Lean Production System

 

The lean production system is the western term for Toyota Production System. This production philosophy is now widely used in auto industry around the world. This system has been modified everywhere in the auto industry, adapted to some extent on the local industrial situation or practices, however, its core principles remain the same. This system is not only used in auto industry but also in other non-auto industries involved in assembling process.

In order to understand lean production system, it is important to understand it in its historical perspective first.  If we study the history of the automobile industry, it can be separated in three eras, which can be termed as milestones of the automobile industry. These milestones are:

1. Invention of Automobile (1880)
2. The Henry Ford’s Mass Production System (1910)
3. The Toyota or Lean Production System (1933)

1. Invention of Automobile in 1880

Gotlib Daimler

Carl Benz

Auto-historians give credit of invention of the auto vehicle to two inventors who were contemporaries and almost simultaneously invented the automobile.

Their names were Gotlib Daimler and Karl Benz. However, Carl Benz is generally given credit to develop world’s first automobile in 1885. Both of them were Germans and later their companies were merged, in 1926, to appear as one of the greatest names in automobile Industry, called Daimler Benz-AG. Other contemporaries were Wilhelm Maybach and Seigfried Marcus who was also known for developing automobile later during the same period.

Replica of the Benz Patent Motorwagen built in 1886

2. Henry Ford’s Mass Production System

Henry Ford

Henry Ford with his famous Model T Car

In 1910 Henry Ford laid the foundation of first highly organized assembly line system of automobile manufacturing. He organized all the elements of a manufacturing system-people, machines, tooling, and products– and arranged them in a continuous system called conveyor belt system.

Ford was so incredibly successful that he quickly became one of the world’s richest men and put the world on wheels.

Ford Motor Company also assembled aircraft using mass production techniques.  This mass production success was known as “A-Bomber an Hour” production during WWII when Henry Ford, upon request from US government, produced bomber air crafts for USAF. Before Henry Ford’s take over, the same plant was producing only one bomber a day.

Management of Process Quality

What is the difference between QA and QC?

If you ask people doing jobs in “production” or “quality control” departments,  you would be surprised to learn that confusion about these terminologies exist in their minds also. This assertion sounds weird, yet this is a reality.

Customer Focus and Satisfaction

Definition of Customer

There are two distinct types of customers i.e. external and internal. Internal customers are within the company-the colleagues working together for delivering a service or product for the external customer. We will, however, remain restricted to the external customers here.

An external customer may be an individual or an enterprise that hires or purchases the product(s) or service(s) from another person or business  in exchange of money.

One of the most important factors for the success of an enterprise is its customers. Without them, a business cannot exist. But to capture customers, a business must try to find out what people want, how much and how often they will buy and how their post-purchase satisfaction will be ensured.

What is the relation of a process vs its customer?

The process is defined as a set of interconnected activities that result in a product or a service to be offered to a customer. Thus, their relation is of critical importance. The result of one activity (the process) directly affects the other entity (the customer).

For example, all the customer complaints are analogous to process variation. If variation that is non-conformance to the quality standards occurs, it will ultimately affect the quality of the end product or service. Therefore it important to keep a strong check on this aspect.

Define customer satisfaction?

Customer satisfaction is not an objective statistics but more of a feeling or attitude. If a customer is happy with a product or a service it has hired or purchase they will pay their bills promptly, which greatly improves cash flow-the lifeblood of any organization. Customers that are satisfied will increase in number, buy more, and buy more frequently.

How would you define quality with respect to customer satisfaction process?

Many companies approach customer satisfaction in a narrow way by confining quality considerations to the product alone. Whereas, service connected with the product are  frequently over looked, such as packaging, timely and accurate shipping and ability to meet deadline matters.
customer define quality in terms of their overall experience with the company.