Chapter 15

Lean
operations
and JIT
Source: Tibbet and Britten
 Lean operations and JIT

Lean operations and JIT Operations

strategy
The market requires …
specified time, quantity and
quality of products and Operations
services Design management Improvement
The operation supplies …
the delivery of products and
services only when needed
Planning and
control
‘The key principle of lean operations is relatively
straightforward to understand: it means moving
towards the elimination of all waste in order to
develop an operation that is faster and more
dependable, produces higher quality products
and services and, above all, operates at low cost.’
 JIT definitions

JIT aims to meet demand instantly, with perfect quality and no waste

More fully:
Improved overall productivity and elimination of waste
Cost-effective production and delivery of only the
necessary quantity of parts at the right quality, at
the right time and place, while using a minimum
amount of facilities, equipment, materials and
human resources
JIT is dependent on the balance between the
supplier’s flexibility and the user’s flexibility
JIT is accomplished through the application of
elements that require total employee involvement Source: Empics
and teamwork

A key philosophy of JIT is simplification

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 JIT material flow
Traditional approach

buffer buffer
inventory inventory
stage A stage B stage C

JIT approach
orders orders

stage A stage B stage C

deliveries deliveries

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 JIT and capacity utilization focus on producing
only when needed
JIT
Traditional approach
approach fewer stoppages
focus on high
capacity utilization lower capacity
utilization, but low inventory so
more stoppages problems are
because of exposed and
problems solved
more production
at each stage high inventory no surplus
means less chance production goes
of problems being into inventory
exposed and solved
extra production
goes into inventory
because of continuing
stoppages at stages

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 The lean philosophy of operations is the basis for JIT
techniques that include JIT methods of planning and control

The lean philosophy of operations

Eliminate waste Involve everyone Continuous
improvement

JIT as a set of techniques for managing

operations JIT as a method of
planning and control
Basic working practices TPM
Pull scheduling
Design for manufacture Set-up reduction
‘Kanban’ control
Operations focus Total people involvement
Levelled scheduling
Small, simple machines Visibility
Mixed modelling
Flow layout JIT supply
Synchronization
Delivering smaller quantities more often can reduce
inventory levels

Inventory
level

Inventory
level
 lean philosophy

As a philosophy, lean synchronization is founded on

1.smoothing flow through processes by doing all the simple things well
2.on gradually doing them better
3.on squeezing out waste every step of the way.

Three key issues define the lean philosophy

1.the involvement of staff in the operation
2. the drive for continuous improvement
3.the elimination of waste.
Waste (muda) Which of these symbols signify non-value-
adding activities?

Activities: TYPES OF WASTE:

operation
over-production

movement waiting time

transport
inspection process
inventory
delay
motion
storage defective goods
 influencing the throughput efficiency

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 7 WASTES OF LEAN PHILOSOPHY
1 Over-production. Producing more than is immediately needed by the next process in
the operation is the greatest source of waste according to Toyota.

2 Waiting time. Equipment efficiency and labour efficiency are two popular measures
which are widely used to measure equipment and labour waiting time, respectively. Less
obvious is the amount of waiting time of items, disguised by operators who are kept busy
producing WIP which is not needed at the time.

3 Transport. Moving items around the operation, together with the double and triple
handling of WIP, does not add value. Layout changes which bring processes closer
together, improvements in transport methods and workplace organization can all reduce
waste.

4 Process. The process itself may be a source of waste. Some operations may only exist
because of poor component design, or poor maintenance, and so could be eliminated.
5 Inventory. All inventory should become a target for elimination. However, it is only by
tackling the causes of inventory that it can be reduced.

6 Motion. An operator may look busy but sometimes no value is being added by the work.
Simplification of work is a rich source of reduction in the waste of motion.

7 Defectives. Quality waste is often very significant in operations. Total costs of quality
are
much greater than has traditionally been considered, and it is therefore more important
to attack the causes of such costs.

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 The problem with inventory

Reduce the level

of inventory (water)
WIP to reveal the
productivity
Defective
materials
operations’ problems
problems
Scrap Rework
Downtime

WIP
Defective
materials
productivity
problems Scrap Rework
Downtime

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 What is lean synchronization?

• Synchronization means that the flow of products and services

always delivers exactly what customers want (perfect quality),
in exact quantities (neither too much nor too little), exactly
when needed (not too early or too late), and exactly where
required (not to the wrong location).
• Lean synchronization is to do all this at the lowest possible
cost. It results in items flowing
• rapidly and smoothly through processes, operations and
supply networks.
 Small machines

The conventional Western approach is to purchase large

machines to get ‘economies of scale’.

These often have long, complex set-ups, and make big

batches, quickly creating ‘waste’.

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 Using several small machines rather than one large one
allows simultaneous processing, is more robust
and is more flexible
JIT small machines approach:

easy to move (layout)

quick set-up
flexible scheduling options
cheaper tooling
planned maintenance easier
fewer set-ups needed

emphasis: flexibility
economies of scope
 Visible, enforced improvement

‘Traditional’ production systems often accept waste and use the

insurance of all types of inventory
In JIT systems:

gradual reduction of inventory

identify exposed problems

eliminate these problems

repeat the cycle

emphasis: continuous improvement in

small steps, to expose waste
and eliminate it

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
 The 5 S’s of Eliminating waste

Sort (Seiri) Eliminate what is not needed and keep what is needed.

Straighten (Seiton) Position things in such a way that they can be

easily reached whenever they are needed.

Shine (Seiso) Keep things clean and tidy; no refuse or dirt in the work
area.

Standardize (Seiketsu) Maintain cleanliness and order – perpetual

neatness.

Sustain (Shitsuke) Develop a commitment and pride in keeping to

standards.
KEY TERMS

Just-in-time (JIT)
A method of planning and control and an operations philosophy
that aims to meet demand instantaneously with perfect quality
and no waste.

Kaizen
Japanese term for continuous improvement.

Set-up reduction
The process of reducing the time taken to change over a
process from one activity to the next; also called single minute
exchange of dies (SMED) after its origins in the metal pressing
industry.

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
KEY TERMS

Single minute exchange of dies (SMED)

Alternative term for set-up reduction.

Andon
A light above a workstation that indicates its state: whether
working, waiting for work, broken down, etc. Andon lights
may be used to stop the whole line when one station
stops.

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
KEY TERMS
Pull control
The exact matching of supply and demand is often best served by using ‘pull control’
wherever possible.its simplest, consider how some fast-food restaurants cook and assemble
food and place it in the warm area only when the customerfacing server has sold an item.
Production is being triggered only by real customer demand. This not only reduces clutter
and the chances of theft, it speeds up throughput time and reduces confusion and
inventories. The essence of pull control is to let the downstream stage in a process,
operation, or supply network, pull items through the system rather than have them ‘pushed’
to them by the supplying stage. As Richard Hall, an authority on lean operations put it,
‘Don’t send nothing nowhere, make ’em come and get it.
Kanban
The use of kanbans is one method of operationalizing pull control. Kanban is the
Japanese for card or signal. ItJapanese term for card or signal; it is a simple
controlling device that is used to authorize the release of materials in pull control
systems such as those used in JIT.

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007
KEY TERMS
Levelled scheduling (Heijunka)
The idea that the mix and volume of activity should even out
over time so as to make output routine and regular, sometimes
known by the Japanese term ‘heijunka’.

Slack, Chambers and Johnston, Operations Management 5th Edition © Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, and Robert Johnston 2007