Lean vs Agile Manufacturing
Agile Manufacturing
Principles of Lean Production
Definition
Agile manufacturing is a term applied to an organization that has created the processes, tools, and training to enable it to respond quickly to customer needs and market changes while still controlling costs and quality.
2. Perfect First-Time Quality
Comparison: Lean vs Agile
3. Flexible Production System
Objectives in Production Operations
Comparison: Lean vs Agile
- Just-in-time delivery discipline used in Lean production
- Workers had to be told every detail of their work methods and were incapable of planning their own tasks. By comparison.
- Lean production makes use of worker teams to organize the tasks to be accomplished
- and worker involvement to solve technical problems.
Lean Manufacturing
“Agility is to Lean as manufacturing
resource
planning is to material requirements planning”
For a company to be Agile, it must
also be Lean.
Objectives in production operations and procedures that are consistent with an agility strategy are the following:
- Be a cost-effective, low-volume producer
- Be able to produce to customer order
- Master mass customization
- Use reconfigurable and reusable processes, tooling, and resources
- Bring customers closer to the production process
Attributes of Lean Production
- Enhancement of mass production
- Flexible production for product variety
- Focus on factory operations
- Emphasis on supplier management
- Emphasis on efficient use of resources
- Relies on smooth production schedule
Managing Relationships for Agility
The general policies and practices that promote cooperation in relationships and, in general , promote agility in an organization include the following:
- Management philosophy that promotes motivation and support among employees
- Trust-based relationships
- Empowered workforce
- Shared responsibility for success or failure
- Pervasive entrepreneurial spirit
Virtual Enterprise
History of Agile Manufacturing
Virtual Enterprise is defined as defined
as a temporary partnership of independent resources (personnel, assets and other resources) intended to exploit a temporary market opportunity.
Reorganizing the Production System for Agility
- In 1991, an industry-led study was accomplished under the auspices of the Iacocca Institute at Lehigh University.
- Sponsored by United States Navy ManTech Program and involved 13 US companies.
- The report of the study was entitled 21st Century Manufacturing Enterprise Study.
Comparison: Lean vs Agile
ZARA
One example of a company using a hybrid strategy in its supply chain is Zara, a Spanish fashion designer and retailer. Zara directly manufactures most of the products it designs and sells, and performs activities such as cutting, dying, labeling, and packaging in-house to gain economies of scale. A network of dedicated subcontractors performs other finishing operations that cannot be completed in-house.
As a result, Zara has a supply chain that is not only agile and flexible, but incorporates many Lean characteristics into its processes.
Four Principles of Agile Manufacturing
- Enrich the customer
- Cooperate to enhance competitiveness
- Organize to master change
- Leverage the impact of people and information
Comparison: Lean vs Agile
Four Principles of Lean Production
- Minimize waste
- Perfect first-time quality
- Flexible production lines
- Continuous improvement
Principles of Lean Production
Key Findings of Study
4. Continuous Improvement
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1. Environment forcing changes in manufacturing systems and organization.
2. Agile companies will have competitive advantage in this environment.
3. Agility requires integration
- Flexible production technologies
- Knowledge work force
- Management Structures
4. US industry can lead the transition to agile manufacturing.
- It is carried out on one project at a time
Improvements:
- cost reduction.
- quality improvement, productivity improvement, setup time reduction, cycle time
- reduction, manufacturing lead time and work-in-process inventory reduction, and improvement
- of product design to increase performance and customer appeal
When Kimberly Clark has a product promotion they need market information.
They collaborate with customers, learn about their market forecast and integrate with commercial teams to ensure that manufacturing has a must respond mentality. For products that aren’t on promotion, Kimberly Clark can use a more traditional lean supply chain methodology. Agile supply chains demand good processes – and processes are established by people.
The apparel brand Benetton uses lean supply chain strategies to predict how many garments to make in each style. They make the garments to meet the forecasted demand, but leave them un-dyed until customers select which color they want. Their responsiveness to consumer demands is borrowed from agile supply chain strategies. With this hybrid approach, Benetton can remain responsive to their customers while keeping the supply chain efficient.
Kimberly Clark
Benetton
Thank You!
Comparison: Lean vs Agile
Bottom Line
Agility Versus Mass Production (contd.)
The difference between lean and agile is the fluidity with response to the market. A lean supply chain focuses on cutting costs by producing high volumes of products with low variability. An agile supply chain focuses on responding to the market demand with smaller, customizable batches of items. Often a lean supply chain is more cost-effective and predictable, while an agile supply chain is more flexible and adaptable.
Objectives of Marketing
Lean Production
Agility Versus Mass Production
Benefits of Virtual Enterprise
In mass production,
Q is very large
P is very small.
In Agility or mass customization,
P is very large
Q is very small (in the extreme Q '" 1)
where
P = product variety (number of models)
Q = production quantity (units of each model per year).
History of Lean Production:
Lean production can be traced to 1960s in Japan when TOYOTA MOTORS
started innovating changes in mass production to deal with its domestic automotive market.
The person named TAIICHI OHNO (1912-1990), initiated the idea of lean production.
Being an agile marketing company
suggests the following objectives:
- Aggressive and proactive product marketing
- Cannibalize successful products
- Frequent new product introductions
- Life cycle product support
- Pricing by customer value
- Effective niche market competitor
Benefits are as follow:
- It may provide access to resources and technologies not available in-house.
- It may provide access to new markets and distribution channels.
- It may reduce product development time, and it accelerates technology transfer.
Features of Agile Manufacturing
- Market forces and agility
- Recognizing the production system for agility
- Managing relationships
- Agility versus mass production
Agility Versus Mass Production (contd.)
What is Lean Production?
Relationships
It can be defined as more and more with less and less human effort, less equipment, less time and space while coming closer and closer to providing customers what they exactly want.
Principles of Lean Production
By minimizing the following factors:
- Production of defective parts
- unnecessary inventories
- unnecessary processing steps
- unnecessary transport of materials
- workers waiting
- Internal Relationship
- External Relationship
1. Minimize Waste
Characteristics of Agile Manufacturing
Comparison: Lean vs Agile
Attributes of Agile Manufacturing
- Break with mass production; emphasis on mass customization
- Greater flexibility for customized products
- Scope is enterprise wide
- Formation of virtual enterprises
- Emphasis on thriving in environment marked by continuous unpredictable change
- Acknowledges and attempts to be responsive to change
Characteristics of Product Design
For a company to be more agile, product design should have following characteristics:
- Customizable
- Upgradeable
- Reconfigurable
- Design Modularity
- Frequent Model changes
- Rapid
- Cost-effective development of new products
Four Principles
- Organize to master change
- Cooperate to enhance competitiveness
- Enrich the customer
- Leverage the impact of people and information
- Short time-to-market
- Fast new product development
- Modular design
- Modular assembly
- Short fast order processing
- Configure to order
- Make-to-Order
- Low volumes
- Low quantities
- High product mix
- Configurable components
- Fast supplier deliveries
- Short lead times
- Short cycle times
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-Lean or Agile? a comparison of approach by Rupesh Lochan.
-The similarities between Lean & Agile manufacturing by David Ingram.
-Automation, production systems and Computer
integrated manufacturing by Mikell P. Groover.
References