There are several tools that will help you eliminate all operations that do not add value to the product, service and processes, increasing the value of each activity performed and eliminating what is not required. Reduce waste and improve operations, always based on respect for the worker.

Lean Manufacturing has been defined as a philosophy of excellence, based on:

• The planned elimination of all types of waste.
  • Worker support
  • Consistent improvement of productivity and quality
• Lean Manufacturing objectives are:
• Reduce your costs
• Improve processes
• Eliminate waste to increase customer satisfaction and maintain profit margins.

The Benefits of Lean Manufacturing are:

• Reduce the waste stream
• Reduce inventory and production floor space
• Creates more robust production systems
• Creates proper material delivery systems
• Improves plant layouts to increase flexibility
• 50% reduction in production costs
• Reduced lead time
• Improved quality
• Reduced labor
• Increased equipment efficiency

The types of Lean Manufacturing waste are:

• Defective material
• Overproduction
• Waiting time
• Transportation
• Movement
• Inventory
• Over-processing

Lean Manufacturing Tools

5’S: This concept refers to the creation and maintenance of cleaner, more organized and safer work areas, that is to say, it is about giving a better “quality of life” to work. The 5’S come from Japanese terms that we daily put into practice in our daily lives and are not an exclusive part of a “Japanese culture” alien to us, in fact, all human beings, or almost all of us, tend to practice or have practiced the 5’S, although we do not realize it.

The 5’S are:

• Sorting
• Set in order
• Shine
• Standardize
• Sustain

The central objective of the 5’S is to achieve the most efficient and uniform functioning of people in the workplace.

KANBAN

• Elimination of overproduction
• Prioritization in production, the most important Kanban is put first before others
• Material control is facilitated
• Production Kanban: Contains the production order.
• Transport Kanban: Used when a product is being moved
• -Urgent Kanban: Issued in the event of a component shortage.
• -Emergency kanban: When unusual circumstances occur due to defective components, machine breakdowns, special jobs or extraordinary weekend work.

Error prevention devices (Poka Yoke)

The term “Poka Yoke” comes from the Japanese words “poka” (unnoticed error) and “yoke” (prevent). A Poka Yoke device is any mechanism that helps prevent errors before they happen, or makes them too obvious for the worker to notice and correct them in time. The purpose of Poka Yoke is to eliminate defects in a product by either preventing or correcting errors that occur as early as possible.

Poka Yoke systems involve performing 100% inspection, as well as, immediate feedback and action when defects or errors occur. This approach solves the problems of the old belief that 100% inspection takes a lot of time and work, and therefore has a very high cost.

Main characteristics of a good Poka Yoke system:

• -They are simple and inexpensive. If they are too complicated or expensive, their use will not be profitable.
• -They are part of the process. They are part of the process, they perform “100%” of the inspection.
• -They are placed near or at the place where the error occurs. They provide feedback quickly so that errors can be corrected.
• Model Quick Exchange (SMED)

SMED stands for “Single Digit Minute Exchange of Model”, theories and techniques for performing model changeover operations in less than 10 minutes. From the last good part to the first good part in less than 10 minutes. This system was developed to shorten machine setup times, making it possible to make smaller batch sizes. Model changeover procedures were simplified by using the most common or similar elements commonly used.

SMED Objectives

• -Facilitate small production batches
• -Achieve lot size to 1
• -Get the first part right every time
• -Model changeover in less than 10 minutes

Benefits of SMED

• -Produce in small batches
• -Reduce inventories
• -Shorter lead times
• -More reliable changeover times
• -More balanced load in daily production

Continuous improvement (Kaizen)

It comes from two Japanese ideograms: “Kai” which means change and “Zen” which means to improve: Thus, we can say that “Kaizen” is “change for the better” or “continuous improvement”, which are used to improve production processes.

In fact, Kaizen focuses on people and process standardization. Its practice requires a team composed of production, maintenance, quality, engineering, purchasing and other employees that the team deems necessary. Its objective is to increase productivity by controlling manufacturing processes through the reduction of cycle times, standardization of quality criteria, and standardization of work methods per operation. In addition, Kaizen also focuses on the elimination of waste, identified as “muda”, in any of its six forms