Introduction to Lean Waste and Lean Tools

*Shyam Sunder Sharma and Rahul Khatri*

## **Abstract**

In the turbulent and complex business environments, many Indian SMEs are facing stiff competition in the domestic as well as in the global market from their multinational counterpart. The concept of lean has gained prominence due to the fact that the resource based competitive advantages are no longer sufficient in this economy. Hence, lean is no longer merely an option but rather a core necessity for engineering industries situated in any part of the globe, if they have to compete successfully. Lean Manufacturing (LM) which provides new opportunities to create and retain greater value from the employee of the industry based on their core business competencies. The challenge of capturing, organizing, and disseminating throughout the aggregate business unit is a huge responsibility of the top management. The success of any industry depends on how well it can manage its resources and translate in to action. The adoption of lean manufacturing through effective lean practices depends on interpretations of past experiences and present information resides in the industry. Generally, in an industry, some tangible and intangible factors exist in the form of non-value adding activities which hinder the smooth lean implementation are known as lean manufacturing barriers (LMBs).

**Keywords:** Lean, waste, kaizen, manufacturing

### **1. Introduction**

In the present worldwide situation, manufacturing industries are primarily handling difficulties from two directions. First, cutting edge manufacturing ways of thinking are arising, while the current techniques are getting outdated. Second, consumers demand is changing in very short of time. The clients have become more demanding for inventive product in short timeframe and at less cost. Basically, to adapt up to such difficulties, the idea behind manufacturing industries' these days is to capture the customer demand while limiting waste [1]. Subsequently, manufacturing firms working in such quick changing in customer demand in competitive market. In last thirty years, manufacturing industries are introducing lean thinking. The lean manufacturing word means to minimize the industrial waste or to eliminate the waste and improve the benefits of manufacturing industries by smooth production flow [2]. Without lean practices any industry cannot be successful in the present-day situation due to globalize competition in market with low cost, high quality, and shorter delivery time. It is very difficult for engineering industries to shift from traditional system to lean system. a troublesome undertaking to move from a conventional assembling framework to a lean assembling one. This change makes attention both employee and method.

Lean manufacturing is a management strategy that tries to make industries more competitive, minimize the manufacturing cost by eliminating the industrial waste and increase the productivity of an organization [3].

#### **1.1 Research background of lean**

Afterward World War II Japanese industries were confronted with the difficulty of immense deficiencies of skilled manpower, money, and material. These difficulties that industries of japan were challenged with compared from those of their Western partners. This introduces "lean" thinking in manufacturing industries. Toyota Motor Company runs by Toyoda identified that American manufacturers were manufacturing better than Japanese manufacturing industries; during the 1940's American industries were beating Japanese manufacturing industries. To take an action for progress timely Japanese pioneers like Shigeo Shingo, Toyoda Kiichiro, and Taiichi Ohno, they are receiving the challenge to improve the production system by eliminating the industrial waste, they have developed a new manufacturing strategy that is called "Toyota Production System," or "Lean Manufacturing." Taiichi Ohno, accept the responsibility to improve efficiency at Toyota is the primary force to develop Toyota production system. Ohno drew upon certain thoughts from the Western countries, and especially from Henry Ford's book "Today and Tomorrow." Ford's stirring production lines for continuous material flow developed the basics for TPS. After research, the TPS was refined somewhere in 40's and 70's, is still emerging today all over the world. The crucial thought of this system is to maximize the resource utilization and minimize the inputs that cannot be enhanced any value to a product that is a waste.

To contend in the present furiously competitive market, United States manufacturing industries has understand that the mass production idea must be modified to the lean manufacturing. An assessment that was done by MIT of transformation from mass production toward lean manufacturing, as explained in the book "The Machine That Changed the World" [4] arise the US companies from their nap. The assessment highlighted the extraordinary achievement of Toyota and pulled out the enormous gap that developed between the Japanese and Western engineering firms. The thoughts came in the mind of US industrialists on the ground that the Japanese industries developed, manufactured, and delivered items within less manpower, less investment, less floor utilization, less time, instruments, raw material, and overall investment cost [5].

#### **1.2 What is lean?**

The fresh transformation in engineering products and service division has made extraordinary difficulties for US firms. The consumer focused and exceptionally aggressive market has delivered old-fashioned of management that was not enough to overcome these complexities. These factors present a key test to industries to seek for new methods to survive in competitive global market. While a few industries keep on developing based on financial steadiness, different firms fight because of their absence of understanding of the change in consumer mentalities and cost practices. To avoid the present situation and to turn out to be more valuable, many industries implemented lean principles in their organization and perform well in global market [6].

Waste exclusion, cost drop, and employee encouragement are the basic ideas behind the lean manufacturing system, which has been implemented in Japanese companies for many years. The Japanese thinking of making business is completely distinct from the thinking that has been dominant in United States for a long time.

#### *Introduction to Lean Waste and Lean Tools DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97573*

The typical western belief was that the just way to get turn a profit to apply it to the cost of production to reach the preferred sales price. The Japanese method, on the contrary assumes that the generator of the sale price is client. The more consistency you build into the manufactured goods higher the cost that consumers pay. The distinction among the price of the goods and this price is what decides the profit [7, 8]. To minimize cost, raise investment, get in more revenues, and remain competitive in a rising international market, the lean manufacturing discipline is to function in all parts of the value stream by reducing waste. The value stream is explained as the specialized activities needed to plan, order and supply a specific product or value within a supply chain [9, 10]. As of Womack describe it the term "lean" indicates a system that utilizes less with respect to output, to produce the equivalent outputs as those generated be a conventional mass manufacturing system, which adding more varieties to the final consumer [11]. This theory of business goes by various names. Agile production, just-in-time-production, synchronous production, world-class production, and continuous flow are all concepts that are used in contrast with lean production. The resounding theory of lean manufacturing, therefore, is to minimize costs by continuous improvement, which would ultimately reduce the cost of services and goods, thereby increasing profits.

"Lean" focuses on the removal or reduction of waste ("muda", the Japanese word for waste) [12, 13] and on optimizing or allowing maximum use of activities that add value from the perspective of the consumer. Quality is equal to something that the consumer is willing to pay for in a product or service that follows, from the viewpoint of the customer. The reduction of waste is also the central concept of lean manufacturing.

### *1.2.1 The 8 wastes of lean*

The aim of lean is to abolish the waste from the production process. It is very important to identify the eight waste before digging it. Waste is in the least action or activity that will not enhance any cost to the product, or we can say, waste is any unwanted process that will reduce the value of the product and customer do not want to pay for that. Taiichi Ohno identified the initial seven types of waste that was called Muda in japan [12]. Transportation, inventory, movement, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing and defects are seven types of waste identified by Taiichi Ohno. The acronym 'TIMWOOD' also applies to them. The eighth waste was invented by western industries in 1990s, and that was unused of workers talent or 'Skill' of workers was later added. Therefore,' TIMWOODS' [14] is generally referred to as the 8 wastes [15].

