Productivity Improvement through Lean Manufacturing

Abstract

The development and application of thinking “lean” and adopting lean manufacturing will have tremendous savings on resources and yet achieving enhanced productivity to compete in growing global manufacturing sector. In this paper we present the basic understanding of lean manufacturing concept and how it can be implemented in any manufacturing industry for productivity improvement. Our efforts are made to put the concept of lean manufacturing in simple understanding, the tools and techniques used in lean system development and the steps involved in its successful implementation. This paper also presents a result-oriented case study of a leading automobile industry. Industry got benefited in various ways through lean manufacturing application.

Keywords: Lean manufacturing, Productivity improvement, Takt time, Muda (waste)