Anyone familiar with lean manufacturing?

[SarcasticDwarf]

I'm working on a paper and having trouble figuring out when it became popular. It has existed for hundreds of years, but its usage in many industries is a recent development. Does anyone know at least what decade it became popular?

 

[JulesMaximus]

I think Toyota was the driver behind this during the 90s.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Thanks, anyone else?

 

[KLin]

I read somewhere that Toyota was the driver behind this during the 90s.

 

[JEDI]

Toyota maybe?

edit:
last century

 

[ChaoZ]

I thought Toyota basically invented it.

 

[Dirigible]

http://www.strategosinc.com/just_in_time.htm

 

[iamwiz82]

I know that it really doesn't work all that well, there are just too many uncontrollable events out there. What machine can have 100% uptime?

I've been through lean training, we tried it and it failed. Now we do "near lean." We do keep inventory, but very small, enough to protect against a hurricane, a sunk ship, a plane crash, etc. It's too expensive not to, since auto manufacturers are known to charge many thousands of dollars per minute when you shut down a factory.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I know that it really doesn't work all that well, there are just too many uncontrollable events out there. What machine can have 100% uptime?

I've been through lean training, we tried it and it failed. Now we do "near lean." We do keep inventory, but very small, enough to protect against a hurricane, a sunk ship, a plane crash, etc. It's too expensive not to, since auto manufacturers are known to charge many thousands of dollars per minute when you shut down a factory.

Can you (in brief) explain why it fails? Is there anything else that you did not cover?

 

[cheapgoose]

the NUMMI plant in fremont CA, gives tours and lectors on Lean or actually TPS. Toyota Production System. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Too bad you don't live around here. But you might find more infor on TPS that leads you to Lean.

edit: NUMMI is one of the first if not the first, Toyota/GM joint ventures. from what I learned, this is where Toyota basically taught American companies how to ultilize the system.

 

[ChaoZ]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I know that it really doesn't work all that well, there are just too many uncontrollable events out there. What machine can have 100% uptime?

I've been through lean training, we tried it and it failed. Now we do "near lean." We do keep inventory, but very small, enough to protect against a hurricane, a sunk ship, a plane crash, etc. It's too expensive not to, since auto manufacturers are known to charge many thousands of dollars per minute when you shut down a factory.

Can you (in brief) explain why it fails? Is there anything else that you did not cover?

Also, if you have a surplus of demand and don't have the supply for it, that's potential profit lost.

 

[aka1nas]

I think Dell would be another example of lean manufacturing. I've only had a cursory overview of it so my details are a bit sketchy. I don't know if Toyota started doing it before them or when it actually originated.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I know that it really doesn't work all that well, there are just too many uncontrollable events out there. What machine can have 100% uptime?

I've been through lean training, we tried it and it failed. Now we do "near lean." We do keep inventory, but very small, enough to protect against a hurricane, a sunk ship, a plane crash, etc. It's too expensive not to, since auto manufacturers are known to charge many thousands of dollars per minute when you shut down a factory.

Can you (in brief) explain why it fails? Is there anything else that you did not cover?

Say your customer orders 5,000 parts and schedules them for delivery the day that they plan to run out of their previous shipment. Since you are lean, you run the part right away, because you have no stock. You ship that part out and it just so happens that the airport it goes through is hit by a snow storm. Now the parts are stranded there and your customer shuts down. Now what? If they would have had safety stock, this wouldn't have happened.

Honestly, it's a good idea in theory, but life has a way of screwing things up.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: ChaoZ

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I know that it really doesn't work all that well, there are just too many uncontrollable events out there. What machine can have 100% uptime?

I've been through lean training, we tried it and it failed. Now we do "near lean." We do keep inventory, but very small, enough to protect against a hurricane, a sunk ship, a plane crash, etc. It's too expensive not to, since auto manufacturers are known to charge many thousands of dollars per minute when you shut down a factory.

Can you (in brief) explain why it fails? Is there anything else that you did not cover?

Also, if you have a surplus of demand and don't have the supply for it, that's potential profit lost.

On the flip side, a good 25-30% of orders we get never materialize (platform is discontinued, car is scrapped, redesign). If we were to start producing ASAP, we'd get stuck with thousands and thousands of parts. I remember in 2000 we had millions of dollars in obsolete parts because we ran based on orders as soon as they came in, rather than closer to JIT or lean.