Q1. There is an article posted on Moodle titled, “Using Lean Philosophy to Improve Passenger Departure Flow in Abu Dhabi Airport.” Read this article first and then answer the following part (a) and part (b) questions:
After reading the above mentioned article, what were the main lessons learned from this paper? State between 3-6 lessons learned. [3 points]
The standard ten wastes of lean manufacturing cannot always be applied in their original state due to the differences in the operational processes and their connection to each other and should be revised in every new situation.
The elimination of the wastes aims to set “the progressive achievement of tasks along the value stream” ((Al-Dhaheri and Kang 957). However, not all wastes can be eliminated in full.
Lean systems are value-oriented. Their major goal is to add value to the provided services and to eliminate Type II Muda, “activities that create no value and are immediately avoidable” (Al-Dhaheri and Kang 958). Furthermore, these values are determined by the customers, because the customers create demand and activate the system.
The implement of the lean principles in full is not always possible due to economic reasons. For instance, the airport provides duty-free facilities, and the airport authorities are highly interested in the increasing of the time passengers spend in the duty-free zone. Here, the lean principles aim to reduce only the time spent at processing stations.
One of the best ways to implement the lean systems and to improve the operational processes is the process mapping.
One of the most important problems of the lean operating is queues management that is still studied not enough.
How would you implement these lessons learned if you were a lean champion at Walmart? For each point mentioned, please make it clear and specifically address it for Walmart’s operations. [6 points]
The application of the lean principles should be reviewed for the Walmart structure.
All possible waists should be eliminated or reduced in every area due to careful operation management.
The understanding of the customers’ values requires the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data. However, it is rather clear that customers want products with better quality and lower prices. It is important to note that Walmart markets have already been “among the most cost-efficient in the industry” (Sehgal). The permanent analysis of the data should be maintained to monitor the customers’ demand for various products for supply chain management.
The lean principles cannot be applied in full due to the economic reasons. However, they should be agile to satisfy both the customers’ values and economic needs.
The process mapping should be used for the optimization and improvement of the operations inside the Walmart structure including absence of overstocked stores, fast supply chain, retailing, customer support and operations, etc.
Queues are a challenging issue for Walmart’s shops and markets. Walmart can use the same queuing management strategies as the ones suggested in the article including Markov algorithm models and statistics-based analytical models by Bittel and Kaffa-Jackou (Al-Dhaheri and Kang 959).
Works Cited
Al-Dhaheri, Abdulla, and Dr. Parminder Singh Kang. “Using Lean Philosophy to Improve Passenger Departure Flow in Abu Dhabi Airport.” International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research 6.7 (2015): 955-961. PDF.
Sehgal, Vivek. “Supply Chain Strategy: Lean and Agile at the Same Time?” Supply Chain Musings. Supply Chain Musings, 28 Oct 2010. Web. Accessed 14 May 2016.
Q2. Identify AND explain the relationship between innovation and implementation of lean principles in both the manufacturing as well as in the service industry. State 3 points for each industry, i.e, 3 points for manufacturing and 3 points for the service industry. Answer clearly in point format. [6 points]
The manufacturing industry:
The term “innovation” is opposite to the “lean systems,” as means an amount of wastes and errors and the necessity in time. At the same time, “some aspects of lean management may negatively affect a company’s capability to be successful with certain types of innovations” (Chen 826). Thus, innovations may conflict with the implementations of lean principles.
According to The Manufacturing Transformation, “Times have changed. And, in order to remain an agile manufacturer, Lean methodologies must adapt and change too” (“Lean revisited: Taking a fresh look at lean manufacturing strategies” 5). The manufacturing process uses lean concepts to guide the working processes and to control wastes without rigid boundaries regarding the absence of errors and experimentations that follow every innovation.
The lean system means the creation and immediate implementation of various innovations that allow speeding up manufacturing processes and the wide use of these innovations.
The service industry:
An implementation of lean principles opens up working processes and abolishes the usual company hierarchies. According to Staats, “the use of lean principles . . . could have qualities of a "Trojan Horse initiative."” (Hanna). The visible goal of shortening the terms of productivity can lead to significant changes in the company’s structure and working processes. Due to lean systems, all employees are actively involved in the implementation of innovations and actively take part in operating procedures.
Lean principles mean “ideas into action” (Hanna). In other words, there is no division on the “university research” and the “real world” implementation. The employees come up with conceptual ideas and immediately start to search for the ways to implement this idea into practice.
Lean processes imply to the acceptance of innovations and their immediate use. For instance, a part of work that could be done by computer programs is shifted to the computer programs without any additional human participation. At the same time, the use of lean services means the use of various lean techniques, for instance, “value stream mapping (VSM) to identify and decrease wasted time and effort throughout the software development process” (Hanna).
Works Cited
Chen, Hongyi, and Ryan Tailor. Exploring the Impact of Lean Management on Innovation Capability. Management of Engineering & Technology, PICMET 2009 Proceedings, 2-6 Aug, Portland, Oregon USA. PDF.
Hanna, Julia. “Bringing ‘Lean’ Principles to Service Industries.” Harvard Business School. Harvard Business School, 22 Oct 2007. Web. Accessed 14 May 2016.
“Lean revisited: Taking a fresh look at lean manufacturing strategies.” Infor. Infor, 2015. Web. PDF. Accessed 14 May 2016.
