Waste of Lean Manufacturing
Waste in production is a frequent problem in businesses today. These wastes not only do not bring value to customers but also cause significant losses to businesses. Here are 8 common wastes of lean manufacturing in traditional business management:
- The process uses a lot of paper documents;
- Inventory management is not strict;
- Excess production;
- Time–consuming transportation;
- The product has many defects;
- The production process has not been optimized;
- Downtime in activities;
- Uneven allocation of human resources
The elimination of waste is a prerequisite for sustainable business development. One of the modern management methods that helps eliminate waste in business activities is Lean Manufacturing.
The goal of lean manufacturing is to create a process that uses less human resources, optimizes space, and saves production time. In addition, it ensures the provision of services at a low cost and with fewer errors than traditional business systems. Thereby increasing the business efficiency of the organization.
Reduce waste with the Kanban method in lean manufacturing:
Introduction to the Kanban method:
Kanban is a Japanese term meaning “name label“. It is a method of controlling the flow of materials based on the flow of information exchanged between customers and suppliers.
For a supplier, the basic principle is to only produce the right number of parts according to the customer‘s needs and maintain a reasonable level of stock. Therefore, they often seek to continuously reduce the level of reserves. This means that they are committed to a continuous improvement process to eliminate factors that disrupt production and increase costs. The Kanban method will help them achieve this goal.
Illustrating images. Source: accesstrade.vn
In particular, eKanban is an idea for manual Kanban automation, applying the “supermarket“ model and the K–loop model through computer software. When each item is used, its barcode is scanned, so the purchasing department gets “real–time“ data to respond more efficiently. Current statistics show that eKanban helps increase inventory efficiency by 91% and reduce inventory costs by 50% with only 03 months of transfer and application.
Kanban Tools for Lean Manufacturing:
Pull Production:
A foundational concept of manufacturing Kanban is pull production, whereby a product is pulled through the manufacturing process rather than pushed. As a product is ordered, it enacts a workflow that works backward through the manufacturing process, requesting the inventory purchasing and manufacturing lines only after the order has been confirmed. A variety of Kanban flows are possible in Epicor, including real-time manufacturing data which will give downstream suppliers visibility of future demand and allow you to dynamically operate and schedule production according to the ebb and flow of your business.
Illustrating images. Source: businessmap.io
Real-Time Stocking and Purchasing:
Because your manufacturing system is working backwards from the product order, any stock replenishment or supply purchasing can be automatically requested after enough orders have been made to require restocking. That means you don’t need to spend time planning your weekly re-order of resources for replenishment. Instead, suppliers will get notified of future demand and know exactly when a particular stock replenishment is required.
Inventory Reduction:
Manufacturing Kanban flows in Epicor can help you reduce on-hand inventory. Initially, this may seem counterintuitive. After all, you ask, wouldn’t you want product on hand when a customer orders it? However, this line of thought can severely limit your business’ manufacturing capability. Imagine a client wants a certain part customized, or orders several different products—some of which you already have in stock and others that are manufacture-to-order. If you’re relying on a warehouse full of already-made product, delivery times will be inconsistent, and customizations costly. By keeping your business demand-focused through pull production technology, only the products that have already been sold will be made. That means you only spend money and time manufacturing (and storing) products you know won’t sit around in a warehouse.
Lean Performance Metrics:
Epicor’s Production Activity function allows businesses to automatically capture production data through manufacturing centers on the floor. You can then define lean performance metrics that suit your business’ unique processes and goals and measure real-time success against them. Your lean parameters can include period, day, week, resource group or even free-form categories that your business needs, like seasonality of product. You’ll be able to locate specific areas of waste and then fine-tune your ERP to attack them head-on.
Hybrid Options:
Epicor gives companies the ability to create user-defined rules that will flag parts for Kanban control at the part, warehouse, individual bin or cell location level. If you only want certain parts to be subject to Kanban pull production flows—perhaps the ones that are ordered less often or tend to be highly customized—that is also possible. No one business operates the same way, and the flexibility of Epicor’s Kanban functionality acknowledges that. Epicor ERP can equip you with the tools for success, however heavily you want to use Kanban on your shop floor. Once you have mastered manufacturing Kanban flow with the help of Epicor’s production management suite, you’ll be able to adopt lean principles seamlessly into your manufacturing lines. That means lower production costs, greater adaptability, product flexibility and quality.
3S Software Co., Ltd.
To successfully upgrade a business, businesses need an experienced and trusted partner. 3S will be a partner accompanying businesses on their path of development, helping businesses become more comprehensive and increase productivity at lower costs. Along with compliance with the Epicor Signature Project Implementation Methodology, it will help businesses increase production efficiency and improve profits at a very reasonable cost. 3S believes that it will always bring the most satisfaction to customers.
The 5 main solutions of 3S include:
Epicor ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning
Epicor MES – Manufacturing Execution System
BPM XSOL Solution – Business Modeling Solution
ECM DOCSTAR Solution – Digital Content Management Software
Epicor CADLINK solution – The solution allows transferring information from CAD drawings such as AutoCAD, Solidworks to Epicor ER
More references: LIVESTREAM SALES WITH EPICOR ERP
