Author: Muhammad Ahmad

Introduction Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. It combines lean manufacturing/lean enterprise and Six Sigma to eliminate the eight kinds of waste (muda): Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of… Continue reading Lean Six Sigma

If we look at consumption of resources (any resource) or the impact of that consumption over time we can identify a trend, generally increasing over time. The sustainable rate of that consumption, or impact, is often much less. Here we can discuss sustainability in the context of a well cited of the Bruntland Commission, formally the… Continue reading Sustainable Manufacturing: Is Green Equivalent to Sustainable?

In this section, we will dwell on discussing energy and, its close compliment, the environment with respect to precision manufacturing technology. These two – energy and the environment – will drive the technology and practice of precision manufacturing in the future. For sure, the more incremental development, following Moore’s Law – higher density data storage,… Continue reading Sustainable Design and Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing

Design for life cycle refers to the product after it has been manufactured. In many cases, a product can involve a significant cost to the customer beyond the purchase price. These costs include installation, maintenance and repair, spare parts, future upgrading of the product, safety during operation, and disposition of the product at the end… Continue reading Design for Life Cycle

Investments in Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems are driven by the desire for high‐quality components, small batch sixes, agility, and short lead times. In the early stages of part specification, the creation of an integrated CAD/CAM environment is the key to rapid off‐line simulation and verification of new part designs. Design, process planning, and manufacturing integration… Continue reading Manufacturing System Characteristics: Process Planning Basics

The following steps should be implemented to create the ideal lean manufacturing system: Design a Simple Manufacturing System A fundamental principle of lean manufacturing is demand‐based flow manufacturing. In this type of production setting, inventory is only pulled through each production center when it is needed to meet a customer’s order. The benefits of this… Continue reading Steps to Achieve Lean Systems

Strategy Lean production has been adopted into other industries to promote productivity and efficiency in an ever‐changing market. In global supply chain and outsource scale, IT is necessary and can deal with most of hard lean practices to synchronize pull system in supply chains and value system. The manufacturing industry can renew and change strategy of… Continue reading Examples: Lean Strategy in the Global Supply Chain and Its Crisis

The espoused goals of lean manufacturing systems differ between various authors. While some maintain an internal focus, e.g., to increase profit for the organization, others claim that improvements should be done for the sake of the customer (Liker and Hoseus 2008; Wormack et al. 1990). Some commonly mentioned goals are as follows: The strategic elements of lean… Continue reading Goal and Strategy

Lean principles have been successfully applied to various sectors and services. For example, call center services use these principles to improve live agent call handling. By combining agent‐assisted automation and lean’s waste reduction practices, a company reduced handle time, reduced between agent variability, reduced accent barriers, and attained near perfect process adherence (Padmane et al. 2013).… Continue reading Lean Services

While lean is seen by many as a generalization of the TPS into other industries and contexts, there are some acknowledged differences that seem to have developed in implementation.