Lean Production System Applied to Today's Business

LEAN TECHNIQUES APPLIED TO BUSINESS IN TODAY'S WORKFORCE Simply put, in the business sense of it, lean means creating more value using fewer resources. Therefore, a lean organization is one that focuses more on maximizing customer value with minimal waste. Its key process is mainly to produce its customer value products increasingly.

Lean is about standardizing work process to make problems visible and develop the team members' critical thinking ability so that they can solve those problems and improve work processes TOYOTA Toyota uses lean strategy in such a way that when the vehicle is ordered by a customer they prioritize it and makes the vehicle ordered for in the quickest and most effective way and make sure it is delivered as quick as possible.

Toyota production system is made based on two concepts as follows: Automation with human touch (JIDOKA)- this is where machines are supposed to stop safely when the normal processing is completed. Therefore, should the machine detect a problem it will stop automatically hence avoiding processing of defective products.

When the machines stops it immediately sends communication via the andon (problem display board) hence easing the operators work by giving them confidence to continue performing their work on other machines as well as it is easy for them to identify the source of the problem to prevent its recurrence. Due to these machines only products satisfying quality standards are passed on to the next processes on the production line without the direct management of human operators, hence the lean organizational structure.

The machines also does not require a lot of human presence therefore the operator can be in charge of many machines resulting in higher productivity hence continuously improving leads to greater processing capacity. Second concept is Just in Time -Toyota has set its procedure in such a way that each process produces only what is needed by the next process in a continuous flow so as to avoid congestion in the processing line that would require human intervention.

Toyota only makes what is needed and in the amounts needed by its customers as per the orders received. They also produce for their customers quality products efficiently through complete elimination of wastes.

For them to deliver the vehicle ordered for by the customers as quickly as possible, the vehicle is efficiently built within the shortest possible period of time by doing the following: When a customer orders for a vehicle, the order is received and production instruction is quickly issued to the beginning of vehicle production line as soon as possible for production to start without any delay so as to deliver on time.

Toyota assembly lines are usually stocked with required numbers of all needed parts for different sizes of vehicles so that any type of ordered vehicle received can be assembled quickly without wasting time to look for the parts elsewhere. It is also worth noting that Toyota assembly lines always replace the parts used by retrieving the same number of parts from the preceding processes (Toyota, 2017). Self-reflection Bakery Business Having a bakery has always been at the top of my priorities.

A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells floor-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, pastries and pies. I am interested in a bakery business whereby I will apply lean techniques. I will make my bakery business a lean organization whereby my main focus will be on customer value, I will make perfect valuable and quality product with minimal waste.

I will purchase high quality machines which can automatically stop working when they detect a problem and communicate the problem which will help the operator to stop recurrence again while processing products hence avoiding production of defective products. I will produce products which are customer satisfying with high quality standards hence winning customer trust Customers'.