ELEMENTS OF LEAN OPERATIONS AT ARIENS
The four elements of LEAN as given by Slack & Lewis are 1. Customer Focus or Customer based demand triggers
2. Synchronised Flow
3. Behaviour/Enhanced improvement behavior
4. Waste elimination

CUSTOMER FOCUS The trigger in this case could be the need for a new spindle for the brand lawn tractor products. As in all approaches, customer satisfaction is the focus.

SYNCHRONISED FLOW Synchronised flow can be seen in the fact that for this particular case, several parts were brought from all over the factory and combined together to make one spindle machine.

ENHANCED BEHAVIOUR A cross functional team made up of various people (machinist, maintenance, supervisory and manufacturing engineering employees) came together and worked together to devise a machine that would need only 1 person to operate. The executive team was restaffed with the kind of people ready to learn about LEAN and also very eager to adopt the process. According to Hartwell & Roth (2008) they were people who understood global economy and about streamlining and eliminating waste which is a direct result of LEAN implementation.

WASTE ELIMINATION Shoichiro Toyoda, President, Toyota states that Waste is ‘anything other than the minimum amount of equipments, materials, parts, space, and worker’s time which are absolutely essential to add value to the product’ . By using the LEAN approach, they were able to lower their inventory levels by more than 50%, also together with a 40% reduction in floor space and finally a new tool for eliminating grease dripping was devised thereby also reducing grease waste. They also began distributing directly to the dealers eliminating the need for distributors. All these contribute to eliminating waste in the process improvement.

Reference

1. Hartwell J & Roth G (2006)