Machine tool manufacturing a lean Approach

Abstract

During the second half of twentieth century the newlineWestern European automotive industry realized that the Japanese way of newlinemanufacturing vehicles out classed the European and American industries newlineprinciples of manufacturing A major resource project was therefore initiated newlineby the end of 1980 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology This project newlinecalled The International Motor Vehicle Program IMVP was aimed to newlineinvestigate and compare the Japanese Automotive industry with the western newlineautomotive industries The IMVP research defines lean production as lean newlinebecause it uses less of everything compared with mass production half the newlinehuman effort in the factory half the manufacturing space half the investment newlinein tools half the engineering hours to develop a new product in half the time newlineThe ultimate goal of implementing lean production in an organization is to newlinehave the customer in focus while improving productivity enhancing quality newlineshortening lead times reducing cost etc newlineLean is a continuous improvement process and there is no newlinemeans to quantify the end to the implementation process The system s newlineimprovement increases multiple folds as the level of commitment increases in newlinethe system Studies indicate lean implementation has been successful in both newlinehigh volume low variety and in batch manufacturing systems newline newline