Lean Manufacturing

Naga Vamsi Krishna Jasti

BITS Pilani Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Hyderabad Campus
 BITS Pilani
Hyderabad Campus

Lean Manufacturing
 Topics to be covered
 Toyota Work Design
 Activity Level
 Connection Level
 Pathway Level
 System Level
 Hypothesis and Testing

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Brief Summary of Lecture 16
Spear, Steven, and H. Kent Bowen. "Decoding the DNA
of the Toyota Production System. " Harvard Business
Review. (Sept-Oct 1999):
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/3512.html
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/0869.html

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Common Problems
 When people are assigned to a job, it is unclear what
exactly they are expected to do and how they should go
about doing it
 Typically job descriptions are not specific, i.e., is there a
particular “best” way to do the job?
 Especially in assembly, people do not understand their role
in terms of meeting the ultimate customer requirement.
They are merely doing their assigned task.
 When people run into problems, they are afraid to ask
questions for fear of reprisals
 There is no incentive for improvement and risk taking for
fear of failure
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Elimination of Common Problems: How
 Design of the work structure
–At the activity level
–At the level of connections with others
–At the level of the pathways across the overall
system
–For the system to understand what is required
of it
 Methods for improving the work practices
and structure

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Toyota Work Design

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Activity Level
 Mass production is example to how typical plants should not design
each activity, connection, pathways as they should be. This is the reason
why the performance of these organizations is subpar.
 At the activity level, Toyota spends effort to ensure that each task is
specified in sufficient detail and the worker must be trained to be able to
accomplish the task in the time given.
 At the activity level, we deal with individual tasks, e.g., installing a seat in
a car.
 An example could be where 4 bolts have to be installed and tightened
– In what order should they be installed?
– What tool/torque gun should be used to tighten them?
– What is the right torque to tighten them to?
– Should each bolt be installed and tightened individually, or should all
of them be installed and tightened together?
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Connection, Pathway and system Level
 At the connections level, Toyota ensures that each person
who needs to supply some part or service to another is
clearly specified, so that there is no confusion and delay in
the completion of each task involving more than one
person.
 At the pathways level, the entire path of the a job has to
be clearly specified to ensure that we do not have any
ambiguity, any redundancy, or gaps.
 At the systems level, we need to ensure that the needs of
the customer are clearly and unambiguously understood.

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Toyota Work Design
 Continuously Improvement (PDCA)
 Finally, the article suggests that all the people at
Toyota are like scientists who are constantly testing
hypothesis in a way to ensure that each task and the
system is designed and operating correctly.

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Toyota Hypothesis
 The authors suggest that Toyota uses a test of
hypothesis at each level of system design discussed
earlier.
 The hypothesis is that the system is designed correctly
and the operators understand the system and can
accomplish the task as expected, in the time given.
 If any task, hand-off etc., does not happen as
expected, it means that the system design has to be
rethought, or the worker needs to be retrained.
 This way, Toyota creates a learning organization.

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Four Rules
 Rule 1:
All work shall be highly specified as to content, sequence, timing, and
outcome
 Rule 2:
Every customer-specific connection must be direct, and there must be
an unambiguous yes-or-no way to send requests and receive responses
Rule 3:
 The pathway for every product and service must be simple and direct
Rule 4:
 Any improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific
method, under the guidance of a teacher, at the lowest possible level
in the organization

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Rule 1

 Hypothesis: The person or machine can do the task as

specified
 Sign of problem: The task cannot be performed as
specified
 Response: Determine the true skill level of the person
or the true capability of the machine and train or
modify as appropriate.

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Rule 1
•Hypothesis: If the activity is done as specified, the
product will be defect free
•Sign of a problem: Outcome is defective
•Response: Modify the design activity.

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Rule 2

•Hypothesis: Customers’ requests will be in a specific mix

and volume
•Signs of a problem: Responses don’t keep pace with
requests
•Response: Determine the true mix and volume of
demand and the true capability of the supplier.
•Hypothesis: The supplier can respond to the customer
requests
•Signs of a problem: Supplier is idle
•Response: Retrain, modify activities, or reassign
customer-supplier pairs as appropriate.
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Rule 3

•Hypothesis: Every supplier that s connected to the flow path

is required
•Signs of a problem: A person or machine is not really needed
•Response: Determine why the supplier was unnecessary, and
redesign the flow path.

• Hypothesis: Any supplier not connected is not required

• Signs of a problem: A non-specified supplier provides a
service
• Response: Learn why the non specified supplier was
actually required, and redesign the flow path.
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Rule 4

•Hypothesis: A specific change in an activity,

connection, or flow path will improve cost, quality,
lead time etc in a specific amount
•Signs of a problem: The actual result is different
from the expected result
•Response: Learn how the activity was actually
performed or the connection or flow path was
actually operated. Determine the true effects of the
change. Redesign the change.

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 Discussion questions

 How well are jobs specified in your organization? Do

the job descriptions go beyond SOPS? How well are
they documented?
 How much training do people in your organization
receive in the jobs they are expected to perform?
 When a person has difficulty in work , is there a
designated person that he/she can go to, to seek
help?

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 Thank you

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