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Lean Production (edX)

Lean Production (edX)

Learn how to apply key elements of lean manufacturing, such as 5S and Kaizen, to organizational processes to improve quality and productivity. Learn about lean management, a customer-centric methodology that improves processes by eliminating waste and focusing on value-added tasks. This course will introduce the main tenets of the Toyota Production System, which includes Just-in-Time manufacturing, quality management tools, and the critical concept of Kaizen, the Japanese practice of continuous improvement.

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You will also learn about key organisation and managerial approaches that are used in Lean.
You will learn how to analyse process flows in order to establish process capacity and identify the process bottleneck. You will then calculate resource utilisation and cycle time to evaluate the impact of set up times, batching, defects and reworks on key process performance measures, including inventory, flow rate and flow time.

We will also discuss the impact of key concepts of Lean, including Heijunka, Kanban, Jidoka, Andon, Poka Yoke, and 5S, which help achieve increased productivity and quality.
Upon successful completion of this series, learners will earn the Technical University of Munich Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification, confirming mastery of the fundamentals of Lean Six Sigma to a Yellow Belt level, based on the American Society of Quality's Body of Knowledge for the Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt.
This course is part of the Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt: Quantitative Tools for Quality and Productivity Professional Certificate and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification Professional Certificate.

What you'll learn:

  • The history and background of Lean production and the complementing elements of quantity and quality control.
  • How to measure production performance and how defects and waste degrade performance.
  • To improve process performance through application of lean principles, including setup time reduction, batch optimization, and defect elimination.
  • Elements of Lean production including Heijunka, Kanban, Jidoka, Poka Yoke, and Quality Circles.
  • 5S methodology for establishing and sustaining a productive work environment.

Course Syllabus

Week 1: Introduction: Identification of Waste
Understand the basic differences between craft production and mass production. Review the history of Lean Production, focusing on Japan's Toyota Production System as an alternative to mass production. Discuss how waste impacts productivity and describe Taiichi Ohno’s famous 7 Wastes.

Week 2: Understanding Flow: Capacity Analysis
Cover the basics of process analysis, including understanding how to calculate process capacity and resource utilization, as well as the important concepts of cycle time and takt time. Understand the relationship between inventory, a waste, is directly related to the flow time in a system through Little’s Law. Understand how variability in a system causes queuing or waiting. even if there is enough capacity on average.

Week 3: Continuous Flow: Setup Time Reduction
Calculate the impact of setups on capacity when the product variety is increased and understand how batching can improve this, but at the expense of increased inventory. Review the Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), and learn why reducing setups and changeovers are critical to Lean manufacturing. Discuss the concept of Total Productive Maintenance and calculate the metric Overall Equipment Efficiency.

Week 4: Improving Flow: Workplace Organisation and Visualization
Introduction to the concepts of Workplace Visualization and Organization and 5S for improving and maintaining continuous flow in Lean Production.

Week 5: Maintaining Flow: Establishing Pull Systems and Scheduling
Define the key principle from the Toyota Production System, Just-In-Time (JIT)and the significance that JIT has for Lean Production in reducing waste and meeting customer demand. Review the relevant components of production planning and how these affect Production Scheduling, the heart of Lean Production. Understand, with the help of reduced setup time, how Mixed-Model Scheduling achieves a match between production and customer and how Pull systems can be realized using Kanbans.

Week 6: Quality and Continuous Improvement
Calculate the impact defects have on our flow rate. Understand how Poka Yokecan help fool-proof our processes and learn how to structure and run a Kaizen Blitzto bring about rapid improvement opportunities for problem-solving and process improvements. Consider the central role of Continuous Improvement in Lean Production by comparing the set of management principles, The Toyota Way 2001, and Jeffrey Liker’s 14 Management Principles.

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