Auditing for Measuring the Extent of Lean Implementation

Auditing for Measuring the Extent of Lean Implementation

S. Vinodh, V. Kamala, M. S. Shama, S. Aravindraj
Copyright: © 2014 |Pages: 14
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5039-8.ch014
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Abstract

This chapter presents the details of a lean audit conducted among 25 Indian automotive manufacturing organizations. The audit consists of 59 indices grouped among 20 categories. The study consists of development of comprehensive lean audit procedure, gathering input scores, and grouping the organizations into 7 lean phases. The lean audit investigates the lean adoption and derives the appropriate lean phase. The conduct of the lean audit examines leanness level of organizations and the possible improvement proposals for leanness improvement. The conduct of the survey enables organizations to benchmark with similar organizations from a leanness perspective.
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Introduction

The manufacturing system witnessed a key transition from mass manufacturing to lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing enables speedy, smooth and economical manufacture. Lean manufacturing focuses on streamlining the processes thereby facilitating waste elimination and cost reduction. Lean manufacture necessitates the culture to be inculcated in the organization.

Importance of Lean Manufacturing

Lean manufacture focuses on elimination of wastes thereby facilitating streamlined processes. Lean requires a significant commitment and successful implementation enable the improvement of numerous indices. This situation stimulates the need for lean audit. The audit inculcates an organisation with a Lean vision. Though manufacturing organisations have been adopting lean tools/techniques/procedures, but there must be exclusive mechanism to measure the extent of lean practices being adopted by the organisations and to provide benchmark with other organisations.

Lean Manufacturing in Indian Scenario

The manufacturing organizations focus on implementing lean manufacturing as it enables them to achieve world class status. Many Indian industries have started implementing lean principles. Ministry of Micro, Small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) also promote the implementation of lean manufacturing using cluster approach (http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/working_group2012.pdf). Some of the primary lean tools/techniques implemented by Indian manufacturing organizations include 5S, Kaizen, Value Stream Mapping (VSM). VSM is one of the vital tool/technique of lean manufacturing which promotes the implementation of associated lean tools/ techniques.

Need for Lean Audit

Lean requires significant management commitment and employee involvement. It is a culture to be brought about in the organization. This situation necessitates the conduct of lean audit to investigate whether an organization had adopted lean principles and to determine the extent to which lean practices are being implemented in the organization. The measurement of extent of lean practices also enables the organizations to benchmark with their competitors.

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Literature Review On Lean Assessment And Lean Audit

The literature has been reviewed from the perspectives of lean application in diversified sectors and leanness assessment.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Management Commitment: An essential success factor for lean implementation.

Value Stream Mapping: Vital technique of Lean Manufacturing to provide the snapshot of current and future state of lean practices.

Performance Indicators: Attributes used for evaluating the lean performance.

Leanness: Performance measure of lean practices.

Benchmarking: Comparison of similar organizations possessing lean characteristics.

Lean Audit: Examination to investigate the extent of lean implementation.

Lean Manufacturing: Manufacturing system focusing on process stream lining and waste elimination.

Manufacturing Systems: System capable of converting the resources into usable products as required by customers.

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