What is a lean tool

From this perspective, lean tools make it possible to continually evaluate what is happening with the company and make sure that nothing is being wasted. Several types of lean tools have to do with identifying any reasons for defects in the quality of the goods produced, and ridding the process of those reasons as a way to offer a better product to consumers. An example would be an approach known as Six Sigma , where the use of a combination of statistical data, quality control measures that relate to employee safety, cycle time, delivery of product, and even the quality of raw materials.

Originally developed and employed by Motorola, the Six Sigma approach has both supporters and detractors within the business community, with some finding it to be an excellent tool in lean manufacturing, and others feeling it is too highly structured to allow the approach to be adapted to certain situations.

The range of lean tools is extremely broad, allowing for many different combinations of strategies to be employed in order to achieve the desired effect. In some cases, the tools may focus on organizing the flow of production to better advantage by identifying where the flow is working well and where it can be improved by rearranging the placement of production machinery.

At other times, refining the process involves employing a tool known as activity-based costing. This and similar types of lean tools look closely at the return that is earned from different products offered as part of an overall product line. It can be done like this,. The regression analysis — It is a statistical tool for understanding and estimating the relationship between the output variable and the input variables.

It is used to define the relationship that exists between the output variable y for the given input variables X1, X2, X By doing this analysis we can figure out the deviance from the standard patterns and the patterns which emerge out of the workflow.

The value stream mapping - The value stream maps are used to improve and optimize the flow of materials and processes in the organization. The uses of value stream maps are to eliminate the non-value adding work in the processes so that the processes are highly streamlined. This system is used to eliminate waste because of poor tools and poor equipment. Failure Mode Effect Analysis — FMEA as it is called eliminates the failure modes and causes and effects of the components, assemblies, and sub-assemblies.

They improve the quality of the processes and products and identify defects even before they fail. Pareto Chart - Pareto chart is one of the lean tools used to display differences between the groups of data graphically. The x-axis symbolize groups of the response variable in bars, and y-axis symbolize the defect frequency that is the cumulative percentage. Kaizen — Kaizen means continuous improvement and it is again written in Japanese language.

It encourages that all the managers and employees of the organization practice Kaizen daily. It is the process of identifying, observing, and doing incremental changes in the organization. Poka-Yoke - It is a Japanese phrase that means mistake-proofing. It is a process of identifying eliminating the causes of humans errors in production.

For examples - Putting safety brakes on the mobile vehicles to avoid accidents or making changes to the phrases on the buttons of the machines so that it is clear to the workers.

This analysis helps you analyze the process holistically and derive the apt solutions to overcome the challenges. The JIT tool is apt to apply the fourth principle effectively. Here the manufacturing process starts when the customer raises a requirement. It will also reduce the waste caused due to overproduction and over-processing.

Its design aids in mapping your processes and acts as a visual guide to the whole process. This aids in a better understanding of the system process among the team members.

Poka-yoke or Error Proofing is a lean tool that focuses on maintaining and controlling the improvements. Here, the first requirement is to establish a clear understanding of the goals to be achieved from the process. Here four stages are defined for a project management process:. This tool helps you to understand how much the process adds to the overall value. The failure of the process to produce output that adds customer value is a waste.

The purpose of Lean Methodology in project management is to complete the project successfully to meet customer demand. More often, the customer here is the client for which your organization is working. With a proper understanding of the Lean principles and Lean tools, your team can achieve a higher success rate in managing the projects. To successfully implement Lean principles and tools, individuals and enterprise teams need to get trained in the latest quality management certification training courses.

With a knowledgeable workforce, an enterprise will be able to completely realize business benefits of Lean application. Some of the popular quality management certification courses that individuals and enterprise teams can take up are:. Lean Fundamentals Training.

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