Showing results by author "Mohammed Ahmed" in All Categories

One-piece flow, also known as continuous flow, is considered the ultimate lean goal. It describes how items are efficiently moved from one stage of the process to the next by designing the workflow around the requirements of the product. To get from point A to point B is the objective. Any waste or halt in production is equivalent to the stones and dams that direct the flow of water. We examine our layouts, devices, procedures, rules, cultures, and knowledge while attempting to implement flow to see what might be causing these flow-blocking factors. Continuous flow aids in waste reduction. ...

To save money during the economic downturn, many businesses are using abstinence policies. This might mean firing employees and reducing pay for some people. Actually, those actions might only work for a little while. If the company doesn't make a culture of always getting better and change how it works, the problem might happen again and get even worse. This takes us back to the reason why the Toyota production system was created. Waste means something that takes up resources, but doesn't give anything back to the customer. Many activities are not useful and can be divided into two ...

Hoshin Kanri has been used successfully by Toyota and other top-tier companies in Japan and the United States to achieve strategic business and lean goals. The underlying power of a successful hoshin kanri process relays on how Toyota creates an environment of continuous improvement. Toyota is a strong business because of its people, and people are the value of its system. This book focuses more on people rather than the process. Management behavior, motivation, core organizational values and teamwork, leadership development, and culture change are the real factors of any business success. ...

Gemba is a Japanese word meaning the actual place where value-creating work happens. Many leaders use gemba only for solving problems, visiting only when there is an issue. Others practice gemba walks on a daily basis to follow up and monitor the situation. However, Toyota believes that leaders truly develop through daily experiences at the gemba. In reality, gemba is a principle for managing, developing and improving people and processes. It is a valuable tool that helps lean practitioners learn the true facts so they can base management decisions on the actual situation.

Overall equipment efficiency (OEE) shows how well a machine or equipment is performing by comparing the number of defect-free products or parts it makes to its maximum potential output. The OEE of a machine or process at 100 percent means that it is working at its highest possible capacity without any errors. There are three things that make up OEE: availability, performance, and quality. When the actual output is less than expected, professionals can identify areas of improvement in three factors and make changes that maximize the capabilities of the current process, resolve issues, and ...

To make it easier for people to see how their improvements fit into the bigger picture, it's important to have a clear vision and purpose as part of the lean strategy and strategic plan. People should have knowledge about their intended destination. They want to know where you are heading.

First Chapter is about hoshin kanri. Lean strategy deployment is still an emerging research topic addressed by only a limited number of references. Some of these references have explained Hoshin Kanri as a tool for strategic management and planning to achieve the goals and they explain how the method aligns corporate strategic objectives as defined and managed by senior managers (at the strategic level) with the plans and activities of middle management and teams (tactical level) and the work done by the employees (operational level). This process is called catching balls, as all three ...

Some businesses have reduced staff and made resource cuts to survive the global economic downturn, while others have improved business practices and culture. Unfortunately, there is still a difference between successful and less successful businesses in terms of culture adaptability, people management, and process management. In organisations like Toyota, which, in contrast to its rivals, has a mindset of process improvement, culture drives competitive advantage. Other businesses might benefit from Toyota's teachings by changing their routines for behaving and thinking in order to increase ...

Changing how we manage people is important for making any business plan work. In his great book Toyota Kata (2009), Mike Rother talks about how Toyota changes the way its employees act and think by forming new habits and culture. Using the word "kata" to explain how Toyota solves problems instead of using the pharase "problem solving." Toyota’s way helps create a better work environment by teaching people to become better leaders and make positive changes.

How did the ancient Egyptians travel in this quaint old land thousands of years ago? What sort of transportation did they use? For how long did they go? What destinations did they visit? For which purposes did they travel? Is it correct to describe the ancient Egyptian travels as "tourism" or not? According to our current perceptions of tourism, if the Egyptians had tourism in ancient times, did they understand it as such? Which varieties of tourism did the ancient Egyptians have compared to what mankind has today?

Many kaizen programs aim to have a continuous flow, which means processes are constantly moving without interruptions. This is also the ultimate goal of lean production. A "cell" is a group of devices that perform tasks in a certain order, but it is not often to find a smooth and uninterrupted process, which is what makes a cell. In an ideal world, the product would flow smoothly from the beginning to the end, reaching the customer through all the stages of its production. But that would be too much to handle all at once. We need a place where we can focus. That place uses a system called a...

Takt time is calculated as the amount of manufacturing time that is available divided by the volume of orders. In the 1930s, the German aviation industry employed Takt for the first time as a production management tool. The idea was widely used within Toyota in the 1950s, and by the late 1960s, it had been adopted by the majority of the Toyota supplier base. Every month, Toyota assesses the takt for a process, with a modifying review occurring every 10 days. Takt time is used to properly balance supply and demand. It gives a lean production system its beating heart.

Toyota Motor Corporation made a system to make good products, save money, and make things faster by using less waste. TPS has two main parts, just-in-time and jidoka. It is often shown as a "house" image. To improve TPS and keep it running well, we use a process called PDCA or the scientific method. We do this by doing the same tasks over and over again and making small improvements called kaizen. TPS was created by Taiichi Ohno, who managed production at Toyota after World War II. Ohno began using TPS at Toyota in the 1950s and 1960s, starting with machining work. Then, he started using it...

Continuous improvement, also called "Kaizen," means always trying to make things better. It involves making small, gradual changes to processes, systems, and activities in order to keep improving them over time. The aim of getting better constantly is to get rid of unnecessary things and make things go smoother, be better, and make customers happier. Unfortunately, many people wrongly believe that plan-do-check-act (PDCA) is a cycle for improving things without considering the involvement of people. PDCA strives to make process better, but if you only make the process better without ...

Yes, people called the Toyota Production System an inventory reduction program when they first heard of it. “Just in time” is one of the main pillars in the TPS. “Just in time” ideally means “one-piece flow.” Inventory is the greatest waste in the process, and it hides many problems, such as quality problems, breakdown times, waiting waste, and more. Let’s get back to history. Prior to the 1970 oil crisis, very few people in the world know what Toyota was up to. The fact that it emerged stronger than ever while many of its competitors were quite battered made people take ...

The real purpose of 5S is more than just cleaning up once. The 5S method helps to make standards that show problems, keep things stable so we can make small improvements, reduce waste, make a focused and organized workplace, and work together to keep getting better. Visual Thinking describes the 5S system as creating a work environment that is easy to understand, organized, and always getting better.

Having no standardization work process means no quality. Everyone will do this task differently. Tracking the source of errors is difficult without the work standard. When a leader perform gemba walk on shop floor to observe the situation, there is no benefit from the walk when there is no standard. In the classic old way of management, companies were and (many are still) following the Taylor’s principle, Taylor said that industrial engineers should be the only ones who initiate, create, modify, adapt and improve the process. And workers should follow what the industrial engineers are ...

Heijunka, which means "production smoothing or leveling" in Japanese, is a method that helps balance production in all areas and with suppliers over time. It aims to make Just-In-Time (JIT) production easier. Heijunka is an important part of Just-in-Time (JIT) production. It means finding and keeping a consistent level of production. The main purpose of using the Heijunka technique is to provide goods at a consistent pace, which allows other operationsto also run smoothly and predictably. This helps decrease wastes and the amount of inventory.

At first, Taiichi Ohno, who helped create the Toyota Production System, didn't want to write it down because he was afraid people would only pay attention to the tools and theories. When he finally wrote it down, he described it as a house because a house can be considered as a system. If you remove any supports holding up the roof, the roof and everything connected to it will fall down. One of the students of Ohno said that Toyota made a mistake when they named it the Toyota Production System. Instead, Toyota should have named it the Thinking Production System because the main purpose was ...

Andon is a system that alerts people to problems before they happen, in order to make the process more efficient and prevent issues. In manufacturing, an andon is a system that tells managers, maintenance workers, and other employees about a problem with quality or the manufacturing process. But is this all that Andon being?Andon is a system that alerts people to problems before they happen, in order to make the process more efficient and prevent issues. In manufacturing, an andon is a system that tells managers, maintenance workers, and other employees about a problem with quality or the ...