Fundamentals of Lean for Business Organizations

Duration: 23.0

In today's competitive environment, complacency stifles success. So manufacturing and service organizations must constantly pursue perfection to retain their customers and market share. Lean methodology enables organizations to increase profitability through continuous improvement and the elimination of waste. This course introduces four powerful Lean tools for optimizing perfection and quality in a manufacturing or service organization. You'll learn how to apply 5S and Hoshin Kanri to organize workplaces and meet strategic objectives. You'll also learn about jidoka strategies for problem-solving as well as standard work practices for improving efficiency and eliminating waste.

• match the steps in the 5S process to the activities they involve
• match steps in the PDCA cycle to actions that would be carried out at each step
• match the strategies for using Hoshin Kanri to the stages of a project
• sequence examples of activities that occur during the jidoka process
• identify success factors for implementing the principles of standard work
• match different waste types with standard work strategies for eliminating waste

Duration: 22.0

Whether you work in a manufacturing or service environment, the success of your business depends on the efficiency of its processes and how well they respond to customer demand. If you're looking to increase production or improve quality of service, your focus should be on eliminating waste. Waste can be caused by many factors, such as untidy workspaces and surplus inventory, or inefficient distribution of work. Using the best blend of Lean tools and techniques for your organization can make your processes smoother and your workspaces tidier. This course introduces four robust Lean techniques. You'll explore the visual workplace and its tools for improving communication. You'll learn about using Just-in-time and Kanban techniques to establish a pull system that paces production with the rate of actual product demand. Finally, you'll learn about how line balancing can be used to distribute work evenly so that you have the optimal number of workers working just to takt time.

• identify the goals of the visual workplace
• match tools used in the visual workplace with their definitions
• identify key components of a successful implementation of just-in-time
• sequence the five steps involved in implementing a kanban system
• identify the goals of line balancing
• calculate takt time

Duration: 27.0

To succeed in competitive markets, all organizations need to plan and manage their products and services strategically. Much of the responsibility for doing this lies with operations managers. In this course, you'll learn the basics of product and service management. You'll be introduced to the stages of the product life cycle and the types of actions required at each stage. You'll also learn about a process and best practices for new product or service development. Finally, you'll learn about strategies for managing existing and mature products and services.

• match stages of the product life cycle to actions that should be taken at each stage
• sequence the stages of the new product development process
• match current best practices in new product development with their descriptions
• recognize strategies for maintaining sales of existing products and services
• recognize strategies for revitalizing sales of existing products or services
• recognize strategies for rationalizing mature products or services
• recognize how to plan and manage an organization's products and services strategically

Duration: 26.0

Processes are a part of every business. It is important to graphically depict these processes so areas of waste can be identified and eliminated, creating a more efficient, profitable, and lean organization. This course covers how to create and interpret both current and future-state value stream maps and to recognize how a value stream map is used to improve an organization's processes. The course will also cover ways to identify sources of waste and areas of bottlenecks, as well as how to balance the production line through line balancing and push systems.

• recognize the key objectives of value stream mapping
• sequence the steps in the value stream mapping process
• identify the types of data required to create a current-state value stream map
• match the symbols used in the mapping process to the data they represent
• identify sources of waste in the current-state map
• identify process blocks in a current state map using cycle time and takt time
• recognize the features of a pull system for future state mapping