What is it Lean Production?

maggio 05, 2021

Walking through the production sheds of most of the small, medium and sometimes even large companies, you can see the machines 'of the past', which make you smile a little, especially when combined with robots, machining centers and super-equipped and automatic machines.

Our parents and grandparents started with those, and it is only thanks to them that today we have been able to have certain technologies, but also production methods. We rarely think about the less technical part of mechanics, the more historical and theoretical part if we want. The one that is being lost because it is viewed as an almost useless material, instead of drawing inspiration from it.

Lean production

A virtuous example in history is lean production that is viewed as something unattainable by a medium-small company. This is because it is a peculiarity of the automotive sector, certainly on very large-scale production the waste must be almost zero, otherwise there is a loss. But why not strive to apply the same production rigor even in less procedural companies?

Lean production is a collective way of thinking, in which in addition to there being no waste at the logistical and production level, there is not even at the level of people's working time. This means that one step after another the project is structured and everyone spends their time in a profitable way in its development.

The cardinal principles, engine of every business

Perhaps once creating a company from scratch was easier, because little was known about marketing was more a thing of the Americans. To do business it was enough to have a little technical knowledge and to be in the right place at the right time. There were really fewer risks and bureaucracy, just think of all the companies in the Motor Vally region, who made their fortune on the bankrupt of Officine Meccaniche Reggiane, one of the biggest company for mechanics in Italy. Many of the entrepreneurs were workers at the Reggiane they 'rolled up their sleeves' and continued to do what they knew best. Then the world evolved at the speed of light and between marketing, digital marketing, project management and so on and so forth, everything had to be overhauled.

In reality, returning to think about production, among the cardinal principles there are some guidelines that can be exploited today. For example, to structure a corporate brand it is necessary to define what are the strengths of your business reality, you must be able to answer the question: "why should I choose you?". It is necessary to justify and strengthen one's presence in the world by focusing on the quality of one's service rather than just on the quantity of pieces sold. Unlike what happened in the past, the possibilities for expansion were much more complex and lengthy, because it was necessary to physically go to a place to be known and to establish a commercial relationship. While today, the internet can be used, which, on the one hand, is advantageous if exploited correctly, while on the other it can be an endless maze of streets, if the rules are not known.

Good branding without customer loyalty work makes little sense to be. It is true that by now the saying 'the customer is always right' is outdated, it is not entirely to be forgotten, because effective customer care pays off over time. Let's remember that looking for a new customer leads to 7 times more energy expenditure than cultivating a contact who has already trusted us once. This means that the efforts of all departments must be aimed at retaining the end customer. Which leads us to analyze the founding principle of customer care, deadlines. The Achilles heel of many companies, because the delay of one undermines the efficiency of the entire supply chain. For this principle, every corporate action should be aimed at creating value and prioritizing customer care. But how to avoid the delay that often as we all know is not avoidable and maintain high standards of customer care? Simply by empowering the actors and giving them an effective communication system, if this is not done, the client perceives an unjustified malfunction. However, by explaining and mediating it is possible to find an effective agreement.

The origins

It was the years around the turn of the twentieth century when Henry Ford went to school realizing his dream of giving people a car accessible to all. He created the assembly line to reduce production costs and that was only the beginning, in fact, this production method was maximized only at the end of the Second World War. It was the Japanese, with Toyota who applied the principles of lean production to the maximum, becoming the industry leader. The whole world looked at them with admiration, without understanding what they really had different in that company, only at the end of the nineties, an American study revealed the mystery. In the meantime, Toyota continued to grow and implement lean management methods in more than 30 years, not surprisingly, most of these have Japanese names. Today this system is used by the automotive industry which imposes strict rules and organizational rigor. Surely Ford and Toyota have been able to innovate and be flexible over time, because unfortunately too much rigidity and little diversification leads to the opposite result.

At GSI we believe that it is necessary to look at the teachings of history to be inspired, but that it is important to remain flexible and dynamic, with the aim of always improving. If you are working on an interesting project and you are looking for a reliable partner to develop it, please contact us.

What is it Lean Production?

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