A Comparison of Process Improvement between Lean and Lean-TQM Approach

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1 A Comparison of Process Improvement between Lean and Lean-TQM Approach Wathanyu Tatsana-iam and Jeerapat Ngaoprasertwong Lean approach has been applied for organizational improvement over the years. But the results from improvement are not always expected. One factor that important and have much impact on improvement and lean approach ignores or doesn't focus on, is participation of employee but TQM approach has done. Employee involvement for improving organization is concept of TQM. However road map to implement Lean is more obviously and Lean's implementing timeframe is shorter. In case implementing Lean in electronics manufacturing, The real project duration was 1 month and outcome was shown [7]. While TQM's timeframe is 5-10 years [1]. Therefore, researcher has an opinion that combination between Lean's strength, obvious roadmap and employee involvement from TQM's concept will increase effective organizational improvement in shorter timeframe. The objective of this research is the comparison of Lean Approach and Lean-TQM approach and finds the difference between the improving result of these approach. In order to find incremental improvement by TQM's concept, Lean and Lean-TQM approach were brought to implementing for organization improvement in Timber Furniture Factory a case study. According to the result of case study, the incremental improvement from TQM's concept was shown. The maximum of incremental improvement is 2.01 times and was found in component fabrication station which operate by labor skill mainly. Finally, the outcome of this research can help and support the organizations for making their decision to implement suitable approach. Field of Research: Industrial Engineering, Lean, TQM, Process Improvement 1. Introduction Nowadays, business competition is so strong that the organizations have to develop their organization usually for serving customer need and creating satisfaction. Quality is the most important factor for creating competitive advantage. There are so many organizational performance improvement approach which have been presented over the years. Lean is one popular approach, it emphasizes process by creating value stream and reducing seven wastes in the whole process. Although lean manufacturing is becoming a popular technique for productivity improvement, SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) are still not certain of the cost of its implementation and the likely tangible and intangible benefits they may achieve [8]. In the early days of developing, identifying waste by Lean approach usually refer to seven wastes such as transport, inventory, motion, waiting, overproduction, over processing and defect. However, the addition of new waste was presented and became to eight wastes, that is Not Utilizing Talent. Wathanyu Tatsana-iam, Department of Industrial Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Wathanyu.t@student.chula.ac.th Jeerapat Ngaoprasertwong, Department of Industrial Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Jeerapat.n@chula.ac.th 1

2 Lean s five principles of reflection and implementation include specifying value, identifying the value stream, creating flow in the stream, letting the client pull the product and seeking perfection in the organization [6]. In addition, according to five principle of Lean approach, they ignore giving priority to employee participation but emphasized in process mainly. Another popular approach for organizational improvement has been Total Quality Management, TQM approach is the methodology that creates quality in organization by focusing on participation of employee. TQM as a corporate culture characterized by increased customer satisfaction through continuous improvement, in which all employees in the companies participate actively [3]. TQM approach have three concepts to improving such as customer oriented, continuous improvement and employees involvement. It can be seen that TQM approach focuses widely than Lean approach and emphasizes all employees' cooperation. That is according with the new additional waste. Nevertheless, TQM approach focus widely and steps to implement improving are not clear. Furthermore, lead time to implement is 5-10 years[ใหม ] while Lean approach have taken for 1 months[lean6] for effective improvement results. Therefore, conceptually begin with clear step of implementing Lean approach is better for beginner. Then TQM 's concept was added, to utilize employees creativity for improving. That is Lean-TQM approach. Consequently, this approach will be obvious and lead to high impact improvement within starter timeframe. Finally, eight wastes will be eliminated by this combined approach as figure 1. Figure 1: Combination between Lean and TQM's Concept 1.1 Lean approach Lean approach have been a popular approach for improving performance process manufacturing. Lean provides a focus approach for continuous process improvement and targeting of all available means and ways of bringing such improvement to bear within any system [6]. Eliminating waste and all unnecessary actions in the parts towards the creation of products or services is the main philosophy of Lean. Any activity in a process which does not add value to the customer is called waste [7]. The original seven waste are [14]; 2

3 Transport (moving products that are not actually required to perform the processing) Inventory (all components, work in process and finished product not being processed) Motion (people or equipment moving or walking more than is required to perform the processing) Waiting (waiting for the next production step) Overproduction (production ahead of demand) Over Processing (resulting from poor tool or product design creating activity) Defects (the effort involved in inspecting for and fixing defects) According to figure 2, There are five principle of Lean approach that is key success factor to improving. That is Identify value, Value stream mapping, Continuous flow, Pull system and Perfection. Consequently, the result of implementing Lean approach is reducing standard time in whole process and easier to work. that is increasing an effective process manufacturing Figure 2: Principle of Lean approach 1.2 TQM approach Total Quality Management, TQM have a variety of approaches however, all approach have similar philosophy that is management base on focusing on customer in order to present products and services that be closely customer needs, organization development with the participation of everyone in the organization for effective improvement and utilization employees' ability as possible. TQM approach [Lean product Vs TQM] is a company culture characterized by increased customer satisfaction through continuous improvements, in which all employees actively participate. [TQM3] Successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) brings many benefits into the organization. According to figure 3,There are three principle of TQM focus on. however, for this research, will only focus on the participation of employees and emphasize to utilization employees' ability as possible. Moreover, the objective of implementing TQM is reducing cost and improving product quality, be able to respond to customer needs, developing quality of life of employees and leading to perfect quality organization and learning organization. 3

4 Figure 3: Principles of TQM 1.3 Lean approach versus TQM approach Lean approach and TQM approach are closely similar some concept. Firstly, These approaches focus on customer needs in order to increasing customer satisfaction. Second, emphasizing in continuous improvement is a target of these approaches. Moreover, two approach were implemented for improving and developing performance quality process. However, there are some different point between these approaches that is TQM approach emphasize improving all organization and consider of enterprise-wide but Lean approach only focus on process for identify seven wastes and eliminating at last. One principle of TQM approach that Lean approach absolutely did not mention, is employees involvement. This principle accord with the adding one more waste in seven wastes and became to eight wastes. The waste added is non-utilized talent or untapped human potential. 1.4 Lean-TQM approach According to above, comparison between Lean approach and TQM approach can show that Lean approach did not focus on employees involvement as well as TQM approach. Therefore, this research will combine Lean approach and TQM's concept, that is adding utilization human potential to Lean approach for increasing effective improvement process quality. In addition, The target of Lean-TQM approach is improving process quality by eliminating eight wastes with utilization of employee's creativity for supporting organization improvement as figure Literature Review Samuel K. H. Ho [11] from Integrated lean TQM model for sustainable development, this thesis presents ILTM (Integrated Lean TQM model) which be applied from the combination of Lean and TQM to create process evaluation form. 5- S is the criterion in this form that is the first step to total quality organization. TQM and L5S are integrated into 5S+ (developed by the author), which help to check reducing wastes in all processes. This form was used in more 8,000 organizations around the world and more 100,000 employees were passed this training. Alan Brown, Julie Eatock, Dorian Dixon, Brian J. Meenan and John Anderson [2] from "Quality and continuous improvement in medical device manufacturing", this thesis presented consideration of four tools for continuous improvement, which are 4

5 Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints (TOC) and TQM. TQM and Six Sigma are separated into quality improvement group while Lean and TOC are separated into productivity improvement group. Furthermore, this thesis has divided tools by focus, which are Culture Focus (Lean and TQM) and Process Focus (TOC and Six Sigma). And the conclusion of this thesis is the suitability of each methodology, Culture Focus or Process Focus, is depend on industry, environment and the leader of the organization. Gholamreza Jamali, Mehran Ebrahimi and Mohammad Ali Abbaszadeh [4] from " TQM Implementation: An Investigation of Critical Success Factors " This paper discussed on critical success factors for implementing TQM. DEMETAL method was applied for solving problem. Conclusion of paper present that top management commitment, strategic quality planning, process management and training, are drivers and respectively are of high importance. According to review paper by author, training employees is most important requirements in asuccessful TQM implementation T. MELTON [7] from " The Benefits of Lean Manufacturing What Lean Thinking has to Offer the Process Industries" Mention to many advantages that receive from the implementation of Lean approach. And emphasize to train employees to aware the advantage of Lean and change them to be the Lean Thinker. Moreover, if process industries should be welcoming with open arms and leader of implementing can show organizational benefit will be help to increase effective implementing. Qu li and Ma man, Zhang guannan [9] from " Waste Analysis of Lean Service "Mention that TQM is both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles for managing an organization and TQM has Kaizen as a tool for continuous work. Furthermore, it mention to disadvantage of TQM which is an extensive method and requires specialist or consultant help, which can endanger the implementation. Finally, time and budget are the factors that affect to implementation of TQM, too. Pius Achanga, Esam Shehab, Rajkumar Roy and Geoff Nelder [8]from " Critical success factors for lean implementation within SMEs"Presents the factors which lead to achieve the target when implement Lean manufacturing for SEMS. This thesis reconsidered the literatures which cover 10 SMEs in England and discover that there are many factors which lead to achieve the target such as Leadership, management, finance organizational culture and skills and expertise. Moreover, The lack of funding and leadership lead to low effective improvement by lean approach. A. P. Kedar, R. R. Lakhe, V. S. Deshpande, P. V. Washimkar and M.V.Wakhare [3] from " comparative review of TQM, TPM and related organisational performance improvement programs" This paper shows comparison between TQM and related organizational performance improvement programs.. TQM has Kaizen as a tool for continuous work. This is visualized by the Deming s wheel. Statistical control is a powerful tool to gain control of manufacturing defects and it correlates to measurement. However, TQM was not pragmatic and logical approach. Finally, Lean 5

6 and TQM would be more suitable for any organization depending on cost of implementation in terms of time and money involved. 3. Case Study Under investigation was example in timber furniture factory as case study. The factory for case study, produces classic furniture by labor skill mainly. The characteristics of plant is mass production and job shop layout. In this research will improve manufacturing process in five stations such as cutting, component fabrication, assembly, fitting and QC & Packing. In current situation, a capacity is insufficient and effect to delivery delay. A lot of waste was identified by eight waste and eliminated by Lean and Lean-TQM approach. Process of investigation can follow by : 1. Review current operation 2. Identify waste operation by seven-wastes principle 3. Eliminate waste by implementing Lean approach 4. Recording result of improving data by Lean approach 5. Adding utilization employee's creativity by Suggestion and One Point Lesson activity 6. Recording result of improving data by adding utilization employee's creativity to Lean approach 7. Comparison result of both approach Figure 4: Result of implementing by Lean approach and Lean-TQM approach Unit : Second(s) Cutting Component Fabrication Assembly Fitting QC & Packing Before Improving Lean approach Lean-TQM approach According to Figure 4, the standard time in each station was reduced by Lean approach. As shown, Lean approach was effective approach to operation improvement. However, after adding employee's creativity by Suggestion and One Point Lesson activity, the standard time was more reduced all stations especially in component fabrication and assembly station. As Table 1, The standard time reduced by Lean and Lean-TQM approach was shown by percent. However, The Incremental 6

7 improvement by TQM's concept in five stations were shown by times are 0.43, 2.01, 0.99, 0.18, and 0.24 respectively. Calculation improvement(times) following : Table 1: Comparison of processing time reduced Standard time reduced (%) Approach Component QC & Cutting Assembly Fitting Fabrication Packing Lean Lean-TQM Improvement(times) For example; In component fabrication station The improvement is ( )/5.17 = 2.01 times 4. Discussion/Finding From case study, It's so clearly that Standard time in every station was reduced both approach as figure 4 and table 1. The improving from applying TQM's Concept to Lean approach was significant. By implementing Lean approach, the processing time in each station was reduced. However, there are incremental improvement from TQM's concept especially in component fabrication and assembly station. In component fabrication station, the incremental improvement is 2.01 times while in assembly station, it is 0.99 times from utilization of some employee ideas to apply for improvement. Although, Lean approach is an effective approach to improve processes but it can be seen that if employee have been allowed to use their own ideas to improve their processes. An great effect to organization improvement can be found particularly in labor's skill job. utilizing employee's idea can offer a different way to improving. Sometimes problems or wastes in each process can be identified clearly by employee in that process and the best way to eliminate it come from their opinion also. Moreover, the employee's suggestion is exactly be good way for their owns. Their offers meet their needs such doing their job easier, reducing fatigue and increasing their performance. Thus it is so easy to get employee's awareness and cooperation for organization improvement. Finally, allowing employee to use their own ideas is not only helping to improve processes but also helping to continuously develop working skill and learning of employee. All of these, is important for organizational progress in the future. 5. Conclusion As case study can be confirm that employee involvement contributes to increase effective organization improvement. Especially in component fabrication and assembly station which operating activities depend on labor skill mainly. A Lean- TQM approach that has presented in this research, combining between Lean's strength and TQM's concept can give an outcome of organizational improvement more effective than implementing by Lean alone. Furthermore, The explicit road map from Lean approach helps to follow step by step to improvement easier. In addition, Lean-TQM provide shorter improvement timeframe. A participation of employees to supporting organizational improvement whether creativity or 7

8 awareness approach helps to improving organization more effectiveness. Lean-TQM approach may be seen as a suitable approach only for process manufacturing that have to use human skill mainly and not necessary for process manufacturing by machine mainly. In fact, whatever the process manufacturing was be. Surely, they have people in a part of work hence they absolutely cannot ignore the participation of employees and avoid problem that cause by employees as long as people in a part of their organization. Therefore, Lean-TQM approach that focus on process analysis and eliminate wastes bases on Lean approach as well as emphasizes utilization of employee's creativity for supporting organization improvement bases on TQM approach, was present in this research can be applied in many kind of organizations for organizational process improvement. References A. Anvari, Y. Ismail and Seyed Mohammad Hossein Hojjati, "A Study on Total Quality Management and Lean Manufacturing: Through Lean Thinking Approach", World Applied Sciences Journal, pp , Alan, Brown., Julie, Eatock., Dorian, Dixon., Brian, J., Meenan, and John, Anderson. 2008, "Quality and continuous improvement in medical device manufacturing,". The TQM Journal, Vol. 20 No.6, A. P. Kedar, R. R. Lakhe, V. S. Deshpande, P. V. Washimkar and M.V.Wakhare, " A comparative review of TQM, TPM and related organisational performance improvement programs", First International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering and Technology, pp , G. Jamali, M. Ebrahimi and M. Ali Abbaszadeh, " TQM Implementation: An Investigation of Critical Success Factors", 2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology, pp , Keng-Boon Ooia, Voon-Hsien Leea, Alain Yee-Loong Chongb and Binshan Linc, " Does TQM improve employees quality of work life? Empirical evidence from Malaysia s manufacturing firms", Production Planning & Control: The Management of Operations, pp , L. Sacadura and A. Tenera, "Integrating Value and Lean Management in Manufacturing Processes", IEEE journal, O. Zhuravskaya, M. Michajlec and P. Mach, "Success Case Study Lean Production in Electronics Manufacturing Workshop", 34th Int. Spring Seminar on Electronics Technology, pp , P. Achanga, E. Shehab, R. Roy and G. Nelder, " Critical success factors for lean implementation within SMEs", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, pp , Qu li, Ma man and Zhang guannan, " Waste Analysis of Lean Service", IEEE Journal,2011. Raj Kumar, Dixit Garg and T.K. Garg, "TQM success factors in North Indian manufacturing and service industries", The TQM Journal, pp.36-41, Samuel K.M. Ho, 2010,"Integrated lean TQM model for sustainable development", The TQM Journal, Vol. 22 No.6, T. Almehareb and Dr J. Graham-Jones, " Lean Implementation as a Source of 8

9 Ensuring Continous Improvement at Airports", 2010 International Conference on Education and Management Technology, pp , T. Melton, "THE BENEFITS OF LEAN MANUFACTURING What Lean Thinking has to Offer the Process Industries", Chemical Engineering Research and Design, pp , Lean manufacturing, Wikiversity, wiki article, viewed August , 9