What's the difference between Traditional and Lean Manufacturing?

For years, the manufacturing industry has centered around creating products in anticipation of having a market for them to be sold. Sales forecasts have driven operations, and manufacturers have stockpiled inventories in the hope of that demand being realized.

Do all customers really want the same things? Is mass production truly the best way forward? These questions point us to an alternative manufacturing ideology–Lean manufacturing.

What Is Lean Manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is based on the concept that production should be driven by real customer demand, not by anticipated demand. Instead of producing what you hope to sell, Lean manufacturing focuses on creating what customers want. In other words, instead of pushing products to a market, products are pulled through the Lean system, which is set up to respond quickly to customer demands.

Lean manufacturing comes from the broader concept of Lean management, a business approach that focuses on eliminating the unnecessary and focusing on what matters. For example, the 5S principles (another manifestation of Lean management) focus on creating clean and well-organized workspaces.

Lean management principles were first implemented in the Japanese auto manufacturing industry, which pioneered just-in-time manufacturing, a core principle of today’s Lean manufacturing philosophy. This system allows manufacturers to produce high-quality products at a lower cost and bring them to the market quicker than other mass producers. The goal is to operate at the most efficient and effective level possible, at the least cost with zero waste.

Key Differences Between Traditional and Lean Manufacturing

The very core of the Lean manufacturing philosophy differs significantly from traditional manufacturing. Here are the top differences between the two manufacturing ideologies:

Business Strategy

Traditional manufacturing follows a product-out strategy, focusing on exploiting economies of scale of various technologies and stable product designs. On the other hand, Lean manufacturing has a customer-focused approach that centers on identifying and fulfilling customer demands, regardless of what they are.

Leadership and Organization

Traditional manufacturing features hierarchical organizational structures that encourage following orders and discourage the flow of vital information that highlights any defects and organizational deficiencies.

However, Lean manufacturing centers on encouraging initiative and fostering a culture of continuous performance improvement. While management is the primary driver of change in traditional systems, Lean systems empower each member of the organization at all levels, train them in Lean principles, and encourage innovations to improve processes and eliminate inefficiencies.

Customer Satisfaction

Unlike traditional methods of making large quantities of similar products at statistically acceptable quality levels, Lean manufacturing is customer-centric. It allows manufacturers to identify what each customer wants and produce what they want, with zero defects, when they want it, and only in the quantities they order.

Operational Capability

Traditional manufacturing employs tools that focus on mass production and assume an extreme division of labor and no problem-solving skills.

Lean manufacturing incorporates smart tools that assume standardized work, encourage team production, and create better opportunities for abnormality detection and organizational growth.

Is Lean Manufacturing Better Than Traditional?

Lean manufacturing focuses on eliminating all non-value-adding operations so the best possible output can be delivered.

Here is why Lean manufacturing can be a better philosophy for your business:

Improved product quality: With higher efficiency, you can produce better quality products because you free up resources and labor to focus more on innovation and quality control.
Improved lead times: By eliminating wasteful activity, you can streamline your manufacturing processes and get better at responding to market fluctuations, ultimately facing fewer delays and improving lead times.
Improved sustainability: With zero-waste policies, your business gets better at combating climate and environmental challenges and implementing sustainability in your practices.

Tools for Fostering a Lean Culture

Having the right tools by your side can help you foster a Lean culture, maximize efficiency, drive profit, and encourage innovation in the workplace. Creative Safety Supply has the tools you need to implement a 5S program and drive efficiency across all organizational levels.

From floor markings to signage, labeling, and tags, we can help your organization create the visual systems you need to promote employee safety and keep your spaces well-organized, clean, and efficient!

For more helpful information, check out our post on the difference between Lean and Six Sigma.