How can I choose the best Lean manufacture tools?

Lean Manufacturing is a disciplined process considered to be a spiritual child of Henry Ford, who used it to produce cars. Using Lean Production tools, production is systematized by application of strategies, also known as Lean Tools. Lean's best tools are usually organized in the list referred to as five S. The Japanese automotive industry has accepted Ford's ideas and further specified its process by accessing in time, so five S is often mentioned using both Japanese and English conditions.

Seiri or sorting is the first step in lean production, but it is not just a simple act of sorting. Instead, it refers to extensive reorganization of the workplace with critical regard to the way people and materials work and move during the production process. Seiton , the next step is also referred to as setting things in order. This means the location of tools, staff, equipment amateurs in an optimally efficient arrangement.

those who are familiarNI with slim production strategies understand the critical importance of creating a flow diagram of the process. The first two steps in implementing a slim production strategy create this diagram. During the production process, it maps the movements of people and materials.

The third step is seiso , which is also called shining. This applies to systematic cleaning of objects and putting these items on their correct storage point at the end of the working day. Seiketsu or standardization is the fourth step and returns to the Ford assembly line, only with a new reversal. Instead of having a worker in one place throughout his shift, any worker should be assigned to a certain part of the production task able to switch to another identical workstation and have the same devices at hand for a production task without meeting bureaucratic obstacles or problems with other workers. This allows you to optImal use of staff.

It seems that the first four S have completed the transformation into lean production, except for one big inconvenience in an otherwise perfectly made plan: human tendency to drift back into previous behavior patterns. That's why the last step in introducing a slimmer operation is shitsuke or maintaining. Maintaining this new production paradigm is the most critical of the five lean production tools.

The aim of lean production is to eliminate waste over time and materials. When a worker spends 10 minutes looking for a tool that has not been returned to his place, time is unnecessary. However, without the continued discipline instilled with these slender manufacturing tools, workers will allow such inefficiency to crawl back into the production operation.