps companies improve safety, efficiency, and quality. The five S's stand for Sort, Straighten, Sweep, Standardize, and Sustain.

Sort refers to the process of separating necessary items from unnecessary ones and disposing of the latter. Straighten refers to the process of organizing the workplace and arranging items in a logical and efficient manner. Sweep refers to the process of cleaning and maintaining the workplace to ensure safety and hygiene. Standardize refers to the process of establishing and maintaining standards for workplace organization and cleanliness. Sustain refers to the process of continuously improving and refining the 5S system.

One of the most powerful lean manufacturing tools available to manufacturers is the SMED event . In a nutshell, SMED events enable manufacturers to identify—and remove—the waste in their changeover processes. All manufacturers, regardless of size, can benefit from SMED. Typically, SMED events reduce changeover times by 30-50%!

Steps include mapping your current changeover process; analyzing, extracting, and streamlining steps; and documenting the whole process to present to your organization.

9. Continuous flow

Continuous flow is a manufacturing approach that aims to produce products in a continuous and uninterrupted flow, rather than in batches. This approach helps companies minimize inventory, reduce lead times, and improve efficiency by eliminating waiting times and reducing the need for transportation and handling. Continuous flow is often used in industries such as food processing, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, where high levels of quality and consistency are required, and where the cost of errors or defects is high.  Some examples of continuous flow in action include assembly line production, where each worker performs a specific task in a sequential manner, or cellular manufacturing, where groups of machines and workers are organized in a flow line to produce a family of related products.

Major Companies That Exemplify Lean Management Practices

You can’t talk about lean manufacturing without talking about Toyota. This Japanese auto manufacturer is credited with the birth of the Toyota Production System (TPS) . Created by Sakichi Toyoda, the goal of TPS was to eliminate waste from the manufacturing process. Nowadays, TPS is known as a fundamental lean manufacturing methodology. But Toyota didn’t stop at TPS. They also used a methodology called jidoka to minimize faulty products, and kaizen to pursue continuous improvement. They focused on automating several processes to lower human error and recheck product quality. Then, they implemented the just-in-time (JIT) model, so that they would only begin working on a product when there was a demand for it. This helped them to better control inventory levels and prevented overproduction.

FedEx Express

In response to the 2008 recession, FedEx began implementing lean manufacturing strategies to reduce costs. One of the ways they changed their operations was by introducing milestones in their C-check process for aircraft maintenance. The team identified 68 milestones crucial to the C-check and defined each segment in 4-hour increments.  Identifying milestones enabled a smoother workflow, which greatly reduced wasted time. The FedEx Express crew at LAX went from performing 14 C-checks a year to performing 30 a year. The crew also went from needing 32,715 man-hours for a C-check to 21,535 (and decreasing). Eliminating wasted time like this leads to huge cost savings, especially in an industry like aircraft maintenance, where specialized mechanics and technicians are quite costly.

With almost 800 contracted factories involved in their manufacturing processes, it’s no surprise that Nike places a heavy emphasis on consistency and waste reduction. To do so, Nike adopted continuous improvement practices and developed the Manufacturing Index in 2011: a framework with key benchmarks and performance indicators to reduce miscommunications, waste, and inconsistency across manufacturers.  The index contains lean elements like “just-in-time” and a continuous improvement mindset. Just-in-time (JIT) production is a simple inventory system where you only produce if there is a demand for your production. This is the pillar of the TPS principles. By not having excess inventory lying around, you reduce waste and save space.

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson  used Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) along with the 5S system and Standard Work as the main foundations of their strategy to keep their techniques stable. Then, they added other lean tools—such as kaizen and Six Sigma—to help improve operations and problem-solve issues. The company also adopted just-in-time inventory management and value stream mapping. The result? Having exactly the right inventory levels at the right times, avoiding waste and providing value to their customers. With these tools, Harley-Davidson automated processes to increase productivity, improve lead times, and reduce their transportation expenses.

John Deere Production System

John Deere started their lean thinking with production processes before moving on to improving their logistics and their supply chain. For John Deere, adopting continuous improvement processes took the form of automated quality control mechanisms. These mechanisms could check more products in less time, allowing for workers to spot defects — and subsequently fix them — more quickly. They were also able to get more products out the door and into customers' hands.

Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark felt that they were overspending on their transportation management system (TMS). Kimberly-Clark sought continuous improvement to further automate the system, which freed up more time for analysts to perform proactive work that benefited the company. The automation also allowed them to perform more processes with less clicks and fewer steps within the application.

Intel’s components have to be produced with the highest quality—and meet extremely high customer demand. With such demand, Intel could have lowered their cycle time to increase output, but that would have resulted in poorer quality and increased the chance of product defects. Instead, the semiconductor company turned to lean techniques to reduce works-in-process (WIP) and get rid of process waste without hindering workflow. Then, they implemented quality control methods. These lean tools helped to boost productivity without sacrificing quality for their products.

The Ford Motor Company has always aimed to produce the highest quality products and innovations in the industry. Knowing that its operational strength lay in its assembly line, Ford adopted kaizen, lean manufacturing methodologies , Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management (TQM) to implement the concept of continuous improvement in their processes.  Adopting automation and standardization allowed the company to create production lines that flowed efficiently as products moved through each workstation. Using these methods, Ford improved product quality, reduced costs, and decreased waste.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of many financial institutions that apply a hybrid of lean manufacturing principles and Six Sigma to their operations. Before employing these principles, the organization was experiencing low customer satisfaction rates due to their process quality. They had many issues with customers' statements including encoding errors, late posting transactions, and omissions.  With lean Six Sigma, they improved operational efficiency while meeting the customer needs. They also managed to continuously assess performance using the right performance data metrics to ensure optimized processes.

General Electric

General Electric (GE) recently took on lean management t with the arrival of their new CEO and chairman in 2018. When the company first adopted lean techniques in their project management operations, their innovations actually created bottlenecks in other processes. This led to too much downtime and inventory, which in turn created more waste.  To correct this, GE’s management team turned to Genba. Genba is a lean manufacturing too l used to evaluate the processes on the work floor and learn more about the issues. They sent work operators and support team members to obtain lean training, then performed value stream mapping to identify process value and potential areas of waste. After changing tactics, they were able to correct their first pass at employing lean strategies.

Improve Your Factory with Lean Manufacturing Tools Like Amper

Implementing lean manufacturing principles and lean tools often requires the help of software. Trying to manually track, monitor, and organize the different steps of a lean process is overwhelming and can easily lead to errors and slowdowns. However, with the help of technology like production monitoring, machine monitoring, and IoT and cloud computing, you can track the waste and value in all of your manufacturing systems and develop better ways to reduce waste and increase profitability.

You can apply lean manufacturing to your operations in a vast number of ways. The nine case studies above show that with the right lean tools and techniques, it’s possible to overhaul systems, equipment, production lines, and worker output to continually improve operations. These are just a few success stories  within their industries that can inspire other manufacturers to pursue similar tactics. Here at Amper, we offer OEE and machine monitoring to further automate and enhance lean manufacturing system strategies that you adopt within your operations. Contact us to learn more about our tools and resources, or schedule a demo today!

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The Toyota Production System: The Pioneer of Lean Manufacturing

Nike: embracing lean manufacturing for faster delivery, herman miller: applying lean principles to office furniture, frequently asked questions.

Lean manufacturing has revolutionized the way companies approach production, focusing on minimizing waste and maximizing value. In this article, we'll dive into real-world case studies that showcase the power of lean manufacturing principles in action. From small startups to large corporations, these success stories demonstrate how adopting a lean mindset can lead to improved efficiency, reduced costs, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

It all started with Toyota. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is the foundation of lean manufacturing, developed by the Japanese automaker in the mid-20th century. TPS aims to eliminate waste, reduce inventory, and optimize production flow. One of the key elements of TPS is just-in-time (JIT) production, which involves producing goods only when they are needed, in the exact quantities required.

A classic example of JIT in action is Toyota's Kanban system. Kanban cards are used to signal the need for parts or materials, ensuring a smooth and efficient production process. This pull system minimizes overproduction and reduces inventory levels, leading to significant cost savings.

Nike, the global sportswear giant, has successfully implemented lean manufacturing principles to streamline its production process and respond more quickly to market demands. By adopting a lean approach, Nike has reduced lead times, improved product quality, and increased flexibility in its supply chain.

One notable example is Nike's Express Lane program, which allows the company to design, manufacture, and deliver new products to market in a matter of weeks instead of months. This accelerated production process is made possible through close collaboration with suppliers, standardized processes, and the use of digital technologies for rapid prototyping and design iteration.

Herman Miller, a leading office furniture manufacturer, has embraced lean manufacturing to improve efficiency and reduce waste across its operations. The company has implemented a variety of lean tools and techniques, such as value stream mapping, 5S workplace organization, and continuous improvement initiatives.

One area where Herman Miller has seen significant benefits is in its assembly processes. By redesigning workstations and implementing one-piece flow, the company has reduced work-in-progress inventory, minimized defects, and improved ergonomics for its employees. These changes have resulted in a safer, more efficient, and more productive work environment.

These case studies demonstrate the power of lean manufacturing principles in driving operational excellence and business success. By focusing on waste reduction, continuous improvement, and customer value, companies across industries can achieve significant gains in efficiency, quality, and responsiveness.

Whether you're a small startup or a large corporation, adopting a lean mindset can help you stay competitive in today's fast-paced business environment. By learning from the success stories of Toyota, Nike, Herman Miller, and others, you can identify opportunities to apply lean principles in your own organization and unlock new levels of performance and growth.

• What is lean manufacturing? Lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste in production processes while maximizing customer value. It focuses on continuous improvement, just-in-time production, and the optimization of resources.
• How can lean manufacturing benefit my business? Lean manufacturing can help your business reduce costs, improve quality, increase efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction. By eliminating waste and streamlining processes, you can achieve faster lead times, lower inventory levels, and a more agile response to market demands.
• Is lean manufacturing only applicable to large manufacturers? No, lean manufacturing principles can be applied to businesses of all sizes and across various industries. Whether you're a small startup or a large corporation, adopting a lean mindset can help you identify and eliminate waste, improve processes, and drive operational excellence.
• How do I get started with implementing lean manufacturing? To get started with lean manufacturing, begin by assessing your current processes and identifying areas of waste. Engage your employees in continuous improvement initiatives, provide training on lean principles, and consider bringing in external experts to guide your lean transformation journey. Remember, lean is a ongoing process of learning and improvement, so be patient and persistent in your efforts.

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7 Examples of Lean Manufacturing in Action

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These seven real-life example of lean tools and techniques show how they can improve operational performance and reduce costs.

Date Published:

Aug 27, 2020

Mark Crawford

This story was updated on 10/18/2022.

Lean manufacturing has been around for decades, with implementation of lean tools and techniques resulting in impressive efficiency and production gains. When implemented correctly, lean is a comprehensive process that eliminates waste from manufacturing processes, thereby reducing cost and adding value to the customer.

Below are seven real-life examples of how simple lean techniques can improve manufacturing efficiency and production.

1. Cable Manufacturing

Results: Machine set-ups that once averaged five hours per machine were reduced to 35 minutes, adding about five hours of additional up-time per machine per day.

2. Truck Manufacturing

Dakota Bodies in South Dakota builds truck bodies for the service and industrial markets. To keep up with market demands, a lean team was established to work with company leaders to define their goals for the lean program. Lean 101 training was provided for supervisors, managers, and key operators, and a kanban system was installed to support just-in-time manufacturing and reduce inventory levels.

Results: Revenues improved by 20 percent, and overall productivity by five percent.

Editor’s Pick: 5 Key Lean Principles for Engineers

3. Printing Industry

Results: On-time delivery increased to 95 percent with much-shortened lead times, and improved inventory management resulted in less waste of finished product.

4. Automotive Parts Manufacturing

Results: The new changeover system resulted in 1.5 hours of added production up-time and increased throughput by more than $1 million annually.

5. Warehouse Management

A manufacturer used an incoming warehouse for large volumes of raw materials. Operational costs were high, including three full-time material stagers who unloaded, stored, and delivered the materials to assembly lines as needed. Management wanted to eliminate the warehouse without slowing down production, so a lean team worked with suppliers to design a point-of-use kanban system for just-in-time manufacturing. Staff was also trained in flow manufacturing and 5S workplace organization.

Results: The warehouse was no longer needed for raw-material storage, and thus converted for other value-added activities. The three stagers were trained for higher-level positions.

You May Also Like: 6 Lean Principles for an Industry 4.0 World

6. Customer Service

Results: Capacity increased by 20 percent, and on-time delivery increased to 95 percent, with fewer administrative steps. Because of improved efficiency, additional staff and office space were not required.

7. Heating and Air-Conditioning Manufacturing

MicroMetl, a Nevada-based manufacturer of heating and air conditioning equipment, wanted to increase efficiency and maintain high levels of product quality and consistency using lean. After analyzing workflow, management realized that a single heating and air conditioning part traveled 1.5 miles throughout the plant during assembly. The company cellularized the manufacturing process so that the part was instead assembled within an area of 100 feet.

Results: The lean improvements reduced indirect labor costs by 21 percent, which helped the company reduce prices, increase market share, and retain 25 positions.

Related Reading: What is Sustainable Manufacturing?

Next-Generation Lean

Lean tools are always valid. With the onset of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things (IoT), though, lean goals can be accomplished much more quickly. Lean principles can be integrated with cutting-edge technologies that enable constant, real-time monitoring, faster decision-making, improved efficiency, and the leanest processes possible.

“IoT intersects with lean methodology and has the potential to take lean to the next level,” pointed out Dean Hamilton, senior vice president for Acclerite, a provider of business-critical infrastructure software. “The information gleaned from connected devices, including user experiences with a variety of products, can be fed back to instrumented factories to provide unprecedented opportunities to enhance manufacturing processes and reduce waste.”

Mark Crawford is a technology writer based in Corrales, NM.

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