Lean Tool What is it?

Sort (Eliminate not needed), Set in Order (Organize needed items),

Shine (Clean the work area), Standardize (Write Standards) and
5S Sustain (Regularly apply standards)

Visual feedback system for the Operations floor indicating status of

production. The system alerts when assistance is needed, and allows
Andon employees to stop Ops process.

Work in progress flows through the production line with minimal or

Continuous Flow no buffer or redundant steps in the process.

Gemba (The real A philosophy that drives us to get out of our cabins and move on to
place) the Ops floor, the place where the real action takes place.

A type of production scheduling that manufactures in smaller

Heijunka (Level batches by mixing the variants of the products within the same
Scheduling) process

The goals of the company (Strategy), the plans of the middle

management (Tactics) and real work performed on Ops floor (Action)
Hoshin Kanri should be aligned

Automate partially, as it is less expensive, and to auto-stop

Jidoka production process when defects are detected

Pull parts from production based on actual customer demand instead

Just in Time (JIT) of pushing parts to customer based on projected customer demand

Kaizen (Continuous Employees work together proactively to achieve incremental

Improvement) improvements from the process

Method of streamlining and regulating the flow of goods within the

company as well as outside. Happens with the help of signal cards
Kanban that indicate when more goods are required

Metrics designed to track and encourage progress of the company

KPI goals.

OEE (Overall A metric popularized by TPM, and tracks three types of losses,
Equipment availability, performance and quality of equipment to measure
Effectiveness) productivity loss.
 Design a system that detects errors and prevents errors from
Poka Yoke happening, resulting in system moving to a 0 non-conformity process.

A methodology that helps in finding the underlying problem to the

Root Cause Analysis symptoms of the problem. The commonly used technique is 5WHYs

Reduces setup time to less than 10 minutes by

a) Convert setup steps to be external, i.e. setup steps to happen
Single Minute while the process is running
Exchange of Die b) Eliminate non-value added Ops
(SMED) c) Create standardized work instructions

Six Categories of productivity loss experienced in the manufacturing

sector
a) Breakdowns
b) Setups
c) Small stops
d) Reduced Speeds
Six Big Losses e) Startup and Production Rejects

Documenting best practices and procedures for processing a product

Standardized Work or service

Pace of production that aligns production with customer demand.

TAKT Time Calculated as Planned Production Time/Customer Demand

Proactive and preventive maintenance of equipment to ensure

TPM production line experiences and reports optimum production.

A tool that is used to visually map the flow of production. Shows the
Value Stream Mapping current and future state of process.

Visual indicators including displays used in factories and companies

Visual Factory to improve communication
How does it help?
Helps in eliminating waste resulting from a poorly
organized work area. Often is considered the
simplest Lean tool, and should be implemented first
things in a Lean project

A real time communication tool that helps in

addressing operational problems, "as they occur"

Eliminates inventory, waiting time and

transportation.

Helps in understanding real-word issues. Helps the

company to drive a pro-active approach rather than
a retro-active approach

a) Reduces lead times for the product

b) Reduces inventory (As batch sizes are smaller)

Eliminates waste arising out of poor communication

and inconsistent direction, two wastes that are not
spoken about under the Wastes of Lean

Post Jidoka, workers can frequently monitor multiple

workstations reducing labor costs. Quality issues can
also be fixed immediately.

a) Reduces inventory levels

b) Improves cash flow
c) Reduces space constraints

Better talent utilization

a) Eliminates inventory and overproduction

b) Physical inventories are reduced to a great extent

a) Aligned with top level strategic goals

b) Effective at exposing and quantifying waste

Helps in establishing a benchmark for equipment

performance . 100% OEE means equipment is
performing perfectly.
Reduces difficulty of finding defects. Significantly,
proactively works to eliminating defects.

Helps in eliminating the problem by applying a

corrective action to the root cause.

a) Enables the output processing in smaller lots

b) Reduces inventory
c) Improves customer response

Provides a roadmap for attacking the most common

causes of waste experienced in manufacturing
sector.

Eliminates waste by consistently applying best

practices and does form a baseline for future
improvement activities.

Offers a simple mechanism to pace production.

Internally as well, provides insight to the efficiency
on the floor (Actual products/Target products)

Increases up time, reduces Cycle time, eliminates

defects

Helps in identifying value added and non-value

added activities.

Helps in accessability of information