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Bump on the Lean Road
By John R. Brandt
Many in the manufacturing community (and the public at large) were surprised — even alarmed — by the string of quality failures experienced by Toyota over the past year. Some even suggested that maybe all those best practices and techniques Toyota pioneered — the Toyota Production System (TPS), practiced around the world and outside of Toyota as Lean Manufacturing — weren’t so great after all.
Those in the know, however, seem to be treating Toyota’s problem as precisely that — Toyota’s problem, and not a result or failure of TPS or Lean. New research offers strong evidence that manufacturers remain invested in Lean.
Approximately 61% of manufacturing plants participating in the 2010 MPI Manufacturing Study use Lean Manufacturing as an improvement methodology, and another 11% of plants use TPS. Some 62% of plants use Lean and/or TPS (i.e., most plants using Lean also use TPS).
These just-released findings from the Manufacturing Performance Institute also show that Lean and/or TPS usage among U.S. plants is only slightly lower than the previous year’s study: 70% of U.S. plants in 2010 vs. 75% of U.S. plants in 2009. (Note: The 2010 MPI Manufacturing Study was opened to international participants this year, with 145 plants outside of the U.S. participating and 334 U.S. plants participating).
Please indicate which of the following improvement methodologies are followed at the plant:
(multiple responses allowed)
|
|
All
plants |
U.S.
plants |
Non-U.S.
plants |
|
Lean Manufacturing |
60.8% |
69.0% |
41.8% |
|
Total Quality Management |
35.3% |
28.8% |
50.4% |
|
Six Sigma |
25.9% |
27.9% |
21.3% |
|
Theory of Constraints |
15.4% |
16.9% |
12.1% |
|
Agile Manufacturing |
10.7% |
7.7% |
17.7% |
|
Toyota Production System |
10.5% |
11.7% |
7.8% |
|
Other methodology(ies) |
18.4% |
16.6% |
22.7% |
|
No methodology |
15.0% |
15.3% |
14.2% |
Source: 2010 MPI Manufacturing Study
Outside of the U.S., though, a higher percentage of plants (50%) use Total Quality Management (TQM) than use Lean (42%). And, perhaps most surprising of all, given the challenges facing manufacturers around the globe, is that 15% of U.S. plants and 14% of non-U.S. plant use “no methodology.”
Look for more findings and insights from the 2010 MPI Manufacturing Study in the months to come.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The 2010 MPI Manufacturing Study was conducted by the Manufacturing Performance Institute (MPI), with partnership support from Thomas International Publishing Co. If you would like to learn more about MPI and its research, such as the Next Generation Manufacturing (NGM) Study, please subscribe to the NGM newsletter and blog, click here.
© 2010 The MPI Group
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