Information on the philosophy of lean production is readily available, the difficulty is implementing a system to accomplish those principles while obtaining tangible and useful results. Production monitoring and feedback systems provide a method of quantifying these principles to allow manufactures to gain insight into their manufacturing process. With this knowledge, manufacturers can increase their efficiencies and reduce overall production costs.
The proper Production Monitoring and Feedback System can give manufacturers the tool they need to implement “lean production” principles while providing quantifiable results in measuring the success of their increased productivity. An outline is presented to implement and quantify Lean Production Concepts and achieve better communication, teamwork, and elimination of waste by properly monitoring production activity and providing real time feedback.
It will first be necessary to provide a brief background into the evolution of Lean Production and its basic components (JIT, Continuous Flow, cellular manufacturing etc.). With that foundation, it will be shown how to quantify these principles by implementing a real time production monitoring and feedback system. After proving that such a system can be used to quantify abstract principles, we need to identify the key traits of a proper system to be successful. The 3 traits of: continuous monitoring of equipment conditions, providing target production goals, and real time performance analysis will be explained. The steps to implement a system will also be provided so that the transition to the new type of manufacturing is smooth and concise.