Question 1: Why do we need lean?

Lean Production System which combines advantages of craft and mass production means doing more
with less – less time, less space, less human effort, less machinery, less materials – while giving
customers what they want. The main purposes of Lean Production are increasing Productivity, improving
Quality, and Reducing cost. This table below will give more details to explain the reasons Why Lean
Production:

Reasons Detail explainations

Customers need to be provided with what they want, when they
want and where they need it.
Improved
A company is successful as long as the customers are satisfied. If a
Customer Service
company always supplies top quality products and services on time,
at the right place, those satisfied customers are going to keep on
returning, allowing the business to thrive.
Standard work for operators ensures that the work is done the most
efficient way that we know today. If we find a more efficient way,
then we just change the standard baseline and train people on this
Standardization of new and better way.
both process and
Productivity product. Usually, the default for people is to use the easiest way to
accomplish an objective, but, what we need is the right way used
consistently. This requires brainpower and innovation to find the best
method and establish it as the standard, which provides the baseline
to improve upon.
By reducing the waiting time between the process stages, preparation
time and eliminating the non value-added steps in process. This
helps conpanies be able to respond quicker, shorter set up time and
fewer delays. A case study is from Toyota Ben Thanh, in 2004,
Improving the implemented lean methods to dramatically reduce the process time
lead time for its automobile maintenance service from 240 minutes to 45-50
minutes each car and following that change, it has increased the total
number of cars processed at each service center from 4-6 cars up to
16 cars per day.

Cost Reducing labor Workers are the most valuable resources. According to a
 cost and research of the University of Berkeley in California, when the lean
increasing quality of manufacturing strategy is applied successfully, employees will have
emplyees a good environment workplace, which makes them feel comfortable.
Especially, they will be empowered to participate in product quality
improvement. All of those things promote a spirit of dedication and
responsible working of them. In contrast, workers lack morale
leading to low productivity, high labor costs and increasing number
of their days off. Increasing cost and reducing productivity will
reduce the profitability of a manufacturing business.

The key focus of lean manufacturing is to eliminate waste and one of

those is excess inventory. Companies that don't want excess
inventory have to wait a long time until there are customers who
want to buy it. Lean production strategy eliminates dated or obsolete
Reducing inventory and the risk that certain items perish or expire. Eliminating
inventory cost waste of inventory is cost- effective. In contrast, companies that do
not use lean production strategy will produce based on their ability
to predict customer demand, which causes waste and increases
inventory costs.

This means tending to the least defects and rework in the production
process, directly affects the output end-product’s goal (customer’s
satisfaction). While the quality is one of the three main aspects that
customer can base on it to evaluate (between cost and time delivery).
As in common, the backbone question of quality is: “How good is
Improving the the process output?”. And the quality must be aligned in every stage
Quality quality performance of the production process. For more details, mistakes happen, but a
lean company doesn’t pass on defects to the next step in the process.
Mistakes from previous steps must be fixed before carrying on. And
at the source of this is the ability to be able to spot an error when it
happens, and then fix the process so the problem doesn’t happen
again

CORE
· Fragmented market demands many products in low volumes
· Capable workers demanding higher levels of involvement
· Old equation:
Cost + Profit margin = Price
New equation:
Price (fixed) – Cost = Profit
à The key to profitability is Cost Reduction
 Question 2:

a. When? What are the conditions to be successful when applying lean?

Customer focus, always ensuring that customer needs and expectations act as a driving force to all activities of the
business.

· Eliminate all sources of waste with the goal of creating value added throughout the production value chain of
the enterprise on a sustainable basis in both the short and long term through the concentration of supply.
products with the highest value according to the wishes of the customers.

· Pursuing the enterprise-oriented knowledge transformation, optimizing people's abilities and making the
optimal use of their capabilities to achieve comprehensive progress.

Flexible change in systems and capacity building to ensure the creation of a business that is flexible, highly
adaptable and responsive to changes.

b. Different between push and pull? 5 diff

Question 3

For 8 hours of a shift, Planned maintenance 30’; 2 Breakdowns in the morning of 20’ each, 1 Breakdown in the
afternoon lasted 50’ The line was reset during the afternoon for a change-over in production. The overall
internal change-over time amounted to 20’

Both product A (before change-over) and B (after change-over) were produced at a rate of 4 pcs per minute,
the corresponding Actual Cycle Time resulting in 0,25’.

The Line was actually designed to produce 5 pcs/min those products (both A and B).
 A total of 950 pcs A were processed, 6 defective pcs were produced during the A process, all rejects. A total of
410 pcs B were processed. 4 defective pcs were produced during normal B process and 8 defective pcs during
trial-runs. Reject all defects

Calculate the OEE, MTBF, MTTR of the Processing Line for that day.

Question 4

Demand for the popular water toy Suday Soaker has far exceeded expectations. In order to cease the
availability of different models of the to the manufacturer has decided to begin producing its most popular
models as often as possible on its one assembly line Given monthly requirements of 7200, 3600 and 3600
unit for Suday Soaker 50, Sunday Soaker 100, and Soda Soaker 200, respectively. Assume 30 working days per
month and 8 working hours per day

a) Assume that the time tend to assemble each model is approximately the same, determine a model
sequence for the final assembly line that will smooth out the production of each model
b) If unit process time and setup time the following figures, number of time of changeover (at the
beginning of each day and to produce new model for each model is equal in each day of 8 hour

Model Processing time (mins) Changeover time (mins)

SS50 0.5 60
SS100 0.6 90
SS200 0.4 30
 i. Identify batch size for each model
ii. What do you plan for those time that the assembly is not processing or changing-over (if any)

SOlVE:

a)

Model Monthly Requirement Daily Requirement Demand ratio

SS50 7200 7200/30=240 2
SS100 3600 3600/30=120 1
SS200 3600 3600/30=120 1
The following sequences spreads out the production of each model evenly. It should be repeated 120
times a day to meet demand: SS50-SS100-SS50-SS200

b) i.

Model Processing Changeover Required Time Number of changeover Batch size

Time Time (mins) Processing available for
(mins) time changeover
Daily
SS50 0.5 60 =0.5*240 Available time – Processing time =240/1=240
=120 one set of C hange O ver time
SS100 0.6 90 =0.6*120 =120/1=120
=72
SS200 0.4 30 =0.4*120 =120/1=120
=48
SUM 180 240 =8*60-240 =240/180=1.33
=240 Round down=1
Actual =1*180 =240 So idle time =8*60-240-180 = 60
ii.

o Maintenance
o Training
o Undertime
o Break

Question 5:

Production cell during the following conditions

Working time: 3shift/day, 5days/week
Shift hour: 6:00-14:00, 14:00-22:00, and 22:00-6:00
Planning related stops (no production)
Breaks: 30 minutes each shift
Meeting: Every Thursday: 13:30-14:00
Preventive maintenance: daily during shift exchange at 6:00-6:15, 14:00-14:15, 22:00-22:15
Production: cycle time 9 minutes/ item
True outcome during one week
Breakdown: Mon 6:30-10:00, Tue 9:00-10:12, Wed 20:30-21:48, Fri 14:30-17:18
There are 553 items produced of with 8 were scrap
Calculate OEE, MTBF, MTTR for that week
Analyse above question :
Production cell with the following conditions
Working time: 3 shifts/day, 5 days/week
Shift hours: 6:00 – 14:00, 14:00 – 22:00, 22:00 – 6:00
=> A shift has 8 hours
 => Working time in a week = 15 shifts = 120 hours
Planning related stops (no production):
Breaks: 30 minutes each shift => Breaks in a weak = 15x0.5 =7.5 hours
Meetings: Every Thursday 13:30 – 14:00 => Meetings in a week = 0.5 hours
Preventive maintenance: daily during shift exchange at 6:00-6:15, 14:00 – 14:15,
22:00-22:15 => Preventive maintenance in a week = 15 x 0.25 = 3.75 hours
=>Total planned time = 7.5 + 0.5 + 3.75 = 11.75 hours
=>Total time available = 120 – 11.75 = 108.25 hours
True outcome during one week:
Breakdowns: Mon: 6:30-10:00; Tue: 9:00 – 10:12, Wed: 20:30 -21:48; Fri: 14:30 –
17:18 => Down time in a week = 8.8 hours
=>Available operation time = 108.25 – 8.8 = 99.45 hours = 5967 minutes
Production: cycle time 9 minutes/item =>The number of possible items = 5967/9 =
663 items
There are 553 items produced of which 8 were scrap

Answers:
n The availability of the equipment
Availability (%) = (total time available - down time)/total time available
= ( 108.25 – 8.8 )/108.25 = 91.87%
n The performance of the equipment
Performance (%) = number of units manufactured/ possible number of units
= 553/663 = 83.41%
n The quality of the product
Quality (%) = (number of units produced - number of defects)/ number of unit
produced = (553 – 8)/553 = 98.55%
OEE = availability x performance x quality = 91.87% x 83.41% x 98.55% = 75.51%
MTBF = Total up time / number of failures = 99.45/4 = 24.86 hours
MTTR= Total down time / number of failures = 8.8/4 = 2.2 hours
Question and Answers Referrence
1. a) Why do we need this metric?
"Takt time" is the rate at which you need to complete the production process in order to meet
customer demand.

First, Takt time is your sell rate and can easily be categorized as the heartbeat of your work
process. It allows you to optimize your capacity in the most appropriate way to meet demand
without keeping too much inventory in reserve

Second, takt time generates a constant pulse on your processes, which will immediately highlight
capacity issues, synchronization issues between processes, quality issues, and other problems.

Benefits of Calculating Takt Time

1. Estimate service delivery processes

2. Maintain a constant production flow
3. Standardize work processes
4. Increase efficiency and decrease training times
5. Set realistic time targets
6. Minimize overtime
7. Reduce errors and increase quality

b) How to get the value?

To get the data you need to calculate takt time, have your team members use Toggl Track timers to
track their net production times (NPT). NPT equals the time they spend producing a product/service
(not taking breaks, attending meetings, etc.).

Use Toggl Track reports to determine your total NPT for a certain amount of time. Divide this number
by the number of units your customers required during that same period to calculate your takt time.
This number represents your optimal production time per unit.

c) Can we measure this?

A common misconception is that takt time relates to the overall build time - i.e. the number of
"man hours" put in to building a product. It doesn't – it relates to the time span required to build a
product from start to finish to ensure the continual flow of finished products needed to satisfy
customer demand. Once takt time has been established, the electronics manufacturer needs to
physically separate out the build into individual stages and resource the production line
accordingly. 

Available production time per day

Takt time =
Customer demand per day
2. Little’s Law?
The formula of Little’s Law is

L=λW

Where L=WIP : the average number of items in the system

λ=throughput : The average arrival and departure rate

w=lead time :The average time an item spends in the system.

a. What does it mean in term of productivity and service?

 In term of productivity:
This formula provides critical metrics that can help measure operational performance.

1. Throughput is a critical operational measure telling the speed if the production process.
2. WIP tells the amount of raw materials tied up in the production process, from that we can
calculate the cost of materials in production, holding costs of the material in WIP.
3. Lead time measures the arrival rate
→Therefore, Little’s Law provides a way of testing the effectiveness (productivity) of different
production system designs. It can also be used to measure improvement initiatives by
determining if Throughput is improved and by how much.

Little’s law also helps to know how the process performance and reduce the WIP. For particular:

 If there is too little WIP then all available work stations are not being used and
throughput slows.
 If there is more WIP than work stations available then WIP collects in queues on the
production.
Reducing WIP in a process without making any other changes will also reduce throughput. So,
simply reducing inventory is not enough to achieve a lean manufacturing system. An integral
part of any Lean Manufacturing implementation is an effort to reduce variability to enable a line
to achieve the same (or greater) throughput with less WIP.

 In term of service:
As the matter of fact, queue times are important because they are the most significant thing for
customers and all people in the process. If you cannot control the system, this leads to unsatisfied
customers and employees because it just takes too long to work through the system. Little’s Law
indicates that the work is introduced into the system faster than the current throughput, queue
times will increase. To reduce the queue times in the stable system, we just need to reduce the
WIP in the process.

In additional, when there is too much workload (WIP), the work priority in the system will be
broken down. As the result, the managers and employees need to spend time for figure out what
is the most important thing to do and where they need to start. It sometimes can make people feel
frustrated. Therefore, the process will be loss of control when it has too much work in the
process.

According to the Little’s Law formula, if we change one characteristic then it will affect the
others. In this way, three dimensions (WIP, throughput and queue time) are important for
improving the performance of the process and reducing the chaos in the system. So, if the
performance and service in the system are improved, customers and all people who join in the
system will feel more satisfied.

b. Give examples and explain

Example: Patient Flow in Hospital

To illustrate how we can apply Little’s Law into reality, we can use it in Queueing in Healthcare.
At first, we need a foundation question: What the average time in the system for a patient at a
hospital?

This includes all the multiple phases, disease states, surgery transactions, …

Assume that we gained the following data:

 Lq: The average number of patients is 178.36

 W q : need to find

 λ (throughput): Average discharge rate is 36.4 patients/day.

In other words,

L
W=
λ

Average number of Patients 178.36 patients

=> Average Time in Hospital = = =4.9 Days
Average Discharge Rate 36.4 patients/ day

Thus, we can acknowledge that a patient in this hospital can expect to stay an average of 4.9
days. According to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the UK’s national average time
for a hospital stay in 2018 is 4.5 days and its average cost is $10,400. From comparing, we can
see that out hospital data is higher. However, the longer length of time patients staying hospital,
the higher risk probability of developing conditions beyond what they entered the hospital to
treat as well as the fees to pay.

Hence, from the figure 4.9-day, the hospital administrators know that they need to have analysis
and make another plan for care procedures, staffing, budgeting, specific equipment and the
internal items, which might decrease patients ‘staying, increase their satisfaction as well as
enhance the hospital’s level of service

3.
Effective daily operation time 8 x 60
Takt time= = =0.4(minutes)
Required quantity per day 1200

Total processing time 0.1+0.2+ 0.4+0.3+0.2+ 0.3

N= = =3.75 →4 workstations
Takt time 0.4

- The AON network: - Determining 4 workstations:

Flow time = 0.1+0.2+0.4+0.3+0.2+0.3 = 1.5 (minutes)

Cycle time = max (0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 0.3) => 0.4 minutes