Abstract
Lean manufacturing techniques are mostly applied in large enterprises and companies that produce more technological products. In this study, productivity has been increased by the application of lean production techniques in SMEs that produces simpler products and has a lower education level of employees. For this, as the first step, Pareto analysis is performed on the sales and production data of the previous year, and the target product family is selected for improvement. In the next step of the study, improvement projects are determined with the Value Stream Mapping (VSM) method, and then productivity increases are achieved by using Kaizen, 5S, standard work, layout plan, and single-piece flow techniques. As a result of the applications, a decrease was achieved in the production process times and the number of quality defects, and at the end of one year, a 29% reduction in total workmanship is observed.
Highlights
In Turkey, like other countries in the world, SMEs have a great role in the growth of the economy
When we ask the owners and top managers of companies that do not apply lean production techniques, they think that these methods are not suitable for their scale and work
Womack et al claim the applicability of lean manufacturing practices despite the size of the firm [1]
Summary
In Turkey, like other countries in the world, SMEs have a great role in the growth of the economy. This study has been prepared for the purpose of generalizing lean production in SMEs and to show that it is not dependent on the scale and the work done. As a result, it answers the question "Do lean manufacturing practices increase productivity in SMEs?" This study consists of 3 main parts: the first part includes the definition of lean manufacturing, the second part includes application methods, and the third part includes application and results. Cost reduction and increase in efficiency in operations are realized by eliminating the waste in the process To eliminate these wastes, techniques such as visual control, 5S, VSM and Kaizen are applied from various lean production tools [3]
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