Lean Tutorial

1. Briefly describe what is lean manufacturing and its aim.

2. Name the seven forms of waste as identified in Lean Manufacturing. Briefly describe the 7
forms of waste by Shingo.
3. What are the main factors that disguised as waste in a manufacturing enterprise?
4. Please provide a diagram to represent the ‘Lean Techniques to Eliminate Waste’ from the
following attributes: (a) Increase Flexibility; (b) Smooth the flow and (c) Continuously
Improve.
5. In Lean Techniques of eliminating waste. What is the difference between ‘Pull System’ and
‘Push System’? Which one is ‘Lean’ encourages to use?
6. If the customer requires 100 units a day, the Takt Time is:
= (available time)/customer demand
= (7.5 hrs)/100 units
= (7.5 * 60) minutes/100 units
= 4.5 minutes
What does it mean?
7. Name FOUR main benefits of Lean Manufacturing.
 Lean Tutorial
8. (a) In Lean Manufacturing, what are the techniques in Cellular Layouts?
(b) Northumbria Electronic Connectors Ltd is a company providing a family of high quality
circular connector products as shown in Figure 1. The circular connectors are manufactured
according to military and commercial applications. The company seeks out to implement
Cellular Layouts to improve their manufacturing efficiency. The initial discussion by the
management team is to divide the plant into different cells as shown in Figure 2. So, (i)
which is most effective technique to be implemented in such layout? (ii) Please also
provide a brief discussion of the identified technique.

Figure 2. A Typical Cellular Layouts

 Lean Tutorial
9. In Lean Manufacturing, what is Kanban? Please provide the names of THREE types of
Kanbans and briefly describe each of them.
10. 5S is the name of a workplace organization methodology that uses a list of five Japanese
words which are seiri (sort), seiton (set in order), seiso (shine), seiketsu standardize) and
shitsuke (sustain). What are their goals?
 Answers
1. Briefly describe what is lean manufacturing and
its aim.
Lean Manufacturing can be defined as:
"A systematic approach to identifying and
eliminating waste (non-value-added activities)
through continuous improvement by flowing the
product through flow processes based on a signal
from the customer."

The aim of Lean is the elimination of waste in

every area of the organization
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2. Name the seven forms of waste as identified in Lean Manufacturing.
Briefly describe the 7 forms of waste by Shingo.
 Answers
3. What are the main factors that disguised as waste in a manufacturing
enterprise?

Waste in a Manufacturing Enterprise can be disguised as:

• Lost Time/Injury Accidents
• Scrap/Rework
• Machine Setups
• Machine Downtime
• Calibrations
• Inventory Storage
• Etc.
 Answers
4. Please provide a diagram to represent the ‘Lean Techniques to
Eliminate Waste’ from the following attributes: (a) Increase
Flexibility; (b) Smooth the flow and (c) Continuously Improve.
 Answers
5. In Lean Techniques of eliminating waste. What is the
difference between ‘Pull System’ and ‘Push System’? Which
one is ‘Lean’ encourages to use?

Pull System - method of controlling the flow of resources by

replacing only what has been consumed. A pull system relies on
customer demand.
Push System - resources are provided to the consumer based on
forecasts or schedules.

Lean manufacturing encourages the elimination of push systems

and use pull system.
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6. If the customer requires 100 units a day, the Takt Time is:
= (available time)/customer demand
= (7.5 hrs)/100 units
= (7.5 * 60) minutes/100 units
= 4.5 minutes
What does it mean?

This means a unit needs to be completed every 4 ½ minutes.

Therefore every step or component needs to be done/delivered
every 4 ½ minutes.
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7. Name FOUR main benefits of Lean Manufacturing.

Any FOUR from the following:

• Reduced inventory
• Improved quality
• Lower costs
• Reduced space requirements
• Shorter lead time
• Increased productivity
• Greater flexibility
• Better relations with suppliers
• Simplified scheduling and control activities
• Increased capacity
• Better use of human resources
• More product variety
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8. (a) In Lean Manufacturing, what are the techniques in Cellular Layouts?
- Group layout
- Functional layout
- Line layout

(b) Northumbria Electronic Connectors Ltd is a company providing a family of high

quality circular connector products as shown in Figure 1. The circular connectors are
manufactured according to military and commercial applications. The company seeks
out to implement Cellular Layouts to improve their manufacturing efficiency. The initial
discussion by the management team is to divide the plant into different cells as shown
in Figure 2. So, (i) which is most effective technique to be implemented in such layout?
(ii) Please also provide a brief discussion of the identified technique.
(i) Group layout
(ii) A group is a list of machines, selected for layout together in one place, because it
contains all necessary facilities to complete the processing of a given family of parts.
A family of parts can only be defined by relating it to a particular group of machines,
and a group by relating it to a family. Groups vary greatly in type and size, widely in
the number of machines and different machines types.
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9. In Lean Manufacturing, what is Kanban? Please provide the names of THREE types of
Kanbans and briefly describe each of them.

• Kanban or a kanban system is a type of a signaling system used in a pull production

process, the signaling system can be cards, containers or squares to identify where
materials are stored. Where the containers or squares are empty, the cards or the
container itself can be used as the indication for the operators to produce more
products.
• Any THREE from the following:
– Production kanban: authorizes manufacturing of goods
– Withdrawal kanban: authorizes movement of goods
– Kanban square: a marked area designated to hold items
– Signal kanban: a triangular kanban used to signal manufacturing at the previous
workstation
– Material kanban: used to order material in advance of a process
– Supplier kanban: rotates between the factory and suppliers
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10. 5S is the name of a workplace organization methodology that uses a list of five
Japanese words which are seiri (sort), seiton (set in order), seiso (shine), seiketsu
standardize) and shitsuke (sustain). What are their goals?