Lean Building Blocks
In order to reduce or eliminate the above wastes, Lean practitioners utilize many tools or Lean Building Blocks.
Successful practitioners recognize that, although most of these may be implemented as stand-alone programs, few have
significant impact when used alone. Additionally, the sequence of implementation affects the overall impact, and
implementing some out of order may actually produce negative results (for example, you should address quick changeover
and quality before reducing batch sizes). The more common building blocks are listed below. Note that some are used
only in manufacturing organizations, but most apply equally to service industries.
• Pull System – The technique for producing parts at customer demand. Service organizations operate this
way by their very nature. Manufacturers, on the other hand, have historically operated by a Push System,
building products to stock (per sales forecast), without firm customer orders.
• Kanban – A method for maintaining an orderly flow of material. Kanban cards are used to indicate material
order points, how much material is needed, from where the material is ordered, and to where it should be
delivered.
• Work Cells – The technique of arranging operations and/or people in a cell (U-shaped, etc.) rather than in a
traditional straight assembly line. Among other things, the cellular concept allows for better utilization of
people and improves communication.
• Total Productive Maintenance – TPM capitalizes on proactive and progressive maintenance
methodologies and calls upon the knowledge and cooperation of operators, equipment vendors, engineering,
and support personnel to optimize machine performance. Results of this optimized performance include;
elimination of breakdowns, reduction of unscheduled and scheduled downtime, improved utilization, higher
throughput, and better product quality. Bottom-line results include; lower operating costs, longer equipment
life, and lower overall maintenance costs.
• Total Quality Management – Total Quality Management is a management system used to continuously
improve all areas of a company's operation. TQM is applicable to every operation in the company and
recognizes the strength of employee involvement.
• Point-Of-Use-Storage – See above for more information on POUS.
• Quick Changeover (a.k.a., Set Up Reduction and Single Minute Exchange of Dies) – The technique of
reducing the amount of time to change a process from running one specific type of product to another. The
purpose for reducing changeover time is not for increasing production capacity, but to allow for more
frequent changeovers in order to increase production flexibility. Quicker changeovers allow for smaller
batch sizes. See Batch Size Reduction below for more details.
• Batch Size Reduction – Historically, manufacturing companies have operated with large batch sizes in
order to maximize machine utilization, assuming that changeover times were “fixed” and could not be
reduced. Because Lean calls for the production of parts to customer demand, the ideal batch size is ONE.
However, a batch size of one is not always practical, so the goal is to practice continuous improvement to