According to Hall (1987), manufacturing excellence is attained by ‘value-added manufacturing’, which is based on the principle that ‘purge anything that does not add value to the product or service, whether material, equipment, space, time, energy, systems, or human activity of any sort’. Shigeo (1981) gives a summary of the seven wastes, where waste is anything that does not add value to the product or service. These seven wastes and their methods of elimination are:
The ‘value-added manufacturing’ framework is based on several principles:
- Take a broad view of operation.
- Make problems visible to everyone.
- Keep it simple.
- Improve operations before spending on new plant and equipment.
- Flexibility.
The framework of ‘value-added manufacturing’ is described in three overlaying categories of work {Figure 2.2), total quality, just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing, and people involvement. One cannot be successful with JIT or total quality without total people involvement. Each of these is characterized by the following basics:
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Total Quality Control
- Begin with the customer
- Measure and track quality
- Take a broad view of quality
- Set targets for improvement
- Responsibility at the source is important
- Standardization maintains good practice and prevents problems from recurring
- Fail-safe operations.
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JIT Manufacturing
- Only the right materials, parts and products in the right place at the right time
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Total People Involvement
- Broad perspective
- Problem-solving atmosphere
- Employment security
- Performance measurement
Value-added manufacturing is a philosophy of competitive advantage through the development of people. In complex manufacturing, the best advantage comes from what people can do that competitors cannot. It is not quickly established, but once firmly in place, it is not quickly destroyed either.
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