Although lean production has
been applied in areas other than manufacturing, the Toyota Production System
(TPS) is one of the best examples of advantages offered by adopting this
approach.
The above diagram shows how Toyota successfully
adopts and implements just-in-time (JIT) inventory management using a kanban system.
Just-in-time: An inventory management system
designed to make the “right amount of inventory available at the right time” at
all times.
Kanban: Japanese for “card” or “visible record”,
referring to the cards used to control the flow of production through a
factory.
Each container of raw materials, parts,
work-in-progress inventory is attached with a card with respective production
or process instructions. When the user empties the container, the card is
removed and the container is put on a receiving post. The next batch of parts
is produced only when the card on a container signals the user to do so. The
cycle begins again when the user receives the container with the card attached.
The kanban system used by Toyota is often called the “super market method”, as
super markets use product control cards on which product-related information
such as product code, product name and storage location is entered.
(Verma and Boyer, 2010)
Producing good and services according to
customer expectations is an important characteristic of the Toyota Production
System. Toyota practices the philosophy of kaizen
to build quality into the production process rather than inspecting finished
goods for quality defects. Kaizen is
a Japanese term that means “continuous improvement”. Each employee acts as his
or her own quality inspector, preventing a defective unit from leaving a work
station and moving on to the next process. This practice is also called quality
“at the source”. (Verma and Boyer,
2010)
Another approach used by
Toyota to minimize or eliminate quality defects and problems from recurring
repetitively is jidoka. Verma and
Boyer (2010) define jidoka as an approach for automated quality monitoring of
equipment guided by a human touch. As shown in the above diagram, whenever a
defective part or equipment malfunction is discovered, the concerned machine
stops immediately. Production resumes once the problem is sorted and any
improvements are incorporated in the standard workflow. Operators stop work and
correct the problem. Hence the definition: “automation with a human touch”.
The philosophy of kaizen, the methods and approaches of jidoka, just-in-time and kanban,
are important building blocks in the House of Toyota. More information on these
concepts can be found in the following video:
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