The effects of lean manufacturing and time

An overview of the five components in lean manufacturing:


According to Bartholomew, there are five components in lean manufacturing:

Line-design tools balance production lines by calculating the standard pace of the line in daily production.

Operational-method sheets provide how-to instructions for line workers for each process, documenting work and inspection steps.

Kanban-replenishment modules enable a pull system of material replenishment with suppliers and feeder lines.

Demand smoothing enables managers to calculate daily production needs based on orders, helping determine resource needs for each product line.

Production execution reconciles finished products with inventory, material, and labor
 

A high percentage of desired results are achieved by a small percentage of activities. Try to avoid all time-wasting activities as they add nothing of value to your work (e.g. too many tea-breaks, office gossip, phone calls to friends). If you have several top-priority tasks vying for your attention, do the most unpleasant or difficult one first; too many top-priority tasks means you are not discriminating enough between what is essential for completion today and what can wait; and finish one task before starting another, otherwise you might find yourself flitting between several tasks and doing each one sub optimally.