Process Industry Lean Lessons
In his excellent article, Siew Mun Ha highlights the fundamental differences between process-based and discrete manufacturing. He points out that in a single-product, single raw material process, machinery uptime is a critical determinant of efficiency. In many process industries though, different raw materials are combined. For instance, many types of vegetables are used in baby food. In many process industries, different products are differentially processed. For example, a basic steel type can be rolled out into many different cross sections and cut into many lengths for different end uses. Or take cheese as another example. The most basic cheese product is a large yellow slab. But very few large slabs of cheese are consumed compared to unwrapped slices, shreds, wrapped slices, staggered wrapped slices, and so forth. Each of these products assumes all the characteristics of discrete parts manufacture, including the introduction of overproduction, inventory, transportation, and waiting wastes.
Meantime, in the back offices, purchasing departments, and even maintenance departments of all styles of organization, the 7 types of waste abound within information and paper processing. And while Siew Mun Ha focuses on machine uptime as a justifiably significant cause of suboptimization, so are logistic, data, and human resources shortfalls and shortcomings. As Lean fundamentalists, we at GP Operational Excellence seldom find cause to abandon any of the core lean principles in our work.
We also remain keenly aware, as Hino points out in his book, that enterprise success at the Toyota level involves balancing his nine traditions, eight paradigm elements, fourteen management functions, and eight production functions.
Crossing all of these are needed key competencies in deploying and motivating people, generating ideas, and solving problems. Without these, attempts at instituting systems, eliminating waste, and practicing TPM will all be for naught.
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