What About Lean Machine Safety? | Industrial Automation

See on Scoop.itlean manufacturing

“There are common misconceptions that keep manufacturers from integrating safety into lean manufacturing, McHale said. ‘People think there’s no place for safety in lean,” he said. “Safety will just impede things; all of my processes will slow down. Implementing safety doesn’t necessarily result in lost production.’

McHale believes safety and lean manufacturing principles can reinforce one another.”

 

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

I agree with McHale. If, in implementing Lean, you give the proper amount of attention to the engineering dimension and focus first on the design of the production lines, in the details of operations you see risks that were overlooked before, from accidents waiting to happen to movements and postures that generate repetitive stress.

As you improve the line, you also improve its safety and its ergonomics. It shows respect for people in a concrete way, ensures that you retain them, and secures their support of your efforts.

When you reduce the hand carrying distance of a car battery from 50ft to 2ft, you not only make the job safer and less tiring, but you increase productivity and reduce handling damage at the same time. You don’t improve one dimension of performance at the expense of another. Instead, you improve all of them concurrently. This is the essence of Lean.

See on www.controldesign.com