So you’ve chosen Lean manufacturing as your process improvement methodology. But knowing about Lean manufacturing and knowing how to implement it are two very different things.
We’re here to help. This article will guide you through implementation with the top Lean manufacturing tools you’ll need to get going. (Side note: These tools are also applicable to Lean Six Sigma.)
Implement these tools and stay focused on the real customer-driven benefits of Lean manufacturing. That way, even though Lean production may be difficult at the beginning, you'll be able to keep going and develop processes that continuously improve over time.
What is Lean manufacturing?
In the simplest terms, Lean manufacturing focuses on constantly improving customer value while minimizing waste. Instead of encouraging management to think of maximizing separate verticals, Lean optimizes the flow of production through value streams that touch every technology, asset, and department.
As you can imagine, changing the mindset of an entire company takes time, so implementing the Lean process may be a slow shift. But trust us, it’s worth it.
5 main Lean management principles
There are five principles that are the guiding stars of the Lean management process. Each tool you implement will bolster the implementation of these principles.
- Identify value: Value includes everything that benefits the customer. You’ll need to distinguish value-adding benefits from wasteful processes.
- Map the value stream: Once you know what value the product brings to your customer, you’ll need to track its path through production to consumer.
- Create flow: A smooth flow has eliminated bottlenecks and waste from production processes.
- Establish pull: When your team has time and bandwidth, they can start new work. In a pull system, the team only begins a task when they have the capacity to complete it.
- Continuously improve: Your customer’s perception of value will change over time, so your process must be constantly evolving to generate more and more value.
Keep reading for valuable tools that will improve your process and help you implement Lean production methods.
Best Lean process improvement tools by task
There are a ton of process improvement tools you should consider when you start using Lean manufacturing, so we’ve broken them up into each stage of the Lean process. When you find a tool that fits your needs, click the corresponding template to start editing and collaborating in real time within Lucidchart.
While a few of these tools originated with other process methodologies you can still apply them to help your company execute the Lean manufacturing process.
To define and prioritize
In order to identify value, you’ll need to analyze your value stream and find where waste is located. You’ll also need to establish how value travels on its path to the customer so you can make that path more efficient. Use these Lean tools to help:
Affinity diagram
Great for the initial stages of Lean implementation, affinity diagrams help sort large amounts of data or ideas. In this context, they can help you identify customer value and gather problems with current processes.
