Lean Production

• What is lean production?

  Approaches to management that focus on cutting out waste, whilst ensuring quality
• Lean production is a form of doing things better and doing simple things well
• Doing lean production as a result should avoid waste thereby reducing costs
• What should the aim be of lean production?

  Reducing waste, thereby reducing costs
• What are examples of waste in a business?

  • Over-production
  • Defects
  • Stock (e.g. buffer stock)
• What are the main methods of lean production?

  • Just-In-Time
  • Cell Production
  • Kaizen
  • Time Based Management
• Effective lean production requires what?

  • Good relations with supplier
  • Committed, skilled and motivated employees
  • A culture of quality assurance; continuous improvement & willingness to embrace change
• What are the three different types of stock?

  • Raw materials and components
  • Unfinished goods
  • Finished goods
• What are unfinished goods?

  Goods which are still on the production line
• What are finished goods?

  Goods which are complete and awaiting delivery to customers
• If a business can reduce all of the types of stock this means that the business can significantly reduce their cost per unit