What Are the Benefits of Lean Manufacturing? (From a Company Applying It)

It all started in the 1950s and 1960s with “The Toyota Way.” This manufacturing model was the operational system the Japanese company used to create high-quality automobiles. Not only was it an efficient production practice, but it was also a management philosophy, and it gained global attention.

Later, in the US in 1988, John Krafcik coined the term “Lean” to describe the efficiencies some successful manufacturers were implementing—practices born from the Toyota Production System. Today, “Lean is defined as a set of management practices to improve efficiency and effectiveness by eliminating waste” (asq.org). A lot of emphasis has been placed on Lean manufacturing over the years, but what are the real benefits? Let’s dive in.

What Are the Benefits of Lean Manufacturing?

The main benefit of Lean manufacturing is that it improves efficiency. Every component of Lean management practices compounds upon each other to create measurable improvements. Manufacturing facilities that implement Lean principles often experience:

1. Increased Productivity

Lean encourages manufacturers to take a look at their inefficiencies, fix them, and set expectations around established routines.

2. Minimized Waste

For Lean to function inside a manufacturing facility, anything that doesn’t add value to the production process must be eliminated—this includes disorganized materials and wasted time.

3. Improved Quality

When refinements are made to a production process, it becomes easier for manufacturers to make higher-quality products faster.

4. Increased Employee Satisfaction

Lean manufacturing makes expectations clear and processes systematic, allowing employees to work confidently on their established job.

What Does It Mean to Be Lean Certified?

If you’re looking to take your company to the next level with a Lean manufacturing certification, you have several options to choose from. Remember that although there are several steps a company can take to implement Lean, ultimately, it’s a management practice.

It can be valuable to receive lean-related management training or take your company through a longer program, but it’s also possible to utilize the well known Lean practices to improve your operations internally. To fully integrate Lean into your company, you must prepare for a multi-year, entire team effort.

How We’re Using Lean Practices at Falcon Structures

Like many manufacturers, we want a smooth and efficient production process that helps us create the highest quality products. In fact, many of our customers utilize Lean practices to create products that are changing industries.

At Falcon, we keep our focus on improvement, which is a never-ending journey. We know that we want to build a better product quicker, with higher quality and less cost and we believe Lean will help us get closer to that goal.

Most importantly, we understand that Lean benefits our customers by:

1. Increasing the likelihood that we deliver the most accurate design
2. Making our processes as efficient as possible
3. Ensuring the fairest price (due to improvements that help us cut costs)

We view our manufacturing schedule as a science and we’re confident that Lean manufacturing will only help our quality improve.

Falcon Structures is a shipping container modification manufacturing company working to build a better world by pioneering the use of container-based structures. Falcon modifies boxes to become storage units, workspaces, bathrooms & locker rooms, living spaces, industrial enclosures, and multi-containers.