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Introduction In Lean Manufacturing, one of the biggest barriers to efficiency is waste, also known as Muda in Japanese. These wastes increase cost, reduce productivity, and slow down your entire process.This guide explains the 8 types of waste in Lean Manufacturing — from overproduction to defects — along with practical examples and strategies to eliminate … Read more
What is TPM and why does it matter? Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is a structured system that improves equipment performance and reliability. It aims for zero breakdowns, zero defects, and zero accidents. In 2025, TPM is more important than ever. Factories face pressure to improve productivity, reduce costs, and deliver consistent quality. Downtime cuts profits, … Read more
MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) and MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) are key maintenance metrics. They help measure machine performance and reliability. Lean Manufacturing and IATF 16949-certified automotive industries use them widely. These metrics support efforts to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).” MTTR and MTBF are very useful Lean Tools of manufacturing industries. These two key performance … Read more
The Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) concept was developed by Shigeo Shingo, an industrial engineer at Toyota. It refers to the process of reducing the time required to change over a machine or production line from one product to another to under 10 minutes. The primary goal of SMED is to do for faster … Read more
What is OEE? OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is a term used to measure manufacturing productivity. It is to calculate the percentage of time an equipment is truly productive. OEE is the main KPI of production to check the productivity of an equipment/plant. For calculating the OEE of the plant or multiple machines, we can calculate … Read more
Cycle Time vs Takt Time: Cycle Time: Cycle time in manufacturing is the time taken to produce a final part using different processes. It is a time-consuming process that takes the maximum time. We can get cycle time by observing the process for a defined time and counting the number of parts produced. We should … Read more
PDCA Cycle It is a cycle of continuous improvement. The meaning of PDCA is Plan, Do, Check & Act. The PDCA cycle is also known as the Deming Cycle. What are the steps of the PDCA Cycle? There are 4 steps in the PDCA cycle. 1. PLAN 2. DO 3. CHECK 4. … Read more
Cost of Poor Quality: The cost incurred in producing & rectifying a defect is called the cost of poor quality. It is also called the cost of non-conformance. Purpose of COPQ: The cost of poor quality will be calculated for all rejections and rework at the in-house and customer ends. The MR/QA head will be … Read more
Inventory Turnover: Inventory turnover is the rate at which a company converts its inventory into sales. It is the number of times a company makes the sale of its inventory in a period. Where inventory is the total of all goods in its stock, which includes Raw materials, bought-out parts, Work in progress and finished … Read more
What is Kobetsu Kaizen? Kobetsu Kaizen, which translates to “focused improvement” is a continuous improvement strategy to make incremental changes to specific processes or machines. It emphasizes eliminating waste, reducing cycle time, improving quality and boosting productivity. Kobetsu Kaizen is a Japanese term that means Targeted Improvement or Focused Improvement. It is one of the … Read more