What is “Lean Production”?
Lean production is a production management method that aims to improve product quality by increasing production efficiency and reducing production costs. This method typically includes standardized production processes, optimized production equipment, and strict quality control. The goal is to achieve the lowest production costs while maintaining high-quality products.
Core principles of lean production
- Process improvement: Ensuring smooth production processes and reducing waste and delays.
- Standardization: Ensuring that all production processes are carried out according to uniform standards to improve production efficiency.
- Quality control: Ensuring product quality through strict quality control.
- Optimization of equipment: Ensuring optimal operation of production equipment to improve production efficiency.
- Employee training: Ensuring that employees have the necessary skills and knowledge to improve production efficiency.
- Data tracking: By recording and analyzing production data, continuously improving production processes and improving production efficiency can be achieved through MES.
By applying the above six principles, production efficiency can be improved, production costs can be reduced, and product quality can be enhanced.
How to reduce the eight types of waste emphasized in lean production through MES?
Eliminate overproduction
Through MES, real-time monitoring of production progress and work-in-progress (WIP) inventory can ensure that production is carried out according to the production plan and thereby eliminate overproduction
Reduce excess inventory
Through MES, real-time monitoring of WIP levels and production material levels can reduce excess inventory and lower inventory costs.
Reduce downtim
e
MES can be integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor equipment and overall operating conditions in real-time, detect and repair faulty equipment in a timely manner, and reduce production downtime.
Eliminate defects
Through MES, real-time monitoring of quality inspection status and defect items (such as IPQC, OQC, and FQC quality operations) and using in-line SPC charts and control rules, warnings can be issued for abnormal trends, and corresponding measures can be taken in a timely manner to eliminate and prevent defects, thereby reducing production costs.
Reduce unnecessary processing
MES can ensure standard operation processes in production through process control and operation management at each workstation to prevent quality abnormalities, achieve operational consistency, and avoid unnecessary processing behaviors that increase processing costs.
Reduce excessive waiting
Real-time monitoring of each workstation or equipment, work-in-progress and raw material inventory levels through MES ensures that personnel or equipment do not wait for materials, or that monitoring equipment repair progress, line change schedule, and production beat balance rate are balanced, allowing production plans and resource scheduling decisions to be adjusted to reduce excessive waiting.
Reduce excessive transportation
MES can provide instructions to logistics personnel and automated handling equipment (such as AGVs) for work-in-progress or raw material handling, ensuring that handling is carried out in a timely and accurate manner, reducing production line waiting times.
Reduce excessive or premature operations
Integration of MES and APS scheduling system ensures that production is started according to APS scheduling and that production is not overproduced during the process based on work order quantities.
MES can achieve the four goals of Lean Production
- Increase production efficiency: MES can monitor production in real-time and quickly adjust the allocation of resources such as personnel, materials, and equipment when abnormalities occur or production goals cannot be met, thereby improving production efficiency.
- Improve production quality: MES can monitor quality inspection results in real-time to ensure product quality and prevent defects by using In Line SPC Chart for real-time quality trend monitoring.
- Reduce production costs: MES can collect, organize, and analyze production data, allowing managers to quickly make decisions and assess the effectiveness of those decisions, thus achieving a PDCA improvement cycle and reducing production costs.
- Increase production flexibility: MES can quickly adjust production plans and allocate resources in response to market changes and customer demand.
Therefore, by using MES, the goals of Lean Production can be achieved, and the production process can be made more efficient.