Lean manufacturing is a production system that is designed to eliminate waste and improve efficiency in the process of manufacturing a product. Companies that adapt to lean systems can save on costs, reduce inventory, lead times, and improve the quality of products. The cycle time in producing a product and shipping it to customers is also reduced. By focusing on customers’ needs, lean manufacturing systems improve deliveries while decreasing costs and eliminating quality defects. Lean systems are quantifiable and measurable by monitoring the total cost, quality, cycle time, and on-time delivery of products.
Removing Non-Value-Added Components From Production
Those non-value-added components in the process measure waste in any production system to make and deliver a finished product. Lean manufacturing removes the non-value-added components from production. The process improves efficiency, productivity, product cycle time, lowering material costs, reduced scrap, which can lower total operational costs and improve competitiveness. One aspect of realizing savings in a lean system is by following lean management principles in weighing.
How Weight Systems Play an Integral Role in Lean Manufacturing
Weighing plays an important role in nearly all manufacturing processes. In fact, goods and commodities are sold based on weight, meaning that their weight determines the value of a product or material.
By introducing lean management principles in weighing, companies can further reduce non-value-added components from their production processes. Weighing helps to keep costs at a minimum by avoiding waste. It speeds up manual processes with smart display functions and decreases downtime with reliable, high-quality equipment. It also achieves traceability with integrated data-capture solutions.
Managing Inventory
Managing inventory is a good way to keep costs at a minimum and avoid waste. Warehouses with excess raw materials, unfinished products, or finished products that have exceeded demand or an immediate need are just some examples of inventory waste. Keep track of material on hand by using floor scales to weigh in deliveries at receiving. Track inventory of goods by counting them with high-precision counting scales as they enter the warehouse or upon production. Even the smallest quantities of high-value goods can be counted. Warehouse floor scales or pallet scales can verify complete batches.
Over-Production
Over-production is also wasteful. Manufacturing products before they are needed or simply producing more than necessary adds to costs. More importantly, as it relates to inventory, such excess is indicative of inefficiencies in the system. Inventory can be managed by incorporating weight production output at the end of production lines. Weighing output signals users to stop production at the right time. It also verifies stock quantities more easily. Other weighing system applications for inventory control include using scale-assisted parts counting can provide exact material counts at workstations. Also, to ensure precise package counts and weights, scale-assisted packing of boxes or containers can be employed to prevent under or over-filling before shipping.
Speeding Up Production
Conveyor belt scales eliminate waste on production lines by speeding up manual processes that would otherwise be labor-intensive. Belt scales rid the time-consuming and ineffective method where each product would be weighed individually and returned to the conveyor. Conveyor weighing systems are not only more efficient and cost-effective in streamlining production, but smart display functions on the scales allow for easy monitoring and recording of values. Smart display features collect, store and transmit weight data. Some systems can use wireless communication to transmit data and be linked to computers, printers, barcode scanners, and other peripherals, and integrated into networks.
Data is Key
Integrated data-capture solutions eliminate waste by allowing for easy tracking and traceability. Smart data-capture technology can weigh a product, save the data, and other vital details such as date and time, number of pieces, location, and other data. Mobile weighing solutions can significantly reduce the amount of transport time of a product. For example, forklift scales allow operators to lift and weigh bundled products as the materials are being moved into storage upon delivery. The weight, origin, and storage location are then transmitted while being placed in the warehouse. The process offers real-time data acquisition that is transmitted wirelessly for billing and inventory control.
Lean manufacturing systems can reduce and eliminate waste and maximize the value of manufacturing processes. By following lean management principles in weighing, companies can achieve high-quality products, prompt deliveries, as well as time and inventory efficiencies. An effective weighing system offers an efficient and logical workflow for companies.
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