Basic formation in streamlining lean practices in manufacturing operations - a review

Abstract

Lean production, also known as lean manufacturing was a popular social-technical management philosophy, and widely accepted as an effective approach in improving the operational performance management since it was first introduced in the early 90s. However, most of lean practice is often adopted based on own understanding with reference to the success achieved by others. This potentially creates the gap and eventually affects its implementation performance. Therefore, the aims of this article is to propose based on literature, the basic concept of lean practices that can be considered by manufacturers as a starting point or to strengthen the performance of its regardless of firm size (small, medium or large manufacturing industry). By referring to the nine categories of manufacturing waste (inventory, waiting time, transportation, inefficient energy utilisation, over-processing, over-production, unnecessary motion, and defects), lean practices can be streamlined through the four formation stages, i.e., planning and product development, production planning and scheduling, manufacturing processes, and functional and visual inspection. This can be realised by focusing on three dimensions of implementation, namely input, product revolutionary processes, and output. The proposed concept is useful as a basic guideline, primarily for manufacturers to plan and develop a better strategy for a better performance results.