Preface:
Lean production is a production method that aims to minimize waste in enterprise production and reduce production management and operating costs. At the same time, it is also a philosophy and a culture.
In 2013, Philips requested downstream suppliers to establish a lean production system in order to adapt its suppliers to its lean production system. Philips has conducted lean production training for downstream suppliers and uated and rewarded their lean production proposals. Prior to this, most suppliers, including Longde Technology (hereinafter referred to as Longde), did not have the concept of lean production. Starting from scratch, Longde began to shake hands with lean production.
The lean production method originated from Toyota Motor Corporation's "Toyota Production Method" in Japan, aiming to reduce costs, shorten production cycles, and improve quality by eliminating non value added activities (i.e. waste generated) in all aspects of the enterprise. Among them, "precision" represents excellence, accuracy, and delicacy; 'Yi' means benefit, efficiency, etc. In the early stages, Longde's lean production was mainly aimed at responding to Philips' audits, but through continuous lean production improvements, Longde gradually discovered that this production model did indeed optimize safety, efficiency, quality, and other aspects. After tasting the sweetness brought by advanced production methods, Longde began to actively extend its lean production beyond the scope of Philips audits, forming a lean production system management internally and mobilizing all employees to participate.
Compared to traditional production, lean production emphasizes more on the participation of all employees. In traditional production, employees and departments are accustomed to following instructions and are only responsible for their own positions. They do not actively understand what areas in the production process can be optimized or improved, nor do they have the concept of continuous improvement. Lean production, on the other hand, is different as employees can propose optimization and improvement plans for the entire production line, rather than just optimizing and improving the processes they are responsible for. Due to its own limitations, it is difficult for a single department to achieve global control. And this production mode precisely optimizes this aspect of the problem, transforming the entire production from the original solo mode to a team combat mode. Through the cooperation between various departments, they jointly find the optimal solution in production, keeping the production line in the best state to achieve the highest production efficiency and product quality. Driven by lean production, everyone will enter a mindset of continuous improvement.
However, changing people's thinking is the most difficult, and Longde has also encountered this challenge in promoting lean production processes. How to motivate employees and encourage them to actively participate in lean production? Firstly, the head of the technology sector and senior leaders such as the General Manager of Longde attach great importance to it and provide strong support in terms of resources and rewards. Secondly, departments actively cooperate and select one person from each to establish a lean production team, responsible for promoting lean production work; Thirdly, establish a lean production demonstration line and conduct employee training starting from the demonstration line. Finally, and most motivating, the Longde Lean Production Management team applied for the Lean Production Award to reward outstanding lean production proposals put forward that year. Under the combined effect of the above measures, Longde successfully passed through the painful period of reform. In the second year of implementing lean production, employees of Longde (Huizhou Company) have generally developed a sense of continuous improvement. In February 2017, the lean production management team of Longde reformed its incentive policy, upgrading the reward from 100-5000 yuan to 10% of the value generated within the proposed year (with no upper limit), which greatly improved employee motivation. In 2019, there were as many as 80 lean production proposals, covering all aspects of lean production. Longde (Shenzhen company) was mainly responsible for research and development work in the early stage. It was not until the second half of 2017 that lean production was officially implemented. In just two years, with the dual effects of lean production training and bonus incentives, Shenzhen Longde's lean production achieved significant results. In the first half of 2019, it saved 1.2 million yuan through lean production.
Under the continuous promotion of lean production, Longde has achieved many optimizations in production and manufacturing. Longde (Huizhou company) optimized inventory management while ensuring Philips' supply and demand, reducing the inventory cycle of finished products from three weeks (including clients) to two weeks, achieving inventory reduction and effectively preventing product obsolescence. In addition, Longde (Huizhou Company) has vigorously implemented automation improvements, reducing the number of frontline workers for 180 motors by nearly 50%; By cultivating versatile workers, we can solve the problem of personnel turnover in key positions and significantly reduce labor costs. Meanwhile, the scrap rate has also decreased from 1.35% in 2018 to 1.0% in the first half of 2019. Longde (Shenzhen company) has also achieved many optimizations in lean production improvement, among which the scrap rate has decreased from 2.2% in 2018 to 0.9% in the first half of 2019, significantly reducing the cost expenditure caused by scrap. The thinking of lean production and continuous improvement has penetrated into the daily work of every Longde employee.
The First Lean Production Commendation Conference
With the continuous deepening of Longde's lean production, the room for improvement is gradually narrowing. In the future, Longde will focus on deepening lean production in design optimization, reducing quality costs, lowering inventory costs through VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory), and reducing various wastes. At the same time, Longde will also communicate more with sister units such as Shengrong, share and learn from each other's lean production experience, and make progress together.
Lean production is a process of continuous improvement and optimization. During this process, Longde always emphasized safety first and quality as the root, seeking the optimal solution in manufacturing while ensuring production safety and product quality.
