你很难找到一个不熟悉精益生产的制造商. Lean Manufacturing, the idea, has become increasingly popular since 1990, when Jim Womack coined the term in his book, The Machine that Changed the World.
Surprisingly, though, 许多制造商未能充分利用精益生产的所有竞争优势. Why?
Well, for a variety of reasons, the most common of which are:
- 缺乏远见、时间和洞察力来转换几十年的旧流程.
- 只执行一些零零碎碎的精益概念——只产生一些零零碎碎的结果.
- 未能将精益概念从生产车间应用到办公室.
Lean Throughout History
While the popularization of Lean is relatively recent, 这个概念可以追溯到20世纪初，当时亨利·福特大胆地无视按部门分组的大型通用机器的传统观念. 他的公司用连续流水装配线彻底改变了制造业, 紧密排列流程步骤并按顺序创建流程.
Where Ford Motor Company failed in this endeavor, though, 还是因为它无法提供多样性:它的系统无法解决机器切换问题. 其他汽车制造商利用了对多样化的需求，但不幸的是，他们又退回到部门生产. They used large, general-purpose machines that ran fast, 但最终库存膨胀，交货期延长. Why? Because flow was not factored into the equation.
Fast-forward to the 1940s and ‘50s. 丰田检查了福特和其他汽车制造商的系统, after identifying the flaws, 着手开发一种制造系统，促进连续流动，同时提供多样性-在汽车制造业的第一个. And the Toyota Production System (TPS) was born.
通过认识到以消费者需求的速度生产的重要性，以一种不会产生过剩库存的方式, Toyota found itself in a newly competitive position. In fact, Taiichi Ohno, one of the founders of TPS, famously said, “The more inventory a company has, the less likely it is they will have what they need.”
TPS是如此具有革命性和成功，因为它专注于产品流程, reduced set-up times, 合适的机器尺寸和体积，基本上保证了该过程可以在一个高效率的生产少量的许多零件, high-quality way. With TPS, 交货时间大大缩短，所有的重点放在消费者-提供品种, options and quality consumers desired at a competitive price.
Lean Today
Today, this Lean thinking, this “purposeful elimination of wasteful activities,” reaches far beyond auto manufacturers. 事实上，它已经并将继续对世界各地的公司产生重大影响.
在他的书《安全的赌博软件》中，沃马克讨论了精益的五个主要的、普遍的原则:
- The customer defines value.
- The company must focus on eliminating waste. (浪费是指任何不能给客户增加价值的活动.)
- The customer establishes pull.
- The company must involve and empower people who add value.
- The total cost is the ultimate performance metric.
因此，精益生产只不过是提高生产质量的又一种流行方法? Absolutely not. 只要看看丰田的成功，你就会意识到精益生产可以提供巨大的好处和持续的成功.
通过关注顾客的需求，进步的公司正在从竞争中脱颖而出.
Common Pitfalls – and Avoiding Them
但是精益技术的成功并非没有挑战和阻力. 在开始精益之旅时，公司可能会面临以下几个问题:
Many people falsely associate Lean with “head count reduction.”
In reality, 精益是关于理解消费者并确保你的流程满足他们的期望. 精益是指利用员工的知识来更好地服务客户. 精益是关于持续改进，关于为你的企业建立更多的能力. 如何利用这种能力决定了精益的成功. 如果精益的实施伴随着裁员，员工将永远失去支持.
Short-term financial hits are common with Lean deployments.
传统的吸收会计将管理费用分配给库存和, as inventories are reduced, prior period costs are expensed in the current period. 没有通知财务和行政领导这一事实, 许多领导者可能错误地将精益与利润下降联系在一起. 相反，这是一种短期现象，事实上，现金流应该得到改善.
It’s human nature to resist change.
精益只有在管理层完全致力于精益并理解它的意义时才会成功——没有高管的支持和真正的领导, Lean will probably fail in your company. You can pick and choose certain “Lean projects,” but without fully embracing Lean, you will not achieve the potential world-class results. According to Art Byrne, Wiremold(美国最成功的精益企业之一)前首席执行官, 超过70%的公司表示他们正在实施精益生产. 但实际上，这些公司中只有3%到5%是真正的精益企业.
The Future of Lean
Lean continues to evolve. Now, 中小型制造商开始接受精益技术, 而“精益企业”——一个对实施精益原则的组织的称呼——是业界的热门新名词. 除了专注于企业的制造业务, 最进步的所有者和执行领导层已经认识到理解和分析完整的价值流同样重要, from customer order to delivery and collection. 这些公司已经在他们的办公室和管理流程中实施了精益实践, to much success. And this will only increase in the future.
One thing is certain – and that is change. 正是凭借这种持续改进的思维模式，各种规模的世界级公司都在开展精益计划，并寻找改进流程的方法，以更好地为客户服务.
在今天和明天竞争激烈的制造环境, it’s imperative to continuously analyze processes. If you successfully and fully implement Lean, 你将不断提高自己在市场上竞争的能力.
Note: 此内容在上述发布日期是准确的，并有可能更改. 在就本文所载的任何事项采取行动之前，请寻求专业意见.