Unlocking Cost Savings: 6 Lean Manufacturing Tools to Optimize Manufacturing Processes

Small manufacturers face challenges ranging from varying production quantities to adapting to new technologies and systems. The pressure to remain competitive and profitable is higher than ever, especially as the business climate has shifted from the high-demand days of the pandemic to a higher scrutiny over cost. Lean manufacturing tools are crucial in optimizing workflows and operations, helping to identify inefficiencies and outdated processes hidden in plain sight. 

This article explores how small and medium-sized manufacturing shops—still with significant manual processes—can adopt lean manufacturing tools and strategies to uncover cost savings. These critical savings add a revenue stream to fund automation investment, further upskilling your shop to scale efficiently.

Opportunities to Optimize Processes Using Lean Manufacturing Tools…What is Process Optimization?

Process optimization involves refining business processes to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and improve overall performance. Turner Process Solutions identifies waste in five process areas using lean manufacturing tools and approaches:

Opportunities to optimize plant functions:

• Process & Material Handling

  Optimization and movement and management of materials within a facility. Streamlining the material flow includes designing and implementing effective handling systems and workflows tailored to specific business needs.

• Industrial Automation & Controls

  Replacement and upgrade of outdated PLC systems that boost efficiency and improve performance. Safety and security can be enhanced by upgrading controllers as well.

• Functional Safety Analysis

  Reviewing the entire operations lifecycle for safety opportunities. Improving safety minimizes downtime and insurance cost opportunities by mitigating observed safety hazards in the shop.

• Systems Integration Project Management

  Time is a hidden source of waste in plant operations. Holistic oversight of integration ensures that the quality and performance of integration occur as soon as possible to leverage the benefits as fast as possible.   

• Plant Energy Cost Savings

  Energy is a primary source of process waste for shops, increasing carbon footprint while inflating costs through inefficient processes. Compressed shop air is one of the most significant sources of energy utilization inefficiency and a main target of energy audits.

Lean Manufacturing Tools for Small Shops

Not all manufacturing plants are created equal. Before small and mid-size shops are ready for full automation, the first step in implementing Lean is identifying existing sources of process waste. Process inefficiency in small, manual production environments is often the result of process steps added on over time. Lean evaluates the current state, finds the step causing the most significant deviation from it, and recommends corrective measures to implement.

For small shops, here are the 6 lean manufacturing tools that can deliver cost savings through waste reduction. Questioning why things are done the way they are is a practical first step to changing the mindset to Lean. 

5S (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain)

5S Lean manufacturing tool steps

The intensity of production does not always allow for the removal of excess materials from the workspace. Identifying and removing items that impede optimal workflow is an easy way to improve focus on the job. Removing unneeded items and organizing the workspace will boost manufacturing efficiency.

In addition, arranging materials in order of need—such as from the entrance to the exit of a product sequence—eliminates wasted motion in the process, shortening the time of a process step. Finally, capturing the improvements and developing internal processes to make them consistent between each team member ensures the best practices endure after the Lean evaluation concludes.

Kanban

Kanban example for small manufacturing shops

Aligning production with demand (just in time) minimizes inventory, space, and waiting times, which all contribute to process waste. Kanban is a lean manufacturing tool that employs a visual system to manage workflows. It can integrate with CRM data for material and inventory management, tracking the progress of process steps, and evaluating the output vs. plan in a given timeframe.

Tasks can be instantly added to the board to allow users to visualize the process and show anyone with access to the board which steps may be causing delays.

Kaizen

Kaizen is a lean manufacturing tool that empowers operators to identify and resolve bottlenecks in their daily work. This approach leads to continuous improvement, creating an owner’s mindset of the operator for the process step.

Interviewing an operator is often a great way to get real-time feedback on a bottleneck in their process that may also create waste elsewhere in the process flow.

Value Stream Mapping

Gathering as a team to chart the current flow of materials makes identifying areas for process improvement easy. Does a material enter the plant on the opposite side from where it needs to end up?

Mapping value streams identifies redundant movement and steps but requires dedicated attention to the whole process to ensure the flow is optimized – and logical.

Total Productive Maintenance

Equipment maintenance can also add waste to a process. A lean manufacturing tool called total productive maintenance (TPM) enrolls all employees (regardless of level) to remove breakdowns, defects, work stoppages, accidents, or performance degradation.

TPM improves production reliability and reduces lost time for small shops through proactive equipment management, planned or autonomous maintenance (such as cleaning and lubrication), cross-training for knowledge retention, and quality maintenance to preserve output.

Poka-Yoke

Product design is a critical input to manufacturing but can introduce process waste on day one. A lean manufacturing tool that addresses scrap or inefficiency through design features known as poka-yoke (roughly translated to “mistake-proof”) can address this risk.

Small shops can reduce defects, rework, and associated waste by employing processes and tools that remove human interpretation of a process step. The overall product quality and efficiency have improved. Examples of poka-yoke could be adding a flange that prohibits component installation in an incorrect assembly configuration or a fixture that clocks the rotation position of a cylinder. 

Unlocking Cost Savings Through Lean Manufacturing Expertise

Many of these lean manufacturing tools are intuitive – once you know what they are and how to apply them. In reality, bringing in fresh process optimization expertise can unlock substantial cost savings by minimizing process waste. This approach requires a marginal input of time and material for a sustainable benefit that pays back in months or weeks. Shop owners can then allocate the savings toward automation, further standardizing process steps, reducing variability, and boosting throughput from their shop. 

Turner Process Solutions leverages our expertise with lean manufacturing tools through our Lean Sprint Process, averaging at least 10% improvement in only a weeklong engagement and up to 30% over time. We also offer a full suite of process optimization solutions that empower small manufacturers to achieve superior performance and efficiency.

📞: Schedule a call today for expert advice on any process optimization task and options for operating leases to let you automate today!