Lean techniques are a systematic production and supply chain management model that aims at minimizing the waste products and enhancing efficiency in the manufacturing process. The lean production techniques are mainly concerned with the maximum utilization of the items which add value to the production process and at the same eliminate the materials which do not have any additional value to the production procedures. The lean concept was initially developed and tested by Toyota Automobile Company through the Toyota production process. One of the Lean production techniques principles states that as the elimination of waste is increased in the production mechanisms of any particular manufacturing company, it causes a corresponding increase in the value of the final product. Over the last few decades, the lean production techniques have been adopted by numerous companies to improve efficiency in their production processes (Shah & Ward, 2007). This paper will critically analyze employment of lean production techniques by the Trumpf Company.
Trumpf Company is the world's leading manufacturer of sheet metal processing machinery. The company was founded in 1923. It has employed a significant number of employees across all it working stations in the entire world totaling to more than ten thousand employees. The company is family owned and identified as one of the biggest steel machine builders across the entire world. As other production companies from various sectors are rushing to implement the lean production techniques based on the Toyota Company archetype, Trumpf has not been left behind. In fact, the company boasts one of the most successful and productive lean production process identified as the Synchro production system. The Synchro production system by the Trumpf Company presents a perfect example of a well-established and customized lean production technology that has proved to be significantly effective by ensuring increased efficiency in the production of machinery tools by the Trumpf Company.
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The lean techniques are clearly explained by the Synchro production processes of the Trumph Company. This production strategy lays down the principles and the procedures for employment and adoption of lean production technique by the Trumph Company. Approximately two decades ago, the Trumpf Company production processes were similar to those of other machine tools building companies in Germany characterized by excess inventories, unsystematic manufacturing and constant delays in the production processes. However, all this started changing gradually with the adoption of lean techniques in their production mechanisms through the Synchro production process. The company started to roll out the lean production techniques in the year 2000 through the actualization of the Synchro model of production. The Synchro lean model illustrates synchronization of the market, materials, machines and the workforce in the company to enhance the efficiency of the entire process ( Abdulmalek & Rajgopal, 2007).
Furthermore, the Trumpf Company initiated the adoption procedure of the lean production techniques in successive phases. At first, the company commenced the execution of the flow of production method. The flow of production strategy was implemented in the form of employment of an assembly line production method by the company. Nowadays, it is one of the most successive accomplishment attained by the firm through the adoption of the lean techniques. It is estimated that the flow line of the Trumpf Company is capable of assembling more than five hundred units of the machine tools annually. Secondly, the company activated the piece flow and Just In Time (JIT) inventory management techniques that have significantly led to the reduction of the inventories and efficient supplier integration in the company's production processes. In some instances, Trumpf had extended the Just In Time model of inventory management to their suppliers, but it failed on several occasions as a result of constantly varying demand and supply elasticity of the supplies ( Netland, 2013). Concisely, the firm has invented the data tracking mechanisms all over its working stations to ensure continuous follow-up of the company's performances. Data tracking by the Trumpf Company includes but is not limited to delivery performance, measures of productivity and the number of staff members in the production process.
Additionally, it is important to note that the implementation of the lean production techniques by the Trumpf Company has resulted in a significant improvement in its production capacity, quality, delivery and overall efficiency of the entire production process of manufacturing the machinery tools. Moreover, the techniques have been able to reduce the inventory, and in the process, the company has been able to manage its inventories appropriately. As such, the inventory waste has been adequately handled by the lean production methods.
Based on the facts mentioned earlier concerning the effectiveness of lean techniques in production, it would be very effective when implemented in the clothes and footwear manufacturing firms. In most cases, these firms usually suffer the challenges of inventory management which in turn leads to delays in the production processes and the entire productivity of the enterprise. As such, execution of the lean production techniques such as Just In Time (JIT) and piece flow would be effective to regulate the inventories in the production of clothes and footwear. Additionally, the lean techniques can be applied in these firms to promote fast tracking of each and every products and material in the company so as to ensure maximum accountability and efficiency in the production process.
References
Abdulmalek, F. A., & Rajgopal, J. (2007). Analyzing the benefits of lean manufacturing and value stream mapping via simulation: A process sector case study. International Journal of Production Economics , 107 (1), 223-236.
Netland, T. (2013). Exploring the phenomenon of company-specific production systems: one-best-way or own-best-way?. International Journal of Production Research , 51 (4), 1084-1097.
Shah, R., & Ward, P. T. (2007). Defining and developing measures of lean production. Journal of operations management , 25 (4), 785-805.
