Lean webinar

Missed our lean manufacturing webinar? Listen here

26-Apr-2016 - Last updated on 27-Apr-2016 at 14:09 GMT

Listen to key business insights on lean and green manufacturing by registering for this free, one-hour webinar

Missed Food Manufacture’s lean and green food and drink manufacturing webinar yesterday? Don’t worry you can still register and listen any number of times for the next six months.

More than 800 delegates registered for the webinar, which featured key insights delivered by business leaders from Marks & Spencer, Greencore, Lauras International and fast-moving consumer goods improvement specialist Simon Spanyol.

You can share those insights by registering for the one-hour free webinar. After registration, you can listen any number of times to the broadcast.

Taking part were Marks & Spencer’s head of responsible sourcing and packaging and Plan A Louise Nicolls, who explained how the pioneering retailer does lean, green and ethical business and what it expected from its food and drink suppliers.

Cost savings

Greencore’s group technical director Helen Sisson revealed how the convenience food manufacturer delivered cost savings from implementing lean manufacturing methods.

Jeremy Praud, partner at Lauras International, which sponsored the webinar, quantified the typical benefits of implementing a lean production programme. He also identified the period over which benefits could be expected.

Spanyol focused on the practical implementation of lean food and drink manufacturing programmes, drawing on his many years of implementing and appraising lean procedures at Mars and elsewhere.

The lean and green webinar – sponsored by Lauras International – was first broadcast yesterday (April 26) at 11am. Each speaker delivered a brief presentation before answering questions submitted by the webinar audience.

Meanwhile, here’s a handy guide to the language of lean manufacturing. Drawing on its origins in the Japanese car industry of the 1970s, you will find a number of Japanese words and terms.

Classic lean

Our list of acronyms and terms is divided into seven sections. Those include: Classic lean, Rapid lean, Problem solving, General continuous improvement, TPM terms, Six sigma terms and general manufacturing terms.

Watch out for full multi-media reports from the webinar – including video interviews with the speakers – next week.

Classic Lean

Andon: Japanese for Paper Lantern, meaning a visual signal. Usually lights to signal a machine has stopped, or other issue.
CapDo: See PDCA
5C: Alternative to/same as 5S
DOWNTIME: Acronym for the seven wastes (Muda) in Lean and and not utilising staff talent
Gemba: Japanese for crime scene or the real place. Means go to the scene of the problem
IshiKawa: See Fishbone Diagram
JIT: Just In Time (one of the two pillars in TPS)
Jidoka: Improve Quality (one of the two pillars in TPS)
Kaizen: Japanese for ‘improvement’
Kanban: Japanese for ‘signboard’ - means visual inventory control system. A visual trigger initiates refill of a stock location based on actual demand.
Muda: Japanese for ‘Waste’ (NB also means useless)
PDCA: Plan, Do, Check, Act. An improvement system
Poka Yoke: Mistake proofing. Eg a three pin plug – can’t be plugged in the wrong way
5S: Workplace organisation tool
TIMWOOD: Acronym for the 7 wastes (Muda) in Lean. Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-processing, Overproduction, Defects. Don’t forget the Excess or Unnecessary in front of each.
TPS: Toyota Production System.
VSM: Value Stream Mapping

TOC & Rapid Lean

CTR: Cycle Time Reduction
DBM: Debottlenecking Method. Application of Theory of Constraints (TOC) to production lines
EIS: Essential Improvement System. An improvement system, similar to PDCA or DMAIC
SIM: Sustainable Improvement Model. Matrix Style Lean Improvement Audit
TOC: Theory of Constraints. See Eli Goldratt, ‘The Goal’
V-Curves: Theory of constraints: visual description of optimum line control. The bottom of the v is the bottleneck and describes processes either side of the bottleneck having progressively higher throughput rates

Problem Solving

Fishbone Diagram: Cause and Effect Diagram. Brainstorming based problem solving method
FMEA: Failure Mode and Effect Analysis. Problem solving method
PCS: Problem Cause Solution. Logical based problem solving method
5 Whys: Problem solving method based on asking Why 5 times to determine root cause
5W+1H: 5 Whys + 1 How – variant of five Whys problem solving

General Continuous Improvement: Activity Based Costing

CI: continuous Improving
DSOP: Dynamic Standard Operating Procedure
6Ms: Machines, Methods, Materials, Measurements, Mother Nature, Manpower
OEE: Overall Equipment Effectiveness. Changeover reduction process – similar to cycle time reduction
OPL: One Point Lesson
3P: People, Product, Process
PMO: Project, Management, Office
QFD: Quality, Function, Deployment
ROI: Return on Investment
SIC: Short, Interval, Control
SIPOC: Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers
SMED: Single Minute Exchange of Die
SOP: Standard Operating Procedure
SQDCE: Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost, Engagement
0L: Zero Loss

TPM Terms

CIL: Clean Inspect & Lubricate. Technique to keep assets in original operating condition
CIT: Clean Inspect & Tag. Technique to restore assets to original operating condition
FI: Focused Improvement
MTBF: Mean Time Between Failures
MTTR: Mean Time To Repair
RM: Reliable Maintenance
TPM: Total Productive Maintenance
TQM: Total Quality Management. Derived from Deming’s work - evolved later into TPM

Six sigma terms

DMAIC: Define Measure Analyse Implement Control. An improvement cycle
DOE: Design of Experiments. Systematic method to find cause-and-effect relationships
LCL: Lower Control Limit
SPC: Statistical Process Control
TAKT: Derived from the German word Taktzeit. Often referred to as the heartbeat or drumbeat of production
UCL: Upper Control Limit

General manufacturing terms