r/LeanManufacturing

We can all acknowledge the benefits of implementing quick wins in the course of a CI project. But what are some ground rules you put into place for helping the team define a "Quick Win" a LSS project? Here is some we use:

- 48-hour litmus test: Solution is implemented and results seen within 48 hours
- Must follow "if - then": If (insert quick win solution) then (insert primary metric) will improved
- Not based in opinions or "I think..." but data

What are your thoughts and best practices?

I’ve been working at a new factory for about a month now. I’m basically the first person trying to start a lean transformation there — the company has never done anything like this before.

After giving me a general overview of the processes, management specifically asked me to speed up the second-to-last stage of production. The thing is, they directed me toward a specific area before I even had the chance to properly identify the real bottleneck. I didn’t want to come across as difficult since this is also the company’s first experience with lean transformation. My idea was to improve the obvious wastes in this area first, gain their trust with measurable efficiency improvements, and then later work on a broader system-wide optimization.

However, once I got into the process, I realized there are constant stoppages caused by defects and mistakes coming from previous stages. When I tried to investigate the upstream quality control process, the response I got was basically: “There will always be mistakes in these jobs, just speed up the area we told you to focus on.”

To explain the process a little more: operators scan packaged products and place them into barcode-labeled boxes. The system tracks which products are inside which box. After scanning, the operator also has to physically organize the products neatly into the carton.

I did a very simple time-study-based improvement: I assigned one helper for every three operators. The helpers handle material fetching and box arrangement, while the operators stay focused only on scanning. After implementing this, production output increased from around 60–70k units per day when I first arrived to roughly 90–110k now.

Despite this improvement, management still says it’s not enough and keeps pushing me to speed up this area even more. But the defective or problematic products arriving from previous stages genuinely slow the process down.

So what would you do in this situation?

Another issue is that management doesn’t like the helpers I added. Their argument is basically: “If adding people solves the problem, we could have done that ourselves.”

And one more thing: if I stop constantly walking around the floor and monitoring people all day, production numbers suddenly drop. Am I supposed to stay on top of everyone all the time for this to work?

I just went to put a wrench back in the maintenance tool box. I assist with maintenance after our mechanic leaves for the day. The tool box was broken (one of the air springs that lifts the lid had backed out of its rod end). The tool to fix it is in the box. It took maybe 90 seconds tops to fix. I want to stress this is the maintenance tool box, the tool box specifically for the maintenance mechanic to do maintenance, the tool box for the person whose sole job is to keep thinks from being broken, which was broken.

I’m not even sure how exactly to articulate the problem, but just every lean part of me is screaming internally and I don’t see how you get a culture like this to the place where it needs to be.

Thoughts?

I need to purchase steel components for a conveyor belt system that will carry freshly molded rubber products during the cooling stage of the production. I am confused if I need a specific kind of stainless steel pipes for construction of the belt? Do they need to be 316 grade or is 304 good enough?

The cooling stage it one of the most important parts of the production process and I was just wondering currently sourcing steel components for a conveyor belt system that will carry freshly molded rubber products during the cooling stage of production. The rubber comes off the molding process fairly warm, so I need something durable that can handle continuous use, moderate heat exposure, and constant contact with rubber without warping or corroding too quickly. And most importantly won't corrode, I am looking to source the pipes locally or from alibaba and or amazon and will need to know the specific grade before I order.

Hi all, upfront: I’m asking this because I built a small app that helped us with a mixed-model assembly line project, and I’m trying to work out whether this is a common problem or just something specific to us.

Where I work, our engineering / production teams were looking at moving an assembly area from batch production to one-piece flow. We had lean consultants in to coach us through the line concept.

The frustrating bit for me was that most of the discussion was based around a spreadsheet. It was useful for total assembly time, customer demand, rough number of people, number of lines, etc. But it didn’t really show how the work should be split across separate workstations, which processes should happen where, or how the line would behave with a mixed product model.

Because different products needed different processes, it got confusing quite quickly. We understood the theory, but as a team we couldn’t agree on even a basic line layout. Some of us still felt an assembly cell might be better than a multi-station line.

The consultants then suggested buffer zones and operators “flexing” between stations. Interesting ideas, but again we couldn’t really see how it would work with our products.

I went home frustrated and built a simple web app to visualise it. The idea was to show the people on the line, how they would move between stations, and how the products would flow through the process.

By the next day I had something running with our processes and product mix in it. It showed the line running and gave a rough productivity view for the workers. From there we tweaked the layout, agreed on a concept, and then tested it on the shop floor. The trials backed up the simulation well enough for us to move forward.

I don’t see it as a perfect answer, but it helped us get from debate to “this is probably worth trying”.

I’d be interested to know how others approach this.

When you’re designing a mixed-model line or moving from batch to one-piece flow, do you rely mainly on Excel / line balancing, go straight to physical trials, use simulation software, or something else?

Every shop I’ve worked in has the same silent killer:

The quoted process and the real process drift apart because of one tiny communication gap.

Here’s the moment that reminded me of this again this week:

In a nutshell, engineering creates the part, BOM, work processes, and then hands it off to production. If upon release to production the engineer is not available- production is running blind. I have seen errors happen and scrap pile up. What seems simple to one person may not be for another.

Nothing dramatic.
Nothing catastrophic.
Just a small mismatch in expectations that created:
-setup drift
-cycle time creep
-rework risk
-operator confusion
-scheduling ripple effects

This is where 5-12 points of margin disappear without anyone noticing.

Real Fix:
Closing the communication gap between the person who quotes the job and the person running the job.

One clean conversation can save thousands of dollars of hidden loss. Curious how other shops handle this?

We're a construction firm and I'd be interested to explore working to implement lean practices in our field operations. Any suggestions on where one starts with this? We're in Phoenix. Any recommended consultants? Thank you.

Something I see in a lot of shops is that quoting accuracy isn’t destroyed by the math — it’s destroyed by hidden time sinks. Setup creep, cycle time drift, tribal knowledge, and untracked micro‑delays add up fast. Most shops don’t realize how much margin they lose to these until they map it.