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The Lean manufacturing model has been used by the car manufacturer, Toyota, for more than 50 years as a way to streamline the overall business and increase the efficiency of the operation as well as the quality of the product or service it provides. Since the 80’s and 90’s, lean manufacturing concepts have been proved upon and it has grown it size and popularity over the years.

Recent developments in lean manufacturing continue to improve upon the original concepts, first written about by two Englishmen named Womack and Jones in the book Lean Thinking.  The authors are still working on the lean concepts and now have started working on how the lean principles are applied in consumption. They are researching what happens when consumers go out and buy things and how people will travel around to get the different things we need. As consumers, we must go out and look for things we want and need. That traveling for consumption consumes a lot of energies and time. Using the principles of lean manufacturing, the gentlemen are working on ways to actually smooth the flow of the process for consumers who are looking to procure items.

Another recent development in lean manufacturing is concerning the issues of efficiency and sustainability. There is research about the concepts of lean thinking and how it can be applied to making the manufacturing process more efficient from an energy and environmental point of view.

As lean manufacturing evolves, it will no doubt become more and more important for businesses to incorporate the concepts of lean thinking into their companies, if only to remain competitive. Those businesses that have already begun using the concepts of lean manufacturing realize the value of having to spend less time, less energy, less money, and have less waste in the overall scheme of things.

There is a lot of information now available about the concepts of the lean manufacturing process. The ability to streamline and effectively organize a business is not difficult to learn or to understand. Essentially any business can use the lean manufacturing model to their advantage in order to reach their optimum potential.

Lean manufacturing and the lean manufacturing process is a concept that was first used by the car manufacturing company Toyota. In fact, the process has been a part of Toyota’s organization for the last 50 years. The lean manufacturing concept essentially involves streamlining the entire process of the production of a company’s product or service. This includes every part of the business, from the order as it first comes in, all the way through the life of the product. As the business becomes more efficient, it can offer its customers competitive pricing and with that, the company is increased growth potential.

Today’s companies that have instituted lean manufacturing processes have found it advantageous to the company as a whole. For example, Toyota still works to improve the quality of their product while reducing costs. Toyota is the only car company in the worth today that is actually building car plants while many of the others in the car industry are closing down operations. Toyota has attempted to teach others to understand and implement the lean system into their manufacturing and continues to grow more after 50 years.

Another success story of the lean manufacturing process is the computer manufacturer Dell. When a customer orders a Dell computer, they actually configure the computer online or with a customer service representative. For Dell, their cash-to-cash cycle (the period of time between when the customer pays and when the company needs to pay for materials) is a negative number of days. Dell actually gets payment from the customer for products they sell 17 days before they have to pay for their materials.

There are other companies that have used the lean manufacturing process to their benefit in other ways. One company was able to reduce the amount of down time on one of their machines from 17% to 6% in just a few months simply by engaging people more and involving them in the processes of continuous improvement. People want to be involved and support is crucial when implementing a successful lean manufacturing program.

Another example of how a company benefited from the lean process is one that created over a million dollars worth of capacity by holding a workshop to look at the changeovers in the company. After working for several days with teams of company employees, going over the changeovers, that million dollars worth of capacity was created every year from the workshop onwards.

Lean manufacturing has many benefits for both the business and its customers. The process can be incorporated into any business that offers customers a service or a product. Provided management is on board with their total support, the lean manufacturing process can make a big impact on a company and its customers in a short period of time.

There are many benefits of lean manufacturing. While lean manufacturing started out as a concept in the car manufacturing industry, it has grown and progressed a lot over time. Now essentially any manufacturing process can incorporate the lean manufacturing concept into their business. It makes no difference if your company provides a product or a service. Lean manufacturing is about improving the flow of information and materials through the business and throughout the process. The end result creates a smoother flow of work and shortens lead times for the customer. The overall manufacturing costs are reduced and more waste is eliminated. If your business producing something meant for a customer, the lean manufacturing process can be incorporated to improve the efficiency of the entire business.

Lean manufacturing has a lot of benefits for everyone involved but the three most important benefits of lean manufacturingg are as follows:

1.    Reducing lead times

2.    Reducing costs

3.    Creating extra capacity within the business

Because everything is done more efficiently through the lean manufacturing process, the lead times for customers are reduced. This is a benefit for the company as well because cash that is used to purchase new materials can be invoiced to the customer in a more expedient manner. Additionally, the cost reductions can be passed on to the customer, which keeps the company competitive in the industry. As the company becomes more streamlined and organized throughout its entire manufacturing process – from order to delivery - there becomes more capacity for growth. The business that is able to grow and offer competitive rates benefits greatly. The customer who receives the product or service in a faster time period and for less cost is likely to stay a customer.

Lean manufacturing is not a difficult concept to learn. One of the biggest problems people is experience is caused by management’s lack of understanding and supporting a lean program. Without sufficient support from the organization’s senior management, it is likely that a lean program will not work unless everyone is on board and taking the time to understand what the concept is all about. Management’s lack of support trickles on down to the floor people, who are actually supposed to be working the process. Unless an organization is willing to put forth the time and the effort to truly incorporate the lean manufacturing process into the company, it will not be easily accomplished and they may miss out on the benefits of lean manufacturing.