The Importance Of Lean Manufacturing

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Literature Review Lean manufacturing is a process that was first implemented by the Toyota Company following the defeat of Japan in World War Two. Wanting to enter the car market, they needed to find a way to adequately compete with US car manufacturers in pricing and production without having as established a company. To do this, lean manufacturing was created, allowing them to enter the atmosphere competitively (Paul, 2014). The concept behind lean manufacturing is quite simple: its singular goal being to cut down waste. Waste is defined as anything which doesn’t add value to the product in the customer’s eyes. By this definition, 60% of the manufacturing process is considered waste, which is why it is so important to reduce it as much …show more content…

Thus, it is extremely important that the subject of lean manufacturing is explored thoroughly, so that the formulation of the ideas can be current to lean manufacturing standards and practices. As such, the scope of this literature review will be solely on well reputed scholarly journals and business information that is relatively current. This allows for the best information gathering on current practices of lean manufacturing. The availability of sources about lean manufacturing are quite numerous, allowing for a plethora of choice when it comes to choosing well reputed sources. Even though there are so many choices, most of the literature seems to suggest the same thing, that lean manufacturing is the path forward when it comes to creating both a superior product and maximizing …show more content…

More valuable employees are created by having them cross-trained. A machine’s life span will raise considerably, as preventative maintenance prevents large failures with it from occurring ("Case Studies/Results", n.d). Less manpower is required within the company, reducing the costs of production will still having an increase in quality. In a study by Jones in 2013, they found that a competitive advantage that is gained through lean practices are extremely valuable. Approximately 60% of all advantages gained this way were able to be maintained for at least 10 years. This give a company more time at the cutting edge, making them more relevant in the long run (Jones,