Industrial Lean-News, Product Reviews, Lean Guides

Do you remember the days when paint was used to mark aisles, pathways and safety zones? Well, those days are long gone with the introduction of floor marking tape that adheres to floor marking standards. Every company that has strict and rigorous safety standards is now switching to floor aisle marking tape as it is seen to be the most effective, enduring, and inexpensive method for lining warehouse facilities as well as manufacturing facilities. Plus, purchasing marking floor tape is beneficial as it is designed to do better than paint even in the most severe industrial environments.

After some time, and usually a short period, paint tends to crack, chip, peel or fade away particularly in areas with a lot of traffic. In addition, when applying paint, a whole area has to be closed down in order for the paint to be applied and to dry. This can all be avoided just by simply utilizing floor tape.

There are certain measures that need to be undertaken before applying floor tape and this is to make sure that the tape is set right to last longer. First, one needs to prep the floor, which means that the floor needs to be dirt-free and dry. It is advisable that a light, non-chlorine based cleaner is used to clean the floor. It is important not to apply over existing tape or paint.

The next step is to peel the backing off the floor tape and apply it onto the clean area, and for the best results, compress it into place with at least 250 pounds of weight after application. Generally, for facility aisle marking and floor marking tape lines, two inches width is the minimum requirement, and any width above that is acceptable with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and ANSI.

Lean manufacturing environments are the areas that mostly use the 5S tool. It is a popular approach which has the main advantage of being simple to use. With lean thinking one will also find that the idea of a visual workplace is important. It is vital to organize tools, supplies and machinery, as well as create a space that can easily accommodate the re-organization of necessary and unnecessary items.

5S videos and 5S posters that guide employees on how to follow the 5S steps as well as how to dispose needless tools and equipment items, can bring about numerous benefits for a business. Since everything else that is unnecessary is either discarded or stored, a business can receive greater efficiency via a workplace design. This will be via the first step; the sorting stage.

Additionally, this process focuses on organising work areas for utmost efficiency by organizing tools and equipment to enhance work flows by minimizing movement around the work area. This is known as Set in Order. The tools or apparatus should be placed nearby where they will be needed and used. 5S red tags can be useful in organizing where each tool should be kept.

The sweeping method of the 5S, relates to maintaining a disciplined, systematic approach to making sure that each work place is clean and tidy and so are the machines. At the end of every shift, work areas should be left clean and orderly, plus tools should be placed back in their designated areas.

In the standardizing element of the 5S, it will be required that all practices are followed in a uniform and coherent manner. For example, if there is a machine that needs maintenance, there should be a system that specifies what needs to be done, where and by whom.

Finally, the last part of the 5S is to sustain the system over time. Even though it may seem hard to accomplish, maintaining a strong focus will help prevent it from failing.

We encounter risks every day, from the time we woke up in the morning, to the time we go back to sleep; life is a risk. However, even though we face dangers, every so often we do not get hurt because we take preventative measures to ensure our safety.

Our well-being is important, which is why organizations such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were created to protect workers from harm or injury at their place of work.

Factories and construction sites are just a few of the places that need a greater amount of safety standards to be employed, other workplaces such as office buildings should also maintain a high level of safety.

OSHA has the task of putting into place rules and standards that will guarantee the health and safety of workers. Therefore, companies should ensure that their health and safety measures are OSHA compliant to give a sense of security.

For instance, in a factory, OSHA floor markings using warehouse floor tape can be placed as a walkway path or aisle marking in order to guide employees to the various safety zones and areas where they are not likely to obstruct moving vehicles that are ferrying goods. Furthermore, floor marking can ensure that the employees driving the vehicles keep to their side at all times. Companies that begin by following these simple OSHA floor marking standards can increase the safety of their employees.

OSHA safeguards the rights of employees, plus the entity offers trainings and information about hazards such as not establishing and imposing written procedures that govern the health and safety of employees in a company.

At the end of the day, OSHA sets the standards of which should be put into practice in the workplace or work area, and they expect that the company complies with the standards.

Aisle Marking, Aisle Marking Tapes and Product Examples

Lean Manufacturing

This article from foxnews really brings home the point that Lean Manufacturing is still in it’s grass roots phase and expansion is still to come. I expect to see a lot more as time goes on.

A century after Henry Ford developed the assembly line production method for the manufacture of Model-T Fords, a Japanese automaker has pioneered the next evolution on the concept – and begun a revolution that is quietly spreading beyond the business world.

It’s called “lean” manufacturing, and analysts say it enables managers to reduce redundancy, increase output and save capital that can be used to hire more workers.

Championed by Toyota in recent decades, the concept centers on bringing together into one workspace all employees associated with a given project – designers, suppliers, even sales and marketing people – and delivering the final product as close as possible to the point of sale. This is known as the “just in time” concept. The technique also places heavy emphasis on keeping the inventories low.

“If you take the Toyota definition, it’s really a very holistic system of people, equipment and processes,” said Jeffrey Liker, professor of industrial and operations engineering at the University of Michigan. “And the result is to be competitive by continually reducing the price of goods, giving your customer more for less and developing your employees so they can continuously improve the system.”

General Electric has estimated that its adoption of “lean” techniques has enabled the company to shave up to four direct labor hours, worth about $60, off every refrigerator the company manufactures.

Vice President Biden recognized the company’s embrace of the practice last June when he visited a “lean” GE dishwasher plant. In Louisville, Ky., a third assembly line was retooled with lean techniques and employees operating it on two shifts. “The country that doesn’t innovate stagnates,” Biden noted at the time.

Herman Miller, a furniture company based in Zeeland, Mich., has reportedly quadrupled productivity by tailoring the Toyota method to its own system.

“Production is order-driven, with direct materials and components purchased as needed to meet demand,” the company said in a 2007 financial statement. “The standard lead time for the majority of our products is 10 to 20 days. As a result, the rate of our inventory turns is high. These combined factors could cause our inventory levels to appear relatively low in relation to sales volume. … As a result of this strategy, our manufacturing operations are largely assembly based.”

But experts caution that there are good and bad ways to attain “lean.”

“The Toyota production system – which started quite a long time ago, and there are a number of elements to it – it’s actually quite complicated,” said Martin Baily, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who formerly served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton. “It’s not just a matter of making things lean. It’s also about incremental improvement. So a big part of their success has been constant improvement.”

Liker drew a contrast between companies that achieve leanness simply by slashing payroll and squeezing more productivity out of remaining workers, and those, like Toyota, that see their employees, even in lean times, as assets that appreciate over time.