10 Technical Elements of Lean Manufacturing

The basic operating principles of Lean Manufacturing date back 50 years to a complete re-thinking of production processes at Toyota. This led to that company's development of the Just-in-Time (JIT) philosophy and the Toyota Production Systems (TPS), revolutionary steps which enabled the Japanese automobile manufacturer to successfully compete in domestic and global markets, despite its initially limited resources and capacity. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Toyota's Lean principles are just as applicable today and can be emulated by progressive manufacturers striving to compete in an increasingly challenging global marketplace. In implementing its Lean Manufacturing initiative, Toyota instituted five s-words - Seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shisuke - which can be roughly translated as: Sort, Simplify, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. The purpose of these directives is to create a clean and organized work environment that is consistently productive. Here are nine additional ways in which Lean principles are put into action:

• Visual Control – An important aspect of Lean, visual controls promote the importance of communication and visibility. This is a key element in any process because the signals invoke almost immediate responses from the target.
• Standardized Work – It was only a matter of time before factory automation and the Industrial Revolution decimated the cottage industry. Standardization is the clear path to efficiency when producing quality products on a consistent basis.
• Total Predictive Maintenance (TPM) – An adaptation of Toyota's maintenance philosophy, TPM stresses the importance of utilizing, updating and maintaining equipment to create a production line that is flexible and flows at an optimal level.
• Cellular Production – A type of "division of labor," cellular production organizes the manufacturing process into sub-processes and enables the company to produce smaller lot sizes, increase flow and improve product quality.
• Error Proofing – Referred to as "poka-yoka" in Japanese, the idea is to identify the sources of mistakes and create measures that will cause them to either be eliminated or spotted easily for correction.
• Takt Time – The basic rate of production, Takt time uses customer demand and production time to create a steady flow in operations, eliminating many areas of waste such as inventory, overproduction and waiting.
• Continuous Flow – Using a timed execution schedule and some of the aforementioned techniques, optimal flow is created and maintained to allow operations to keep inventories to a minimum and shortened cycle times.
• Leveled Production – Utilizing tools such as Takt time, leveled production aims to remove bottlenecks and allows work to flow through the production process by coordinating with customer demand.
• Pull System – In order to decrease cycle times and keep inventories low, pull systems will only consume materials required because they are based on demand, instead of forecasting tools. This principle led to the practice of Just-in-Time delivery in which materials and supplies needed for production are scheduled for delivery on a just-in-time basis, eliminating the need for additional labor expense and storage. This "pull" rather than "push" approach has been refined even further over the years and is known as Demand-Driven Manufacturing, a proven and sensible path to sustainable growth and financial success.

Glovia Services, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Glovia International, Inc., a subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 6702), one of the world's most experienced and solidly backed providers of extended ERP solutions for businesses of any size-from small and midsized companies to global enterprises. Glovia Services offers GSInnovate web-based manufacturing software from pluggable point solutions to a comprehensive on-demand ERP suite that provides for the unique needs of engineer-to-order, make-to-order, high volume and mixed-mode manufacturing environments through comprehensive, end-to-end functionality for the entire product life-cycle. Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Glovia Services has helped manufacturers to cut costs, improve productivity, and meet customer demands for over 30 years. For more information please visit www.gsinnovate.com, or call 310-563-8700 or 877-474-8896 (toll free).

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 160,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 5.3 trillion yen (US$53 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com.

Glovia Services strives to equip manufacturers with the expert knowledge and best practices gained from our own manufacturing and technology experience. The GSInnovate Industry Insight Series provides manufacturers with the latest resources to effectively manage their business on demand.