Question

What is lean manufacturing? Please search for applications of the lean manufacturing in the following industries, then summerize your findings: (a) autombile industry, (b) production of cell phones and consumer electronics, (c) food industry, (d) oil and petro-chemical industry. (word limit: 200-300 words)

Answer 1

Lean Manufacturing- Lean manufacturing is a method that aims on minimizing waste within manufacturing systems and simultaneously maximizing productivity. The advantages of lean consist of decreased lead times, decreased operating costs and enhanced product quality.

Application of lean manufacturing in the following industries-
(a) Automobile -

U.S. auto sales are at a very high speed to increase upto 17 million units this year and could beat the record of 17.4 million sold in 2000, as per the Autodata Corporation. Keeping records of these figures is the Automotive News Data Center, which reports that sales for the first 8 months of 2015 outperformed sales for the same period in 2014. For example, Daimler AG claimed a 6.4% increase in sales compared to 2014, Ford Motor was up 2.7% for the first 8 months, and General Motors showed a 3.2% increase from the previous year. Many automakers are running their U.S. plants with 3 shifts of workers and scheduling overtime, particularly factories that make pickup trucks, SUVs, and crossovers. For tier one automotive suppliers the pressure to catch up with demand must be precisely balanced with the ability to maintain and enhance quality.

(b) Cell Phones- One of the significant contributors to the growth for cell phone manufacturers is their ability to continously maintain a lean manufacturing model. Rather than using traditional method of manufacturing, cell phone companies are using a one piece at a time model so that they can minimize the time required to produce a single product. This is also known as JIT or just in time manufacturing, where companies do not hold large stocks of raw components in hand and instead they keep only what they need to fulfill customer's demand.

Consumer Electronics- A company may use a flow chart in order to visually show to their employees each and every step of the production process and how those steps are connected to one another. Using this method it enables everyone in the operation to better understand how the process works, thus improving efficiency and effectiveness. For example- Bajaj an Indian company produces toasters, by introducing its factory workers and employees the production process where maximum quality can be achieved with minimum costs.

(c) Food Industry- In the food industry, extra product can be made, because performance is improved and this results in extra production capacity. A rise in the volume of business can have a positive effect on profitability, particularly if the fixed costs are maintained at their old levels. The extra product made will increase the profit margin. For example, older and less efficient machinery could be stopped from using if other machines have better capacity through the application of Lean techniques. Shifts could be rescheduled to decreased fixed costs, so weekend working could be prevented, allowing the costs of opening the factory up to be decreased or eliminated.

(d) Oil and Petro-Chemical Industry- In the oil and petro-chemical industry, too much waste, too much redundancy and lengthy turnaround times result in even the most efficient oil and gas companies failing to meet customer expectations 25-50% of the time. It has adopted lean six sigma approach for reducing cost with best quality. Due to the nature of the oil and gas industry and the uniqueness of each drilling project, many suppliers develop engineer to order products. E and P service providers usually design products to unique specifications, with long delivery time and better maintenance responsibilities for the life of the product.