case study in lean manufacturing

The Lean Post / Articles / Lean Management Case Studies Library

Lean Management Case Studies Library

By Chet Marchwinski

May 16, 2014

Learn how a variety of businesses and organizations used lean management principles to solve real business problems. We’ve arranged the examples in 16 categories to help you find the ones right for your environment.

Lean Management Examples from a Variety of Businesses

The following case studies of lean management principles in action show you how a variety of real businesses solved real business problems under diverse conditions.

We’ve arranged the stories in 16 categories to help you find the examples you need. There is some overlap. For instance, a “Lean Manufacturing” case study may also appear with “Privately Held Companies.”

Lean Manufacturing

• Logistics, Supply Chain, and Warehousing
• Lean Material Handling
• Job Shops (Low-volume, High-mix Manufacturing); Tool and Die
• Lean in Government
• Lean Healthcare
• Lean Accounting
• Lean Construction
• Lean in Office and Service Processes
• Lean in Education

Problem Solving

Pull Systems

Culture Change

People Development

Privately Held Companies

Maintenance

Many of the executives who took part in these transformations are interviewed in LEI’s Senior Executive Series on Lean Leadership . After reading the case studies, be sure to get their personal perspectives on leading change. (Feel free to link to this page, but please respect the copyrights of LEI and journalists by not copying the articles.)

Are you doing something new or notable in the practice of lean management? Let us share what you learned with the lean community. For more information, contact LEI’s Director of Communications Chet Marchwinski at cmarchwinski at lean dot org

Thrustmaster Turns Around

Learn how Thrustmaster of Texas successfully adopted lean thinking and practices to make sustainable improvements in a short period of time, and how other manufacturers of highly engineered, low-volume products can follow their lead using the Lean Transformation Framework.

Lean + Circular Principals = a New True North for Manufacturer

SunPower’s lean journey resembled most others until it defined a new mission, a new True North by combining lean principals with those of the “circular economy” to launch what it is calling a CLean Transformation.

Sustain Your Lean Business System with a “Golden Triangle” After a medical device maker took a hit to margins to fight off global competition, it rebuilt them by lifting its lean operating system to a higher level and keeping it there with a “golden triangle” of sustainability.

Followup Story:

Manufacturing Balancing Act: Pull Versus ERP

In this follow-up to “Sustain Your Lean Business System with a ‘Golden Triangle,’” a case study about Phase 2 Medical Manufacturing, the company needs warehouse space to keep pace with sales growth spurred by the lean transformation. Instead, it expands a pull system by connecting the plan-for-every-part database that underpins one-piece flow production with ERP, typically associated with big batch production.

Cultivating a Lean Problem-Solving Culture at O.C. Tanner If you are in the “appreciation business”, you have to live it in your own workplace. For O.C. Tanner that meant a lean transformation had to show the company appreciated and wanted people’s problem-solving ideas. Here’s a report on that effort, including what worked and what didn’t.

Lean Partnership with Dealer Network Helps Vermeer Reduce End-to-End Inventory on Top Sellers

A lean transformation had taken heavy-equipment manufacturer Vermeer away from batch manufacturing, but batch ordering by dealers was delaying how quickly they got equipment like brush chippers. Learn how it  began converting its domestic industrial-line distribution network to lean replenishment, improving service to end customers and improving cash flow for Vermeer and its dealers.

Herman Miller’s Experiment in Excellence At Herman Miller, the lean management effort helps it build problem solvers as well as world-class office furniture. And as this case study shows, lean practices also helped it weather a brutal recession.

Build Your “House” of Production on a Stable Foundation Rigorous problem solving creates basic stability in a machining intensive facility.

A Journey to Value Streams: Reorganizing Into Five Groups Drives Lean Improvements and Customer Responsiveness An approach to creating a value-stream culture centered on autonomy, entrepreneurialism, and lean principles.

Change in Implementation Approach Opens the Door at EMCO to Greater Gains in Less Time A relatively quick, intensive project accelerates the rate of improvement and creates a showcase facility for spreading lean concepts.

Creating the Course and Tools for a Lean Accounting System A lean accounting implementation fills the frustrating disconnect between shop-floor improvements and financial statements.

For Athletic Shoe Company, the Soul of Lean Management Is Problem Solving After taking a lean tools approach to change, management re-organized the transformation around problem solving and process improvement to create a culture that engaged people while boosting performance.

Knife Company Hones Competitiveness by Bucking the Status Quo An iconic family-owned company turns to lean manufacturing to reduce costs by at least 30% to keep its U.S. operations open.

Lean Transformation Lives and Dies with Tools and Dies After a failed first try at just-in-time production , a company transforms tool maintenance, design, and fabrication to create a solid foundation for a second attempt.

Seasoned Lean Effort Avoids “Flavor-of-the-Month” Pitfall A look at how one company’s approach to what new tools it introduced, in what order, and how it prevented each new technique from being viewed as a “flavor of the month” fad.

Shifting to Value-Stream Managers: a Shop-Floor Revolution Leads to a Revolution in Plant Organization

Two years into a lean transformation, the low-hanging fruit has been plucked and progress has started to slow. Read how a Thomas & Betts plant recharged the transformation and reached higher levels of performance by using value-stream managers to span functional walls.

Using Plan-Do-Check-Act as a Strategy and Tactic for Helping Suppliers Improve

At Medtronic’s Neuromodulation business unit, the plan-do-check-act cycle is used on a strategic level to guide overall strategy for selecting and developing key suppliers as well as on a tactical level for guiding lean transformations at supplier facilities.

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Logistics, Supply Chain, and Warehousing How a Retailer’s Distribution Center Exemplifies the Lean Precept “Respect for People,” and Reaps the Benefits

To make sure training engaged and resonated with people after previous attempts at a lean transformation faltered, LifeWay matched lean management tools and principles to its Bible-based culture and language.

Lean management case study series: Lean in Distribution: Go to Where the Action Is!

Starting with daily management walkabouts and standard work , this distributor had laid the groundwork for steady gains for years to come, just two years after its first kaizen workshop .

Putting Lean Principles in the Warehouse

Executives at Menlo Worldwide Logistics saw an opportunity to leapfrog the competition by embracing lean in its outsourced warehousing and receiving operations.

Lean Thinking Therapy Spreads Beyond the Shop

A company expands the lean transformation from the shop floor to international distribution, domestic shipping, and product development.

Sell One, Buy One, Make One: Transforming from Conventional to Lean Distribution

Large inventories to cover fluctuations in demand once characterized Toyota’s service parts distribution system — but no more. Here’s how one DC made the switch.

Material Handling

Following Four Steps to a Lean Material-Handling System Leads to a Leap in Performance

Creating the critical Plan for Every Part was one step in a methodical four-step implementation process to replace a traditional material-handling system.

Low-volume, High-mix Manufacturing; Tool and Die

The Backbone of Lean in the Back Shops

Sikorsky managers apply the lean concept of “every part, every interval” (EPEI) to level the mix in demand and create flow through a key manufacturing cell .

Landscape Forms Cultivates Lean to Fuel Growth Goals

With single-item orders 80% of the time, a low-volume, high-mix manufacturer decided single-piece flow cells were the best way decided the best way to add new products without having to constantly reconfigure production.

Lean Transformation Lives and Dies with Tools and Dies

After a failed first try at just-in-time production, a company transforms tool maintenance, design, and fabrication to create a solid foundation for a second attempt.

Canada Post Puts Its Stamp on a Lean Transformation

The “ inventory ” of mail already is paid for, so moving it faster doesn’t improve cash flow as in lean manufacturing. But Canada Post discovered that traditional batch-and-queue postal operations could benefit from lean principles.

Lean Thinking in Government: The State of Iowa

This story examines a kaizen event at a veterans home and more broadly at the lean effort in Iowa government.

Lean Thinking Helps City of Chula Vista with Budget Crunch

Goodrich Aerostructures’ Chula Vista plant introduces city government to lean thinking and practices so in order to maintain municipal services without resorting to further cuts in the workforce.

Using Lean Thinking to Reinvent City Government

Grand Rapids, MI, turns to lean principles to consolidate operations, eliminate wasted time and effort, and streamline to improve productivity while providing the quality of service that residents want.

Transforming Healthcare: What Matters Most? How the Cleveland Clinic Is Cultivating a Problem-Solving Mindset and Building a Culture of Improvement

The Cleveland Clinic reinvents its continuous improvement program to instill a problem-solving mindset and the skillset to solve everyday problems among the clinic’s thousands of caregivers.

View from the Hospital Floor: How to Build a Culture of Improvement One Unit at a Time

In order to do more and improve faster, the Cleveland Clinic is rolling out a methodology for building a “culture of improvement” across the 48,000-employee hospital system as this followup to the above story shows. Here’s how it works according to the people making the changes.

Dentist Drills Down to the Root Causes of Office Waste

Dentistry is a job shop that Dr. Sami Bahri is out to improve fundamentally for the benefit of patients through the application of lean principles.

Lean management case study series: Pediatric Hospital in Tough Market Pegs Growth to Lean Process Improvement

Lean improvement projects at Akron Children’s Hospital have saved millions of dollars, increased utilization of expensive assets, and reduced wait times for patients and their families.

Lean Design and Construction Project an Extension of Lean Commitment at Akron Children’s Hospital

Input from nurses, doctors, therapists, technicians, and patient parents heavily influenced design decisions..

“Pulling” Lean Through a Hospital

A thoughtful rollout of lean principles in the ER and eye-opening results created a “pull” for lean from other departments.

Best in Healthcare Getting Better with Lean

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, stresses to doctors that the lean effort is aimed not at changing the moment of care, the touch moment between doctor and patient, but the 95% of the time when the patient is not in the doctor’s office

Fighting Cancer with Linear Accelerators and Accelerated Processes

Cross-functional team design and implement a lean process to dramatically increase the number of patients with brain and bone metastases receiving consultation, simulation, and first treatment on the same day without workarounds or expediting.

Massachusetts General Looks to Lean

A proton therapy treatment center, for many adults and children the best hope of beating cancer, applies lean principles to increase capacity.

New Facility, New Flow, and New Levels of Patient Care: The wait is over for patients at the Clearview Cancer Institute in Alabama

Physicians and staff have tirelessly reengineer processes and patient flow to eliminate as much waiting and waste as possible.

The Anatomy of Innovation

At a hospital in Pittsburgh, the emerging vision for the “hospital of the future” is described as giving the right patient, the right care, at the right time, in the right way, all the time.

Creating the Course and Tools for a Lean Accounting System

A lean accounting implementation fills the frustrating disconnect between shop-floor improvements and the financial statement.

Knife Company Hones Competitiveness by Bucking the Status Quo

An iconic family-owned company turns to lean manufacturing to reduce costs by at least 30% to keep its U.S. operations open.

Office and Service Processes

The “inventory” of mail already is paid for, so moving it faster doesn’t improve cash flow as in lean manufacturing. But Canada Post discovered that traditional batch-and-queue postal operations could benefit from lean principles.

Lean Landscapers

At an Atlanta landscaping company, lean practices are making inroads into a service industry in unusual yet fundamental ways.

LSG Sky Chefs Caters to New Market Realities

Business at airline caterer LSG Sky Chefs dropped 30% when airlines cut flights after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Sky Chefs responded with a rapid launch of a lean initiative.

leveraging Lean to Get the Oil Out

Aera Energy LLC, a California oil and gas company,  relies on lean principles to improve key processes, including drilling new wells, repairing existing ones, and maximizing the number of barrels of crude pumped each day.

Columbus Public Schools Use Process Thinking to Improve Academic Achievement.

Columbus, OH, public schools, experiment with lean tools and process thinking to remove wasteful activities that don’t help them help students learn.

Lean Inroads into Alabama Academia

How the University of Alabama in Huntsville integrated lean concepts throughout its industrial engineering curriculum.

Linking Lean Thinking to the Classroom

Value-stream mapping is one of many activities included in the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (Ford PAS), an academic program designed to link high-school classroom learning to the skills needed in college and business.

Build Your “House” of Production on a Stable Foundation

Rigorous problem solving creates basic stability in a machining intensive facility.

For Athletic Shoe Company, the Soul of Lean Management Is Problem Solving

After talking a lean tools approach to change, management re-organized the transformation around problem solving and process improvement to create a culture that engaged people while boosting performance.

Toothbrush Plant Reverses Decay in Competitiveness

The rapid introduction of a lean system, beginning with just-in-time production and pull, helps a highly automated Midwest plant fight off overseas competition by reducing lead times and inventory while augmenting the plant’s advantage in service.

A Journey to Value Streams: Reorganizing Into Five Groups Drives Lean Improvements and Customer Responsiveness

An approach to creating a value-stream culture centered on autonomy, entrepreneurialism, and lean principles.

Making Lean Leaders — Ariens internship program develops lean and leadership skills

Besides making snow-blowers, mowers, and string trimmers, Ariens Co., of Brillion, WI, makes lean leaders.

Starting with daily management walkabouts and standard work, this 84-year-old, family-owned distributor laid the groundwork for steady gains for years to come, just two years after its first kaizen workshop.

Sustain Your Lean Business System with a “Golden Triangle”

After a medical device maker took a hit to margins to fight off global competition, it rebuilt them by lifting its lean operating system to a higher level and keeping it there with a “golden triangle” of sustainability. You’ll recognize two elements of the triangle right away: visual control and standardized work . The third, accountability management or a kamishibai system, is probably less well known but just as critical.

Cultivating a Lean Problem-Solving Culture at O.C. Tanner

If you are in the “appreciation business”, you have to live it in your own workplace. For O.C. Tanner that meant a lean transformation had to show the company appreciated and wanted people’s problem-solving ideas. Here’s a report on that effort, including what worked and what didn’t.

Lean Thinking in Aircraft Repair and Maintenance Takes Wing at FedEx Express

A major check that used to take 32,715 man-hours was cut to 21,535 hours in six months. That translated into a $2 million savings, which dovetailed with the company’s emphasis on reducing costs during the recession.

Construction

Input from nurses, doctors, therapists, technicians, and patient parents heavily influenced design decisions—from incorporating emergency room hallways that protect the privacy of abused children to the number of electrical outlets in each neonatal intensive care room.

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About Chet Marchwinski

Chet has been a humble, unwashed scribe of the lean continuous improvement movement since books by Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo first hit North America in the 1980s. At LEI, he contributes to content creation, marketing, public relations, and social media. Previously, he also wrote case studies on lean management implementations in…

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9 Real-Life Lean Manufacturing Examples

Lean manufacturing allows companies to better optimize processes, reduce waste, and speed up production times through different methods, tools, and philosophies. If you're wondering how to implement lean manufacturing techniques in your operations, you need to consider which lean production tools you use and what you want to accomplish.

How Does Lean Manufacturing Work?

Lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to improving efficiency and reducing waste in manufacturing processes. It focuses on creating more value for customers while using fewer resources. This is achieved by identifying and eliminating all types of waste, including defects, overproduction, waiting, unnecessary motion, excess inventory, overprocessing, and unused talent. Lean manufacturing also emphasizes continuous improvement, involving all employees in the process of identifying and solving problems. By applying lean principles, companies can reduce lead times, improve quality, increase productivity, and lower costs.

Why Is Lean Manufacturing Important and How Can It Help?

Lean manufacturing is important because it helps companies stay competitive in today's fast-paced and ever-changing business environment. By improving efficiency and reducing waste, companies can offer better products and services at lower costs, which can attract and retain customers. Lean manufacturing can also help companies reduce their environmental impact by minimizing resource consumption and waste generation. Moreover, lean manufacturing can improve employee morale and engagement by empowering them to participate in continuous improvement activities and take ownership of their work. Overall, lean manufacturing can help companies achieve long-term success by creating value for customers, employees, and stakeholders.

Getting Started with Lean Manufacturing Methods

A great way to start considering methods is by exploring real-life examples of lean manufacturing and lean management. This can provide a deeper level of understanding and help you build up the confidence to implement the same lean thinking philosophies. We've compiled a list of nine examples for you to start with.

9 Lean Manufacturing Examples in the Real World

Kaizen is a Japanese term that means "continuous improvement." In the context of lean manufacturing, it refers to the idea of involving all employees in identifying and implementing small, incremental improvements in processes, products, or services. Kaizen encourages continuous learning and innovation , as well as a sense of ownership and engagement among employees.  Some examples of kaizen activities include participating in quality circles, conducting 5S audits, or attending training sessions to learn new skills or techniques.

2. Just-in-time

Just-in-time (JIT) is a manufacturing philosophy that aims to produce only what is needed, when it is needed, and in the exact quantity needed. JIT helps companies minimize inventory and reduce waste, while also improving efficiency and responsiveness to customer demand. Some examples of JIT in action include using pull production systems, where production is triggered by customer orders rather than a forecast, or establishing close relationships with suppliers to ensure the timely delivery of materials.

Kanban is a visual tool that helps companies manage inventory and production by signaling when it is time to replenish supplies or move materials to the next stage of production.  Kanban can take many forms, such as colored cards, electronic displays, or physical containers. By using kanban, companies can improve communication and coordination between different departments or functions, as well as reduce lead times and minimize waste.

4. Standardization

Standardization refers to the process of creating and implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for a given process or task. SOPs help ensure consistency and quality in products or services, as well as reduce variability and errors. Standardized work instructions can include visual aids, such as diagrams and photos, to help workers understand the process, and they can be updated as improvements are made. For example, standardization can be applied to the layout and design of the factory floor. The location of tools and equipment can be standardized so that workers can quickly find what they need, reducing wasted time and motion. The use of color-coded labels and markings can also help ensure that workers can quickly identify different parts and materials, reducing the risk of errors and accidents.

5. Value stream mapping

Value stream mapping is a tool used to visualize and analyze the flow of materials, information, and activities required to deliver a product or service to a customer. Value stream mapping helps companies identify and eliminate waste, as well as optimize the entire value stream from end to end. Value stream mapping can also reveal opportunities for improvement and innovation, such as reducing lead times, improving quality, or increasing flexibility.

6. Pull production

Pull production is a manufacturing approach where production is triggered by customer demand, rather than a forecast or a push from upstream processes. Pull production helps companies reduce inventory, improve responsiveness to customer demand, and minimize waste. Pull production can take many forms, such as kanban systems, supermarkets, or direct customer orders.

5S is a workplace organization and cleanliness system that helps companies improve safety, efficiency, and quality. The five S's stand for Sort, Straighten, Sweep, Standardize, and Sustain.

Sort refers to the process of separating necessary items from unnecessary ones and disposing of the latter. Straighten refers to the process of organizing the workplace and arranging items in a logical and efficient manner. Sweep refers to the process of cleaning and maintaining the workplace to ensure safety and hygiene. Standardize refers to the process of establishing and maintaining standards for workplace organization and cleanliness. Sustain refers to the process of continuously improving and refining the 5S system.

One of the most powerful lean manufacturing tools available to manufacturers is the SMED event . In a nutshell, SMED events enable manufacturers to identify—and remove—the waste in their changeover processes. All manufacturers, regardless of size, can benefit from SMED. Typically, SMED events reduce changeover times by 30-50%!

Steps include mapping your current changeover process; analyzing, extracting, and streamlining steps; and documenting the whole process to present to your organization.

9. Continuous flow

Continuous flow is a manufacturing approach that aims to produce products in a continuous and uninterrupted flow, rather than in batches. This approach helps companies minimize inventory, reduce lead times, and improve efficiency by eliminating waiting times and reducing the need for transportation and handling. Continuous flow is often used in industries such as food processing, pharmaceuticals, and electronics, where high levels of quality and consistency are required, and where the cost of errors or defects is high.  Some examples of continuous flow in action include assembly line production, where each worker performs a specific task in a sequential manner, or cellular manufacturing, where groups of machines and workers are organized in a flow line to produce a family of related products.

Major Companies That Exemplify Lean Management Practices

You can’t talk about lean manufacturing without talking about Toyota. This Japanese auto manufacturer is credited with the birth of the Toyota Production System (TPS) . Created by Sakichi Toyoda, the goal of TPS was to eliminate waste from the manufacturing process. Nowadays, TPS is known as a fundamental lean manufacturing methodology. But Toyota didn’t stop at TPS. They also used a methodology called jidoka to minimize faulty products, and kaizen to pursue continuous improvement. They focused on automating several processes to lower human error and recheck product quality. Then, they implemented the just-in-time (JIT) model, so that they would only begin working on a product when there was a demand for it. This helped them to better control inventory levels and prevented overproduction.

FedEx Express

In response to the 2008 recession, FedEx began implementing lean manufacturing strategies to reduce costs. One of the ways they changed their operations was by introducing milestones in their C-check process for aircraft maintenance. The team identified 68 milestones crucial to the C-check and defined each segment in 4-hour increments.  Identifying milestones enabled a smoother workflow, which greatly reduced wasted time. The FedEx Express crew at LAX went from performing 14 C-checks a year to performing 30 a year. The crew also went from needing 32,715 man-hours for a C-check to 21,535 (and decreasing). Eliminating wasted time like this leads to huge cost savings, especially in an industry like aircraft maintenance, where specialized mechanics and technicians are quite costly.

With almost 800 contracted factories involved in their manufacturing processes, it’s no surprise that Nike places a heavy emphasis on consistency and waste reduction. To do so, Nike adopted continuous improvement practices and developed the Manufacturing Index in 2011: a framework with key benchmarks and performance indicators to reduce miscommunications, waste, and inconsistency across manufacturers.  The index contains lean elements like “just-in-time” and a continuous improvement mindset. Just-in-time (JIT) production is a simple inventory system where you only produce if there is a demand for your production. This is the pillar of the TPS principles. By not having excess inventory lying around, you reduce waste and save space.

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson  used Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) along with the 5S system and Standard Work as the main foundations of their strategy to keep their techniques stable. Then, they added other lean tools—such as kaizen and Six Sigma—to help improve operations and problem-solve issues. The company also adopted just-in-time inventory management and value stream mapping. The result? Having exactly the right inventory levels at the right times, avoiding waste and providing value to their customers. With these tools, Harley-Davidson automated processes to increase productivity, improve lead times, and reduce their transportation expenses.

John Deere Production System

John Deere started their lean thinking with production processes before moving on to improving their logistics and their supply chain. For John Deere, adopting continuous improvement processes took the form of automated quality control mechanisms. These mechanisms could check more products in less time, allowing for workers to spot defects — and subsequently fix them — more quickly. They were also able to get more products out the door and into customers' hands.

Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark felt that they were overspending on their transportation management system (TMS). Kimberly-Clark sought continuous improvement to further automate the system, which freed up more time for analysts to perform proactive work that benefited the company. The automation also allowed them to perform more processes with less clicks and fewer steps within the application.

Intel’s components have to be produced with the highest quality—and meet extremely high customer demand. With such demand, Intel could have lowered their cycle time to increase output, but that would have resulted in poorer quality and increased the chance of product defects. Instead, the semiconductor company turned to lean techniques to reduce works-in-process (WIP) and get rid of process waste without hindering workflow. Then, they implemented quality control methods. These lean tools helped to boost productivity without sacrificing quality for their products.

The Ford Motor Company has always aimed to produce the highest quality products and innovations in the industry. Knowing that its operational strength lay in its assembly line, Ford adopted kaizen, lean manufacturing methodologies , Six Sigma, and Total Quality Management (TQM) to implement the concept of continuous improvement in their processes.  Adopting automation and standardization allowed the company to create production lines that flowed efficiently as products moved through each workstation. Using these methods, Ford improved product quality, reduced costs, and decreased waste.

Bank of America

Bank of America is one of many financial institutions that apply a hybrid of lean manufacturing principles and Six Sigma to their operations. Before employing these principles, the organization was experiencing low customer satisfaction rates due to their process quality. They had many issues with customers' statements including encoding errors, late posting transactions, and omissions.  With lean Six Sigma, they improved operational efficiency while meeting the customer needs. They also managed to continuously assess performance using the right performance data metrics to ensure optimized processes.

General Electric

General Electric (GE) recently took on lean management t with the arrival of their new CEO and chairman in 2018. When the company first adopted lean techniques in their project management operations, their innovations actually created bottlenecks in other processes. This led to too much downtime and inventory, which in turn created more waste.  To correct this, GE’s management team turned to Genba. Genba is a lean manufacturing too l used to evaluate the processes on the work floor and learn more about the issues. They sent work operators and support team members to obtain lean training, then performed value stream mapping to identify process value and potential areas of waste. After changing tactics, they were able to correct their first pass at employing lean strategies.

Improve Your Factory with Lean Manufacturing Tools Like Amper

Implementing lean manufacturing principles and lean tools often requires the help of software. Trying to manually track, monitor, and organize the different steps of a lean process is overwhelming and can easily lead to errors and slowdowns. However, with the help of technology like production monitoring, machine monitoring, and IoT and cloud computing, you can track the waste and value in all of your manufacturing systems and develop better ways to reduce waste and increase profitability.

You can apply lean manufacturing to your operations in a vast number of ways. The nine case studies above show that with the right lean tools and techniques, it’s possible to overhaul systems, equipment, production lines, and worker output to continually improve operations. These are just a few success stories  within their industries that can inspire other manufacturers to pursue similar tactics. Here at Amper, we offer OEE and machine monitoring to further automate and enhance lean manufacturing system strategies that you adopt within your operations. Contact us to learn more about our tools and resources, or schedule a demo today!

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Lean Six Sigma Project Examples | 17 Full Case Studies

Ready to begin your first Lean Six Sigma project? Looking for examples for inspiration or reference to get you started? Here are some project storyboards from different industries and from home. Remember, Lean Six Sigma can help you with more than just work!

• Reducing Underwriting Resubmits by Over 20%  

Governments

• A Call to Change: Pioneering Lean Six Sigma at Los Angeles County  
• Can Lean Six Sigma Be Applied in County Government?  
• How the City of San Antonio Increased Payments for Street Maintenance Using Lean Six Sigma  
• Reducing Bid Tab Creation Cycle Time by 22%  
• Reducing Cycle Time for Natural Disaster Response by 50%  

Manufacturing

• Increasing First Run Parts From 60% to 90% With Lean Six Sigma  
• Reducing Bent/Scratched/Damaged (BSD) Scrap for Building Envelopes  
• Reducing Lead Time in Customer Replacement Part Orders by 41%  
• Reducing Learning Curve Ramp for Temp Employees by 2 Weeks  
• Reducing Purchase Order Lead Time by 33% Using Lean Six Sigma  
• Herding Cats Using Lean Six Sigma: How to Plan for and Manage the Chaos of Parallel Processes  
• Lean Six Sigma Increases Daily Meat Production by 25%  
• Lean Six Sigma Helps Feed People In Need 45% Faster  
• Accelerating Lean Productivity With Immersive Collaboration  
• Reducing Incorrect Router Installations by 60% for Call One  
• Reducing Software Bug Fix Lead Time From 25 to 15 Days  

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A Successful Lean Transformation in Manufacturing: A Case Study

In today’s competitive business environment, companies are constantly seeking ways to improve their productivity, efficiency, and profitability. One approach that has gained significant attention in recent years is lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is a process improvement methodology that aims to eliminate waste and increase value for customers. It is a systematic approach to streamline processes, reduce costs, and improve quality. Many companies have implemented lean manufacturing principles and have seen significant improvements in their operations. In this case study, we will explore a successful lean transformation in manufacturing and how it has helped the company achieve its goals. The case study focuses on a manufacturing company that was struggling with high costs, low productivity, and poor quality. The company’s management team recognized the need for change and decided to implement a lean transformation. The transformation involved a comprehensive analysis of the company’s operations, identifying areas of waste, and implementing strategies to eliminate them. The case study will detail the steps taken to implement lean manufacturing principles, the challenges faced during the transformation, and the outcomes achieved. By examining this case study, we can learn valuable lessons about implementing lean manufacturing principles and achieving success in a competitive business environment. The company in question was a manufacturing firm that had been in operation for several years. Despite its longevity, it faced a number of challenges related to its production processes. These included long lead times, high levels of inventory, and poor quality control. Additionally, the company was struggling to keep up with changing customer demands and the evolving competitive landscape. These challenges had a negative impact on the company’s bottom line, and it was clear that something needed to be done in order to improve efficiency and increase profitability. It was in this context that the company embarked on a lean transformation journey.

Implementation of lean

Cultural shift.

Cultural Shift refers to a fundamental change in the values, beliefs, and behaviors within an organization. In the context of Lean Manufacturing, Cultural Shift is critical to driving sustainable change across the organization. It requires a shift in mindset and behaviors from traditional manufacturing practices to a new way of working that puts customer value at the forefront. The Cultural Shift involves developing a culture of continuous improvement, where employees are empowered to identify and eliminate waste, and where collaboration and communication are encouraged across all levels of the organization. The Cultural Shift also involves aligning the organization’s goals and values with Lean principles and embedding them into daily operations. It requires leadership commitment and engagement to drive the change and sustain the improvements over time. A successful Cultural Shift in Lean Manufacturing can lead to significant benefits for the organization, including increased efficiency, improved quality, and reduction in costs. It also allows the organization to be more responsive to customer needs and market demands, creating a competitive advantage. However, achieving a Cultural Shift is not easy and requires a long-term commitment from the organization. It involves changing the way people think and work, and this can be met with resistance and reluctance. Therefore, it is essential to have a well-planned approach to manage the change, including communication, training, and support. The Cultural Shift is not a one-time event but a continuous process of improvement. As the organization evolves and grows, it must continue to reinforce the Lean culture and values to ensure that the benefits are sustained and continually improved upon. The implementation of a lean transformation in manufacturing brought about a significant cultural shift in the organization. This shift was characterized by a new way of thinking that emphasized continuous improvement and a focus on customer value. The employees were encouraged to take ownership of their work and to identify areas for improvement. This shift in culture was not easy, as it required a change in mindset and a willingness to embrace new ideas and processes. However, through effective communication and training, the organization was able to successfully implement the lean transformation and create a culture of continuous improvement that has led to increased efficiency and profitability. Overall, the cultural shift that occurred during the implementation process was a crucial factor in the success of the lean transformation in the manufacturing organization. In order to successfully implement a Lean transformation in their manufacturing operations, the company had to address resistance from employees. They did this by first communicating the rationale for the change and the benefits that it would bring to both the company and its employees. They also provided training and support to employees to help them understand their new roles and responsibilities in a Lean environment. The company also listened to employee concerns and feedback, and made changes to the transformation process based on this input. By adopting a collaborative and inclusive approach, the company was able to overcome employee resistance and achieve a successful Lean transformation.

Sustainability

Lessons learned.

The implementation of Lean principles in manufacturing has brought about significant improvements in efficiency, quality, and profitability. However, the success of a Lean transformation does not come without challenges. A key lesson learned from this case study of a successful Lean transformation in manufacturing is the importance of top-down leadership support. Without strong leadership support, it is difficult to create a culture of continuous improvement and sustain the Lean transformation over the long term. Leaders must be committed to the Lean principles and lead by example to motivate and engage their employees to embrace the changes and adopt new ways of thinking and working. Another lesson learned from this case study is the importance of employee empowerment and engagement. The success of a Lean transformation heavily depends on the participation and engagement of all employees, from frontline workers to upper management. Empowering employees to make decisions and take ownership of their work processes not only improves their job satisfaction but also leads to better problem-solving and innovation. Regular communication and training sessions can also be used to keep employees informed and engaged throughout the Lean transformation process. By involving and empowering employees, the Lean transformation becomes a shared responsibility, and everyone is invested in its success. During the implementation process of a lean transformation in manufacturing, several lessons can be learned. Firstly, it is important to establish clear goals and expectations for the transformation, as well as a plan for how to achieve them. Secondly, communication and collaboration between all levels of the organization are crucial for success, as everyone needs to be on board and involved in the process. Thirdly, continuous improvement and adaptation are key, as the manufacturing industry is constantly evolving and changing. Finally, the importance of measuring and tracking progress cannot be overstated, as it allows for identification of areas that need improvement and helps to ensure that the transformation is on track to meet its goals. Overall, the lessons learned during the implementation process of a lean transformation can be applied to other industries and organizations, as they are fundamental principles of successful change management. If other companies are interested in implementing lean principles, they should start by assessing their current processes and identifying areas that can be improved. Once these areas have been identified, it is important to involve employees at all levels in the transformation process. This includes providing training on lean principles and encouraging open communication and collaboration. Additionally, companies should establish clear goals and metrics to measure the success of the lean implementation. Finally, it is important to continuously monitor and adjust the processes to ensure they remain effective and efficient. By following these steps and committing to ongoing improvement, companies can successfully implement lean principles and achieve significant benefits such as increased productivity, improved quality, and reduced waste. The case study on \A Successful Lean Transformation in Manufacturing\ highlights the journey of a company, which went from being a traditional manufacturing facility to a lean enterprise. The key points of this transformation include the implementation of a lean culture, which focused on continuous improvement, waste elimination, and customer satisfaction. The company also introduced a visual management system, which helped in identifying and addressing issues quickly. The use of data and metrics helped in measuring progress and identifying areas that required improvement. The transformation resulted in significant improvements in efficiency, productivity, and quality. Overall, the case study provides valuable insights into the benefits of embracing a lean mindset and culture in a manufacturing environment. After analyzing the case study on the successful lean transformation in manufacturing, it is evident that the implementation of lean principles has resulted in significant improvements in efficiency, productivity, and customer satisfaction. The company’s commitment to continuous improvement and the involvement of every employee in the process has been crucial to the success of the transformation. The adoption of lean manufacturing has enabled the company to eliminate waste, reduce costs, and improve quality. The focus on value-added activities and the elimination of non-value-added activities has led to a significant reduction in lead times, increased throughput, and improved on-time delivery. Overall, the lean transformation has been a resounding success, and serves as an inspiration for other manufacturing companies looking to improve their operations and remain competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.

In conclusion, the case study of a successful lean transformation in manufacturing illustrates the immense benefits of implementing lean principles in any manufacturing organization. By focusing on waste elimination, continuous improvement, and employee empowerment, the company was able to achieve significant improvements in efficiency, quality, and profitability. The success of this transformation was not only due to the adoption of lean principles but also the commitment and dedication of the management and employees to the process. This case study serves as a testament to the power of lean thinking and its ability to transform traditional manufacturing organizations into highly efficient and competitive entities. It is clear that lean principles are not just a passing trend but a proven approach to achieving sustainable success in any manufacturing organization.

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More From Forbes

How covid-19 has changed lean manufacturing practices: a case study with ibaset.

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Manufacturing is undergoing huge changes, and not just because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lean manufacturing is built on the premise that reducing waste, eliminating redundancies, and operating with precision are key to succeeding in the marketplace. 

In this model, extra inventory equals wasted resources. It assumes a supply chain that is always on, always available, and always responsive.

But as we’re seeing, that assumption doesn’t always work. For manufacturers that create things like parts for cars, planes, machinery, and other major equipment, a “just-in-time” inventory model—in which you keep only the bare minimum of additional inventory you need to meet customer demand—can’t operate if plants are shut down for three weeks, say, due to a global pandemic. 

This new reality is a challenge to lean manufacturing, but it doesn’t mean the model itself is no longer relevant. What it does mean is that transparency and real-time visibility are critical if companies are to continue operating on lean principles. 

One company, iBASEt , has been working in the supply chain visibility tech space for some time, and over the past year, the need for their services has skyrocketed. I recently spoke with iBASEt’s CEO, Naveen Poonian, on how lean manufacturing is changing in the wake of the pandemic. Here’s what he had to say. 

The challenge for lean companies

The biggest challenge for manufacturers in industries like aerospace and automotive, as we emerge from the pandemic, will be this: Finding ways to keep their lean practices from negatively impacting their recovery. 

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“What we know is that when demand comes back, it’s going to come back quickly,” Poonian says. “There’s so much pent-up demand for travel, for new cars, for example. If manufacturers wait to get their supply levels up until it’s very obvious that the comeback has occurred, you’re in trouble. Other companies will have moved in first.” 

In other words, if you’re operating on the principle that you want as little idle inventory as possible, you won’t be prepared to ramp up as quickly as you need to. 

Real-time information is key

One way to balance lean processes with the “next to normal” that we’ll emerge into as the pandemic wanes is to invest in technologies that offer real-time visibility into everything from your supply chain to your orders. 

This not only allows you to prepare for the future with more and better information. It also allows you to react more quickly when you do see demand speed up or slow down, which will give your company a real competitive advantage. “Companies need to improve their real-time visibility so they can see the metrics that matter,” says Poonian. “Seeing all your results in real-time is very different from seeing it in a report at the end of the week.” 

Cloud-based tech allows for greater interoperability and systems integration

G Suite, Microsoft Office, and other cloud-based programs that we’re all familiar with have made fast, easy software updates the norm. Since everything is based in the cloud, updating the software can happen frequently, automatically, and without disrupting users’ workflow. 

This is not, however, the norm in manufacturing, which in many cases is tied to monolithic, server-based systems that are extremely costly to maintain, in terms of both time and money. What’s more, these programs often are difficult to integrate with other systems that come online as the plant’s needs change or mature. 

The problem here—in addition to the strain on resources—is that real-time visibility and performance can only be achieved if you have interoperable, integrated systems. 

iBASEt is the first in the manufacturing tech world to adopt this cloud-based, microservices architecture model, following in the path of Amazon, Netflix, and Spotify among others. “With this model, you don’t have to rip out the old and put in the new—you just keep improving it. You’re continuing to update and modify without any impact on the user experience,” says Poonian. “It’s perfectly primed to meet the need for real-time data. And there’s no problem connecting one cloud app to another, as it’s done through APIs.” 

Lean manufacturing will have to adjust in order to meet this “next to normal,” and soon. Companies that wait until they can be certain the demand is there will find themselves out of the running—while those that invest in tech that creates more transparency and real-time visibility will come out ahead.

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Lean Manufacturing Through PDCA: A Case Study of a Press Manufacturing Industry

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• Kashmir Singh Ghatorha 6 ,
• Rohit Sharma 6 &
• Gurraj Singh 7  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering ((LNMUINEN))

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Globalization has resulted in increased market competition. A large number of choices in the market have affected the behaviour of the customer. They expect high-quality goods at low prices and with short delivery times. It is, therefore, necessary for any industry to improve its existing production standards on a continuous basis in order to satisfy the needs of its customers and thus, save their market share. The continuous improvement projects help in optimizing the use of available resources through waste reduction which helps in improving manufacturing cost and product quality. The paper discusses a case study in which the productivity of a press manufacturing company is improved through a continuous improvement strategy. The paper is focused on the use of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle to improve the marking standards of a heavy component known as Dish End used in the link frame mechanical press. A marking jig is designed and manufactured to improve the marking cycle time of Dish End manufacturing and it has resulted in a reduction of 255 min of the marking process.

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Dilbagh Panchal

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Ghatorha, K.S., Sharma, R., Singh, G. (2022). Lean Manufacturing Through PDCA: A Case Study of a Press Manufacturing Industry. In: Pratap Singh, R., Tyagi, D.M., Panchal, D., Davim, J.P. (eds) Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial and Manufacturing Systems (CIMS-2020). Lecture Notes on Multidisciplinary Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73495-4_12

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A vsm improvement-based approach for lean operations in an indian manufacturing sme, application of value stream mapping in the automotive industry: a case study, improvement of productivity and quality in the value chain through lean manufacturing – a case study, application of 8d methodology for minimizing the defects in manufacturing process: a case study, applying value stream mapping in manufacturing: a systematic literature review, application of 8d methodology - an effective problem solving tool in automotive industry, related papers.

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Lean Manufacturing Practices Assessment Case Study of Automotive Company

• August 2023
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Lean Manufacturing Fundamentals - 5 principles for creating superior value

Unpacking the five key principles of the Lean Manufacturing methodology.

Written by Ben Hulland

updated 14/09/2023

As UK manufacturers strive to cope with a range of global challenges, many are turning to the Lean methodology, pioneered by Toyota, that has become the global standard for operational excellence. Unfortunately, Lean is widely misunderstood, and even though Lean techniques are familiar in most factories, deployment is typically superficial, leading to disappointing results.

Companies that have practiced Lean as the comprehensive system it was designed to be, however, have earned an impressive track record of breakthrough results such as lead times cut to a fraction of what they were, capacity doubled with existing resources, or dramatic improvements in customer satisfaction and market share.

What is lean manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a customer-focused production approach that maximises efficiency, minimises waste, and emphasises continuous improvement. It aims to streamline workflows, reduce non-value-added activities, and optimise resources for cost-effective, high-quality product delivery.

The History of Lean manufacturing

The set of practices now known as Lean was borne out of dire necessity. Japan had been devastated by World War 2, and its manufacturing sector needed to become viable as quickly as possible with very few resources. The Toyota Production System, which eventually evolved into Lean, was at the outset a way of doing more with less.

The rest is history. The thinking behind the Toyota Production System helped Japan execute one of the most stunning turnarounds in manufacturing history and established Toyota as a global icon. The system, later called Lean, has become the global standard for operational excellence in virtually every sector.

While circumstances in the UK aren’t as desperate as those Japanese manufacturers faced in the early 1950s, they are, nonetheless, daunting. Growth since the financial crisis of 2008 has been either minimal or negative, and UK manufacturers are facing a challenging environment of unpredictable markets, global instability, and the pending retirement of millions of skilled workers with little prospect of replacing them. Finally, there are concerns about the pressures to transition to what is being called Industry 4.0.

Lean tools - kanban, 5S, jidoka, heijunka, takt time, single-minute exchange of dies (SMED), the 5 whys – are nothing new for most companies and are widely used in efforts to improve efficiency and agility. However, the basic thinking behind Lean is still widely misunderstood, and consequently, few companies have been able to achieve the game-changing results demonstrated by world Lean leaders like Toyota, Danaher, and Bosch.

These world leaders have succeeded because they have the management and information structures in place to support ongoing Lean activity in all functional areas and levels of hierarchy. This structure not only supports the changes in corporate priorities that Lean demands, but also calls for the Lean definition of success to be applied in the day-to-day operations of the company.

Lean principles are surprisingly relevant in the age of Industry 4.0. Lean companies are finding, for example, that the powerful combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) can help improve Lean workflows in automated environments and create a better partnership between humans and machines.

How Lean Creates Superior Value?

In his later years, Taiichi Ohno, the acknowledged innovator and champion of the Toyota Production System, was frequently asked to summarise what this revolutionary method was all about. This is what he reportedly said:

All we are doing is looking at the timeline, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing the timeline by reducing the non-value adding wastes.

This simple quote sounds on the surface like a statement of the obvious, but it suggests the entire framework for Lean, including all of its tools. Furthermore, it reflects thinking that was revolutionary – so much so, in fact, that many have difficulty grasping it even today.

Embedded in Ohno’s words are five basic principles:

• The Lean Value Stream

Eradication of Waste

Flow regulated by demand.

• First-Time Quality

Continuous Improvement

These principles are explained below. To help visualise them, imagine that a hypothetical manufacturer, ABC Manufacturing, has a line with four processes:

To understand Lean, we need to understand how the workpiece moves through each process in order to become a finished product that the customer is willing to pay for.

Principle #1: The Lean Value Stream

A conceptual representation of the entire sequence of actions and expenditures that culminate in a product or service of value to customers .

Lean environments are managed by looking at the big picture of production, that is all the steps that are taken from the time of order to the time of delivery to the customer. This is the end-to-end timeline that Ohno refers to above. We call this the value stream because the characteristics of the product that make it worth paying for are created in the series of steps on the production line, each step contributing to the value of the final product. There may be different functional groups involved – stamping, machining, welding, assembly, for example – but the performance metrics used are all based on the end-to-end performance of the entire value stream.

Value stream awareness on a production line helps people in all these functional areas work together to improve operations in order to deliver better value to the customer. A useful way of looking at this is that the workpiece is a proxy for the customer who will eventually own the product – if we treat the workpiece well, we are treating the customer well.

Reducing the timeline, as Ohno suggests, helps us get the product to the customer sooner, but equally important, it forces us to eliminate unnecessary steps, ultimately lowering the cost of making the product.

The biggest challenge in managing the timeline is confronting the silos that exist in most organisations. The fabrication of a product typically spans a series of departments, each which has its manager, workers, budget, and performance metrics. Consequently, people working in different stages may have little to do with each other, even though they have a shared role in creating the same product for the customer. This makes it very difficult to visualise, let alone manage, the value stream as a whole.

Lean companies, therefore, segregate their resources into value streams, each of which represents a product family geared toward a particular type of customer need. Automotive manufacturers, for example, have different value streams for standard and luxury cars. HVAC manufacturers have different value streams for heaters and air-conditioners.

Typically, a value stream manager is responsible for all of the activities in the value stream, and the value stream results. Often, the value stream includes dedicated employees, dedicated equipment, and a dedicated location in the plant.

Case Study – Recreational Trailer Company

A manufacturer of recreational trailers began its Lean transformation in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis of the year before. In the initial stages, improvements were being made, but the CEO saw a disconnect between the existing management system and what the company was trying to accomplish on the shop floor. The result of this was a lack of focus on the customer. To address this problem, the company was divided into three value streams:

Value Stream #1: Standard high-quality trailers with little or no customisation.

Value Stream #2: Specialised trailers with a large number of standard options.

Value Stream #3: Custom trailers for customers with very specific needs.

The transformation was remarkably successful. In a three-year period, net income went from virtually zero to 8 per cent, while long-term debt dropped 50 per cent. Inventory turns rose from 5 to 15, and incidents where a fabricator didn’t have the materials to complete a job, dropped from 35 – 40 incidents per week to between 5 and 10 – all this while sales volume tripled.

Principle #2:

The ongoing effort at all levels of the organisation to remove all activities and expenditures that don’t contribute to value that customers are willing to pay for.

As Ohno says in the quote, we reduce the timeline by reducing nonvalue-adding wastes. Accordingly, taking the waste out of value streams is the core improvement activity in Lean environments. Waste removal is effectively the economic engine of Lean because when waste decreases, the value delivered in a value stream proportionally goes up, and the reduction of waste – lower material costs, less space taken up, fewer work hours – all drive costs down, and capacity up.

Waste in a Lean environment is essentially any cost or effort that doesn’t contribute to the value that customers are willing to pay for. For example, let’s say that the raw material for a workpiece arrives at the machining centre. The operator, however, needs another set of dies, so there’s a delay while he or she walks across the plant to get those dies.

The work the operator is doing is necessary, but the workpiece – the proxy for the customer – is kept waiting and doesn’t increase in value during that time. If you were the workpiece, you wouldn’t care why there was a delay – all you would consider is that ABC wasn’t doing anything at the moment to increase your value. The waiting time would therefore be considered waste.

In a Lean environment, that waste might be eliminated by making arrangements so that the operator never has to walk across the plant. Maybe a delivery cart makes the rounds, ensuring that all machinists have all the dies they are going to need during the shift.

There are many other reasons the workpiece might be kept waiting. Maybe the various stages are in different locations in the plant, requiring the workpiece to be transported. Maybe there is a delay in assembly because a parts order didn’t come in. And worst of all, maybe the previous work process was turn out defects, forcing re-work.

Lean improvement, therefore, is about finding ways to improve the processes so that waste can be avoided. Lean companies use the following categories for waste, which were established by Toyota:

1. Overproduction: Producing more than required by the next downstream process, or the customer. Ohno saw this as the “cardinal sin” of waste because essentially it forces all the other wastes.

2. Time on hand (waiting): Workers standing idle awaiting what is required for their next work.

3. Transportation: Excessive movement of the workpiece or parts.

4. Over-Processing: More than the necessary amount of work being done on the workpiece, perhaps due to poor process design or defective tools.

5. Inventory: More finished goods, works in process, parts, or raw materials than required by customer demand.

6. Movement: Unnecessary movements by workers, including bending, straining, and walking to procure tools or parts.

7. Defects: Fabrication of a defective workpiece that will later require correction.

8. Unused brain power: Creative abilities of workers not being utilized to improve process.

Principle #3:

The most efficient arrangement of all value-creating steps in the value stream whereby production is synchronised with customer demand and progresses steadily and continuously.

The idea of flow originated with Henry Ford when he developed the first moving assembly line, that is, the first line where the assembly of a manufactured product literally travelled the length of the plant as it was assembled. Ford found that production is most efficient when the processes are designed in such a way that each takes the same amount of time, so that each workpiece moves steadily through the plant at an even pace.

In practice, flow is very difficult to achieve. As cars got more complex, and there were more and more models to create, even Ford wasn’t able to maintain flow. It wasn’t until the development of the Toyota Production System and the ensuing Lean movement that global manufacturers were able to make real progress at achieving flow.

Flow is sometimes called one-piece flow because in an ideal world, each workpiece moves along the line as if only a single product was being produced – ideal flow conditions mean that there is zero works in progress inventory, and no waiting between stages. Of course, in the real world, even Toyota maintains buffers, but Lean companies keep these to a minimum.

The innovation that made flow achievable was the introduction of the just-in-time principle, which states that all activity must be triggered by demand. This means that you don’t “push” materials onto a production line based on a forecast – you wait for a demand trigger to “pull” production along. In theory, a workstation should never pass product on to the next stage unless “ordered” to do so by the next stage, which is, figuratively speaking, that workstation’s customer.

The command to produce, therefore, initiates with the customer, and moves up the line in the opposite direction to production. This is traditionally established by physical kanban cards or bins, which are passed up the line to notify the upstream provider that more product is needed.

For example, packaging might receive finished goods from assembly in bins. When a bin is empty, this would be sent back to assembly, indicating the need for more product. If there are no outstanding orders and no need (or room) for stock, the bin would not be passed to assembly, and production would stop.

Today, some organisations use electronic kanban systems, which are tied into their financial and production systems, and may be activated by various triggers such as customer orders. How this is accomplished depends on the type of IT systems that are in place.

Principle #4:

First time quality.

The practice of ensuring that quality is achieved not as an overlay but as an intrinsic element of production, ensuring that problems are solved on-the-spot and as close to the source as possible. The other pillar of the Toyota Production System, in addition to just-in-time, is a principle called jidoka, which is Japanese for “automation with human intelligence”. The idea originated from a feature in an automated loom developed by Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyoda Loom Works that evolved into Toyota. The feature was a mechanism that automatically stopped the loom when a thread broke, automatically preventing defective fabric from being woven.

The feature is mimicked by humans in Lean environments in that workers have the authority to stop production if a defect has been found that makes it impossible to complete a step according to quality standards. This is done by pulling a cord, which is called the andon, that activates a visual and audio alarm, alerting supervisors and support personnel.

The practice of dealing with quality problems at the source differs from the traditional approach of sending defects down the line and letting the quality inspectors deal with the problem. Getting things right the first time is ultimately more efficient, and the practice of jidoka is one of the main reasons why Lean companies are so successful at improving quality. However, when Lean was introduced in the West, stopping a production line was considered sacrilege, and it took many years for managers to accept this idea.

An important additional note to this is that safety is managed hand-in-hand with quality. An operator, therefore, will pull the andon if doing the work appears to be unsafe.

Principle #5:

The enlisting and empowerment of the entire workforce to improve their work processes one step at a time following a scientific Plan-Do-Check-Act paradigm.

The big challenge with waste is that it doesn’t show up in major line items that a manager can eradicate with a single initiative, nor does it manifest in big complex problems that can be solved by engineers and other professionals. Waste, for the most part, occurs in hundreds or even thousands of very small increments that are often very hard to see. It therefore takes a keenly trained eye to see waste, and an army of problem solvers to eradicate it.

Toyota employed the idea of kaizen – everyday improvement throughout the organisation – to rally all employees in the cause of fixing problems and raising standards of excellence. Lean companies make significant investments in order to equip and empower front-line employees with the skills and tools they need to remove waste and drive improvement. Often, the improvements are very small, and can be implemented on the spot. For larger problems, more formal methods are used.

A guiding principle for improvements is that they must be based not just on perceptions, but on hard data. The most common method for organising improvement work in a scientific way is the Plan – Do – Check – Act paradigm*. This forces to employee to show reasons for making the change based on real measurements, explain a solution, and test and measure the results.

Lean companies give their employees considerable authority to initiate change at their level of responsibility. The P-D-C-A structure mandates that such initiatives are carried out in a disciplined way, and that accountability is maintained at all times.

Mapping Progress in the Value Stream

Improving the value stream, that is, shortening the timeline, is typically orchestrated through a strategic planning process called value stream mapping. The process begins with a current state map, which illustrates the performance of the value stream. The map is usually created by a cross-functional team of shop floor workers and managers. Here is a simplified version of a current state map in a typical manufacturing scenario.

This typically shows a timeline at the bottom, which is illustrated by a square wave pattern representing the process time and wait time for each stage. Also shown is the quality coming out of each stage given in percent – 99.9% means that one in one thousand workpieces is defective at that stage.

What most people notice when they see these maps is that the lead time is extremely high when compared with the amount of actual work being done on the workpiece. In fact, the time required for the actual process is a negligible component of the total lead time. This is typical in manufacturing environments, and it is often a shock to managers when they first see these numbers.

There are many reasons for long wait times between stages. Different stages might be in different parts of the plant, so there’s wait time for transport. One of the processes might have a huge backlog that needs to be addressed. Sometimes there are delays because of rework and quality issues. A process might be used for many product lines and have become a bit of a bottleneck. Long setup times can also create long delays between processes.

Whatever the cause, most companies can make significant improvements in lead time, often creating an immediate competitive advantage. It’s not uncommon for a company to improve lead time by 75% or more in a relatively short period of time during the early stages of its Lean transformation.

One of the most common interventions in Lean is moving workstations and equipment so that processes are physically closer together. This might mean de-centralising a function such as welding so that it can be closer to other steps in a particular value stream.

Organising an operation into value streams according to product type, as discussed above, provides the framework for making major configuration changes within value streams to allow more efficient operation. It also ensures better communication between the different stages of production so that they can, as applicable, help each other out.

For example, processes are sometimes redesigned so that there is a better sharing of the workload between the different stages. It may be possible, for example, for Process A to do some additional tasks that would reduce the work, and the time, required at Process B.

Quality is another topic that frequently comes up. As the current state map shows, Process A has a very poor defect rate of 1%, which might be high in that industry, and this might be slowing down Process B. The people at Process A could slow down their process to improve the quality, and because their process takes less time than others, this would not slow down the value stream as a whole.

Mapping the future state

Once the planning team has created the current state map, they typically meet again to brainstorm ways to improve the value stream. Quality improvements, re-balancing workloads, or other methods of reducing waste (less transport, removing unnecessary steps) might be discussed. Sometimes, steps are merged – perhaps Process C and Process D could be merged into a single process, removing the wait time between them.

The team then creates what is called a future state map, which illustrates how the value stream could perform if waste is removed and might look like this.

The future state map then becomes a strategic plan where the main improvements are accomplished through a series of projects with specific timelines. These may be led simultaneously by several people who work in the value stream.

It should be mentioned that the future state map above reflects some very ambitious targets. Here’s a comparison of the “before” and “after” picture:

These improvements are impressive but fairly typical for Lean companies. In fact, the most successful Lean leaders agree that it’s better to have an ambitious goal and fall short than to have a “safe” goal that doesn’t challenge the team. In this example, the difference would be substantial – lower costs, better collaboration, and much faster lead time.

Measuring success at the value stream

In order for Lean to flourish in an organisation, there has to be a wide support for making progress according to basic Lean metrics. These are all designed to guide the company as people in the different value streams work together to reduce waste and maximise customer value. Lean metrics vary by company type, and industry. Here are some of the most common ones used in manufacturing:

Lead Time: This tends to be the master metric at the beginning of a Lean transformation because shorter lead time improves customer service and reduces costs simultaneously. If there is waste in a plant, this will almost certainly affect lead time, so attacking lead time tends to bring waste out into the open.

Direct Costs: Value stream managers focus on actual costs, as opposed to absorption, variances, and standard costs. Numbers they monitor are materials at the actual price paid, labour, factory expenses, depreciation, and facility costs. These are costs that will decrease as improvements are successfully implemented in the value stream. Of course, accounting regulations are followed, but standard accounting reports are not used to guide improvement in the value streams.

On-time delivery percentage: Lean not only shortens lead times but makes production more predictable, and it’s common for Lean companies to deliver to customers when promised nearly 100% of the time. In many environments, being reliable is a competitive advantage, particularly when participating in a supply chain where the customer has tight deadlines to meet.

Inventory turns: As noted above, inventory is considered one of the major wastes in Lean, whether that consists of works in progress (WIP) or finished goods. This inventory turns figure, gross sales divided by the average value of inventory for the year, reflects how well a value stream, or the entire organisation, is doing at reducing inventory to a minimum. It’s typical for a plant starting out with Lean to have only two or three inventory turns in a year. Lean factories can get much higher than that – perhaps twenty or more. Reducing inventory has a positive effect on cash flow. Some classic lean companies, in fact, were able to grow with acquisitions, and fund this completely with cash.

Quality: This is the percentage of defects. Lean companies attack this very aggressively, typically looking for a 50% reduction in defects every year. Since a higher quality rating reduces expensive re-work and avoids product recalls, improved quality has a strong favourable influence on profitability, not to mention improvements in customer satisfaction and market share.

Gross margin: Gross margin is immediately impacted by Lean improvements and is the bottom line as far as the value stream contribution to profitability. In Lean organisations, gross margin is calculated at the value stream level, and is reported as frequently as every week so that the value stream manager can judge the effectiveness of continuous improvement initiatives.

Employee participation: Lean is a continuous improvement strategy, and therefore, depends on a high level of buy-in and active participation. Many senior managers in successful Lean organisations believe that employee engagement is the best leading indicator of success. Leading Lean companies also invest heavily in employees, because they know that employees are the future of the company. This can be measured at the value stream by the percentage of employees who participate in improvement projects. Some organisations are able to get this figure to close to 100%.

These are challenging times for UK manufacturers, and many are finding that doing more with less is not just a strategy, but a requirement for long-term survival. Lean has proven itself repeatedly as the leading methodology for accomplishing this and has helped organisations achieve remarkable turnarounds in virtually every sector of the global economy.

It’s necessary, however, to take a systemic approach to Lean that reflects the interdependency of the various Lean tools and methods and supports wide participation in Lean initiatives at all levels. To support such an enterprise-wide approach, organisations need a solid information framework for tracking performance in all functional areas and making that information readily available to decision makers. This framework is especially critical in the age of Industry 4.0, where an increasing proportion of available data is digital, and where there is a persistent and growing risk of getting overwhelmed with data.

By Ben Hulland

MRP/ERP solutions specialist

Ben boasts over two decades of extensive experience in Supply Chain ERP/MRP, positioning him as a seasoned expert in software consulting and transformation. Throughout his career, Ben has introduced innovative software solutions to a multitude of businesses, showcasing his expertise and unwavering dedication to delivering significant change. Ben's approach revolves around the adept implementation of Industry 4.0 and Lean manufacturing processes, leveraging robust solutions and the latest in technology. Renowned for his ability to challenge established processes, Ben relentlessly pursues the fundamental "why," placing a strong emphasis on the pivotal role of data integrity in fueling progress and enhancement. Collaborating seamlessly with business owners, directors, and senior managers, Ben provides invaluable insights into the transformative potential of technology, effectively replacing laborious manual procedures. Whether he's on the shop floor or in the corporate boardroom, Ben's analytical approach instills a technology-first mindset, yielding tangible outcomes and data-driven insights that benefit all team members.

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Manufacturing complex pharmaceutical products with new technologies

As pharmaceutical products become increasingly complex, companies can leverage new technologies in their manufacturing process to improve efficacy..

• Veronica Salib, Assistant Editor

Scientific advancement and increasingly complex pharmaceutical products have reshaped the healthcare industry, providing novel tools and solutions for managing broad conditions, from acute viral infections to chronic diseases to oncology. As science evolves, developing increasingly complex pharmaceutical products, manufacturers and biopharmaceutical companies must evolve their strategies, tools, and procedures to keep up with the rate of scientific discovery.

Pharmaceutical Product Complexity Challenges

Despite the seemingly never-ending benefits of pharmaceutical development, complex medicines and products pose many challenges for manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

One of the chief challenges is production costs. Many industry leaders maintain that research and development (R&D) costs are increasing dramatically. For example, a  2022 Deloitte Insights report revealed that bringing a drug to market costs roughly $2 million.

However, the high costs of developing a product expand beyond the research and development process. Complex products are more labor intensive, require more precise steps, and result in greater manufacturing costs.

“Increasing complexity means that the drugs are typically more complex to manufacture. More complexity usually means more cost. Also, because [new drug innovations are] more complex, they tend to be less stable, so their shelf life tends to be lower. They have to be very carefully curated from beginning to end of the supply chain,” Barry Heavey, PhD, Accenture’s Life Sciences Supply Chain Lead, told PharmaNewsIntelligence in a recent interview, touching on Accenture's ongoing work to improve manufacturing processes for complex pharmaceutical products.

Smaller Drug Batches

Another challenge posed by more complex medications is that pharmaceutical manufacturers have had to move toward making smaller drug batches.

“We've been talking about personalized medicine for 30 years. It's almost an overutilized term, but it is happening now. [Companies are] making batches of a drug like CAR T-cells for literally one patient,” added Heavey.

An article in the Manufacturing Chemist notes that many advanced therapy medicinal products, including cell and gene therapies and bioengineered tissues, cannot be produced in huge batches because they are highly specialized.

Having to produce these more individualized and patient-specific therapies and medication shifts industry standards, which have previously used larger reactors or vessels to make sizeable batches of medication. Instead, increased complexity has driven companies toward developing smaller batched products.

Quality Assurance

Another challenge posed by increasingly complex pharmaceutical products that may be specialized for each patient is quality assurance .

“People forget that [companies] have to manufacture these drugs and to do quality control and quality assurance on those drugs,” Heavey continued. “That can be more onerous and more challenging when the drugs are more complex and take a lot of time and a lot of resources. That adds cost and complexity to the supply of these products.”

Addressing Challenges in Complex Drug Manufacturing

Despite these challenges, Heavey remains optimistic about the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing for complex biopharmaceutical products, emphasizing that existing knowledge and ongoing innovation will help address some of these challenges.

“The hope would be that — using a combination of scientific brilliance and advances in data gathering and data analytics — the process of understanding and optimizing the biology happening inside the manufacturing facility will be quicker.”

Using the new modalities to get to the appropriate molecule quicker also ensures that medications get to patients faster.

One factor that may help ease the manufacturing burden of newer, more complex medications is using robotics in sample processing.

“Researchers can build robots in a factory that can be sent out to more hubs globally so that more patient samples can be processed in more locations. Then [they’re] not bottlenecked through a few human-based production facilities.”

He compared it to the strategies used in in vitro diagnostic testing. At one point, healthcare professionals had to take samples and send them to a distant, specialized lab, wait for the results to return, and so on. Today, many large healthcare facilities have in-house technology to process samples and provide results.

“That happens quite quickly in big health centers using advanced robots from diagnostic companies. That might happen in the cell and gene therapy space [down the line], where some aspect of the cell processing happens locally in the hospital or close to the hospital,” he noted.

Data Gathering

Beyond that, data gathering systems have increased dramatically, with an increasing ability to do more detailed off-line data gathering. For example, the advancement of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) machines, mass spectrometry machines, and other devices have helped the detailed characterization of samples, allowing companies to accurately assess what is going on through the manufacturing process.

Another example is whole genome sequencing of cells, which is also typically done off-line.

“Companies can then use that data to help interpret your results. [They] can do detailed characterizations of the product and use that data to interpret your results or detailed testing of your raw materials to see if they're varying,” noted Heavey. “So the data gathering technology of lab instruments has developed massively in the last few years for off-line analysis of the process manufacturing process.”

In-Line Testing

Additionally, there are ways to test the process in-line. Companies can use sensors like RAMAN spectroscopy to examine what is happening in real time. That allows companies to pause the manufacturing process and make changes if something is incorrect.

“In-line data gathering is used for real-time understanding of the process because taking a sample and going away and doing off-line means there's a delay and [results may be slower].”

Advanced Analytics

“Then the third piece of that is advanced analytics modeling, multivariate statistical analysis, AI, and neural networks,” noted Heavey.

In-line data gathering, off-line data gathering, and advanced analytics modeling “create a kind of virtuous circle.” Gathering more data and feeding them into the models allows them to begin interpreting and identifying areas that need adjustment.

Case Study: Monoclonal Antibodies

To provide an example of the progress made in complex biopharmaceutical manufacturing, Heavey pointed to monoclonal antibodies .

“They were new in the 1990s, and at the time, the manufacturing processes were super inefficient,” he said.

Initially, companies manufacturing these products had to use large production facilities to develop very small quantities of these monoclonal antibodies. Heavey estimated that the production cost $10,000 per gram early in monoclonal antibody manufacturing.

“Now they've used a bunch of hardware-based technology and some scientific experimentation to boost the productivity of the manufacturing processes using science and engineering,” he expanded.

Today, instead of producing small quantities of expensive monoclonal antibodies, companies can make tens or hundreds of kilograms per batch at significantly lower costs.

As a result, these drugs have been able to reach more patients, providing wider spread benefits.

“Companies have invested in research of the biology of those cells to try and improve productivity, keep those cells alive longer, more productive, and more consistent in what they produce to speed up the end-to-end manufacturing process,” he explained. “Some of the same scientific ingenuity can be applied to new modalities such as viral vector production, which also require cells or stem cell production.”

Being able to understand and manipulate the biology of cells inside the manufacturing factory is critical. Unlike when monoclonal antibodies were first introduced, today, companies have more data and data analytics capabilities that allow them to conduct more efficient experiments and manufacturing runs, which helps them deconvolute the biology of cells faster, Heavey told PharmaNewsIntelligence.

Editor's Note: This article has been edited to make some corrections about the type of spectroscopy and adjust the comparisons made under the "Robotics" section. 

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Can AI Deliver Fully Automated Factories?

• Daniel Kuepper,
• Leonid Zhukov,
• Namrata Rajagopal,
• Yannick Bastubbe

Recent advances are helping to overcome the technical hurdles to “lights-out” manufacturing.

In the foreseeable future, technology will cease to be a bottleneck for lights-out transformations, which dramatically reduce the need for human workers inside factories. As technology improves, the decision to pursue this goal will primarily depend on the factory’s economic considerations. Manufacturers that embrace automation and demonstrate agility in overhauling their operational strategies will be best positioned to capitalize on this wave.

For the last few decades, the manufacturing sector has eagerly anticipated the arrival of fully automated factories. In these factories, production would be seamlessly orchestrated by a network of high-tech robots, intelligent machines, and sensors, tackling widespread labor shortages while significantly reducing operating costs. With minimal human intervention, they could theoretically operate in complete darkness, earning the moniker “lights-out factory.”

• DK Daniel Kuepper is managing director and senior partner of BCG, based in Cologne. He is a Fellow of the BCG Henderson Institute.
• LZ Leonid Zhukov is a vice president of data science at BCG, based in New York. He is the director of the BCG Henderson Institute’s Technology and Business Lab and of BCG’s AI Institute.
• NR Namrata Rajagopal is a BCG consultant, based in Mumbai, and an Ambassador of the BCG Henderson Institute.
• YB Yannick Bastubbe is a BCG principal, based in Berlin.

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Aug 21, 2024

ABI Research insights: Digitally transforming manufacturing after-sales service

Providing efficient after-sales service is vital for industrial manufacturers. Here’s how the latest digital technologies can help you improve yours.

• Empower frontline workers

Imagine you’ve just sold a machine or piece of equipment to a top-tier customer. What happens next?  

In industrial manufacturing, after-sales services can be as important as the product or service itself. However, manufacturers these days are faced with labor shortages, operational complexity, and other challenges that make it difficult to deliver the service their customers need.

Recently, we worked with ABI Research on a whitepaper to investigate how digital technologies like remote access and extended reality can help manufacturers improve their services despite these challenges.

In this article, we’re going to discuss some of the whitepaper’s key findings and what they could mean for your business. Download the full whitepaper here.  

In this article:

After-sales challenges in the manufacturing sector, how to tackle after-sales challenges in the manufacturing sector, case study: cimbali group.

When they raise a service request, your customers expect you to respond immediately. And to resolve their issue without further ado.

But there are several factors that can make it difficult to meet these expectations. We’ve outlined three main challenges below.

Labor shortage

Many businesses struggle to find enough skilled technicians to meet their customers’ service needs — especially in the manufacturing sector.

The UK recently experienced the biggest manufacturing talent shortage in more than 30 years. And the Manufacturing Institute expects these problems to continue. It predicts that more than 2 million manufacturing jobs will be unfilled by 2030.

It’s not just that understaffed teams can’t respond fast enough to customer requests. Overworked employees are also more likely to experience stress and burnout , a leading cause of employee turnover.

Operational complexity

Complex processes and procedures create an additional challenge for after-sales service teams, especially in manufacturing. In large-scale supply chains and assembly lines, every element must function perfectly for the process to go smoothly.

This interdependence creates room for errors and inefficiencies, which can have severe consequences. For instance, if one piece of equipment on an assembly line malfunctions, the entire production line may need to be stopped. As our research shows , this can slow down the decision-making process and negatively affect morale, productivity, and innovation.

Downtime costs

It’s common for manufacturing businesses to keep their production lines running around the clock. Every minute a machine is idle costs money — especially if downtime wasn’t planned.

And we’re not just talking about monetary costs ( nearly USD 1 trillion a year for leading global industrial firms, to be exact). The non-financial impact can be just as severe. From a damaged brand image and loss of customer trust to increased employee churn, the cost of downtime puts immense pressure on customer service teams to solve issues immediately.

Clearly, providing effective after-sales service isn’t easy. Many service teams lack the resources to travel to customer sites immediately when an issue occurs. Thankfully, remote technology such as remote machine access and extended reality empowers them to solve problems remotely, boosting efficiency and satisfaction.

Serve customers remotely

Helping customers solve issues remotely is a great way to increase service efficiency without compromising on customer experience.

If your company manufactures connected machines, you can embed a remote access solution into the machines’ software. That way, when a customer raises an issue, your service team can take control of the machine and troubleshoot remotely.

This reduces travel costs and frees up your technicians’ schedules, so they have more time to help customers. Plus, you avoid the greenhouse gas emissions related to driving or even flying to customer sites.

In addition, a remote service model can help you streamline the issue resolution process. This enables a quicker and more structured response to service requests which, in turn, boosts customer satisfaction.

Enhance your services with extended reality

For problems that would typically require hands-on intervention, extended reality (XR) offers additional remote capabilities. Encompassing augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR), these technologies are great for visualizing procedures and providing support.

For instance, with AR-enhanced video calls, you can see what your customer sees and guide them through repair processes step by step. In addition, digital twins act as 1:1 digital representations of your products and allow you to create interactive 3D instructions your customers can follow on their own time.

Some businesses are even working with the latest spatial computing technology, like the new Apple Vision Pro goggles , which enable technicians to virtually step into a 3D model of a machine to analyze the smallest details, even if the machine is thousands of miles away.

With the help of XR, you can deliver even more advanced remote customer service, helping customers solve problems in real time. That means less machine downtime and higher customer satisfaction. In addition, you can use XR solutions internally to improve training and onboarding experiences and enhance knowledge transfer within your service team.

Curious how to measure your after-sales service success?

Learn about key success metrics in our whitepaper from ABI Research.

• Download whitepaper

Remote after-sales service sounds great on paper, but can it work in real life? Let’s find out!

Cimbali Group is a leading manufacturer of professional coffee machines. Although Cimbali machines are produced exclusively in Italy, they’re used all over the world.

In the past, when a commercial customer had an issue with a machine, Cimbali Group would dispatch a service technician to the customer site to address the problem. But with their customers distributed globally, this led to immense travel costs and long customer wait times.

Today, Cimbali Group technicians use TeamViewer to troubleshoot machines remotely . By creating a service request, customers allow an expert to remote into their machine. That means Cimbali Group can resolve many problems without needing to travel, resulting in 20% reduced TTR and 15% reduced travel costs.

Customer service teams in the manufacturing sector are battling staff shortages, operational complexity, and ever-rising downtime costs.

To ensure a seamless customer experience, manufacturers should embrace digital technology in their after-sales service operations. For instance, remote access and AR remote assistance empower service technicians to respond quickly to customer requests and fix issues without needing to be on site.

If you’re thinking about digitally transforming your customer service, make sure to read the recommendations in our whitepaper from ABI Research .

Want the full story?

Download our whitepaper from ABI Research to get all the details.