State the limitations of lean production
The limitations of lean production are as follows:
(a) Equipment or labor failure:One of the central limitations of lean production is that you have little margin for error. If equipment breaks down or you need more-than-projected labor for certain processes, you may fall behind and lose your optimized efficiency advantages. In a mass production plant, workers simply slide over to another piece of equipment if something quits working. In a lean production facility, there aren't a lot of extra equipment and tools around.
(b) Missed deliveries:
Directly tied to the lack of flexibility or margin for error is the potential for missed delivery deadlines. Breakdowns can cause you to harm your primary customer relationships if you don't deliver as promised. Your wholesale or retail buyers need goods by deadlines to meet the demand from their customers. If you consistently fail to provide timely shipments, buyers look for suppliers that can. Sometimes, you don't even get a second chance on a major miss.
(c) New inefficiencies:
Lean techniques can be overused. When tracking of productivity and waste starts to impact the time used for production, the solution becomes the problem. When lean principles are first applied, you can expect larger returns than later down the road. It is tempting to push those expectations, but you must examine the value of improvements. If you refine throughput to 1,000 parts an hour in one section that you can supply with only 500 parts from a previous stage, you haven't improved your result.
(d) Low margin for error:
JIT principles work best with stable system components. Delivery times for raw and finished goods are known, and the elements of production can be scheduled accordingly. Being overly aggressive with JIT scheduling leaves you vulnerable to systemic bottlenecks. Supplier delivery issues may cut off your raw materials, interrupting your production flow. Maintenance emergencies can reduce your production throughput. Any constraint not accounted for in your JIT planning potentially jeopardizes the entire system. Margin for error and system waste may be difficult to balance.
(e) Worker frustration:
When a certain level of refinement is met, using lean methods to squeeze more economy from production can discourage workers, reversing positive motivation and undermining your leadership. Trends of backsliding in previous improvements may indicate worker resentment. Striking a balance between stasis and continuous improvement is a challenge in any lean environment. A small business may be more prone to reaching such a refinement because of its less complex nature. Be aware of how incorporated changes affect your staff to gauge how effective further pushes will be.
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