How do private enterprises in China consult on lean production management?

Enterprises operating in China must look for other competitive advantages besides cheap labor, especially there are signs that the wages of employees in China are rising. In order to make a profit, these enterprises that have invested a huge amount of money must improve the utilization rate of their factories, make more kinds of products that better meet the needs of customers and improve the quality of products at the same time. The best way to achieve the above goals is to implement lean production.

The purpose of lean production technology is to find out and eliminate the source of waste. However, the implementation of lean production in China is full of challenges. China, the Manager, is generally promoted from the grassroots level. It not only lacks important skills such as solving problems, guiding subordinates and managing performance, but also lacks accurate analysis and quick response to complex problems.

Professional ability to propose solutions. Endless growth means that factory leaders are busy meeting orders and expanding production capacity, and have no time to refine production processes. In addition, the high staff turnover rate also weakens the persistence of employees, which is the key to using lean technology.

Lean production can indeed bring huge benefits to enterprises. For example, a steel plant can only use 60% of its capacity. If the equipment utilization rate is raised to the industry benchmark level, that is, 90%, the annual profit of this steel mill will increase by 654.38 billion US dollars. According to McKinsey's survey of 30 electronics factories, compared with world-class factories, wasteful practical activities and high defect rate reduce corporate profits by 20% to 40%. Take the factory with median output as an example. If it can reach the level of the best factory, its annual profit will increase by 25 million US dollars. Although the benefits brought by lean technology are very attractive, China enterprises must ensure the existence of the following three key elements if they want to improve the success rate of implementing lean production:

(1) Managers and factory employees also need a brand-new set of knowledge tools to solve complex problems and make their work style smarter.

(2) The company needs a better system to set performance targets and measure employees' ability to meet standards.

(3) In this country where rapid changes have become commonplace, companies must make employees fully aware of the importance of permanent and long-term improvement.

Enterprises must overcome multiple obstacles to make the above methods succeed in China. For example, the production system that works well in Stuttgart and Detroit and pays attention to fine-tuning has not achieved the expected results in Shenzhen and Shanghai. Because in Shenzhen and Shanghai, the steps of the production process have not been clearly defined and lack of understanding.

And the skills needed to improve the process. One way to quickly fill this knowledge gap is to introduce external experts. In China, there are not many experienced production engineers, so we need to be creative when applying the above methods. Companies can employ retired engineers from Japan and Taiwan Province Province through trade associations or other industries and personal networks. They are a valuable source of technical knowledge. Zhang Rujing, the founder of SMIC, used his personal network to recruit suitable engineers from former employees. Companies can also find talents through headhunting companies and job advertisements. For example, many experts from Taiwan Province Province, Singapore and South Korea are willing to work in China. Sometimes, equipment suppliers will be willing to cooperate closely with the factory if they think that cooperation will help to develop new processes or products. Technicians sent by suppliers can often find faults in machines and production processes in manufacturers' factories, thus providing valuable on-the-job training for manufacturers' employees.

Managers and supervisors in China lack experience in managing enterprise performance. They often focus on fire fighting (solving immediate problems) and have no time to use the tools of system management. Part of the reason for not pursuing performance is also related to culture. The obvious class system in China factory means that workers are unwilling to challenge the authority of the manager. Managers will also think that the details of participating in the seminar are beneath their dignity. At the same time, China people are usually reluctant to discuss their personal performance frankly with their colleagues. When these attitudes are mixed together, a very serious problem will arise. Because in order to effectively implement lean skills, workers and managers must work together to find out the problems and then resolutely implement relevant solutions.

To change the behavior of the above employees, the company must have a strong leader who can effectively implement the reform by setting clear goals and appointing appropriate responsible persons. This leader is usually the CEO of the company. He is the focus of reform measures or the head of the department supported by senior management.

Tube. Leaders must implement a performance evaluation system that can strengthen lean manufacturing objectives.

In factories in Japan and the United States, managers usually select some evaluation indicators (such as product defect rate), and then evaluate each worker regularly to determine whether they meet the standards. In China, if the evaluation object is a group rather than an individual, it is easier for workers to accept this evaluation system. Therefore, one

The effective way is to link the workers' income with the group performance, accounting for about 20% of the total income, that is, the performance is up to standard (or not up to standard) and the income is raised (or deducted) by 20%. In Baosteel, the proportion is higher, with ordinary workers accounting for 40% and managers accounting for 70%.

One of the biggest obstacles that China Company faces in successfully introducing lean production technology is to take necessary actions to break the long-term bottleneck of the factory. At present, the tendency of enterprises is to vigorously carry out multiple plans at the same time, hoping that there is always a way to achieve improvement. In China, people always think of actively following someone.

It is more important to follow a fixed route than to achieve real and measurable improvement. All kinds of campaigns to improve quality or expand output are superficial and do not really focus on solving problems that everyone has fully understood. In order to realize lean planning in China, managers must adapt to the tradition of mass movement in China. Pilot projects that successfully solve waste problems or improve product quality must be widely publicized to increase the power of reform. The company should train those workers who have participated in the pilot program into the backbone of experts as pioneers in promoting the reform plan in the company or factory. The pilot method can prove the benefits of lean manufacturing in tangible ways, and it is more likely to convince those skeptical workers than the pure theoretical method.

In addition to using pilots, companies must organize large-scale publicity and training activities, which should be larger than those common in Japan or western countries. In an organization with about 4,000 employees, within three months, nearly half of the workers were instructed to introduce the essence of lean manufacturing, in order to lay a foundation for future formal practice. This kind of extensive publicity of the plan intention is very important for improving employees' expectation of success and mobilizing the masses to participate in the reform.

Whether it is to make lean technology the focus of media reports or the main content of educating workers, this all-round publicity method is very consistent with the characteristics of China factory celebrating everything. For those senior managers who are worried that lean manufacturing will affect their power, taking them to visit companies with best practices can help them clear up misunderstandings.

Another complicated problem encountered in the implementation of lean principle is that most factories in China are constantly changing rapidly, expanding production capacity and changing product design. Therefore, these companies must implement lean operation in a shorter time and at a faster speed than other countries. For example, in western countries, it is customary to set goals, make plans and carry out pilot projects in seven to 10 years, while in China, these plans must be completed in two to three years. The urgent timetable means that it takes only 12 to 18 months from the pilot to the full implementation.

In China, such a high standard can be implemented, because American workers are far less bound by tradition and more adaptable to changes than those in Europe, Japan and North America. To sum up, as long as strong leaders determine the direction, provide workers with the necessary skills and provide effective incentives, China will certainly be able to master lean technology in a short time.