Preliminary study for the application of lean

The Production Manager at Atlas Copco AB Craelius wants to adopt a lean approach to become more competitive. This thesis is an exploratory study of the subject and what it means for the business activity and its implementation process. The objective is to provide a basic understanding of lean to the company, and what this means for Atlas Copco AB Craelius. The report describes the industrial revolution in brief. This is because the company itself must understand where certain ways of looking at production management is derived from. Furthermore, it provides an understanding of Lean's origins. The report describes lean principles and outline, some of the lean tools and methods as well as what these mean for Atlas Copco Craelius AB. The focus of the report is on education and the importance of management's knowledge and understanding of the subject. At the end of the report an adequate but overall implementation program is presented as well as a few examples of possible improvements. The thesis is based on a basic literature review of production management and lean. To get a general understanding of the business, I studied the assembly for a few days, talked to the staff, participated in the daily pulse meetings and participated in the production office Friday meetings. I did a study at Atlas Copco Tools AB to learn how they managed the implementation of lean there. Furthermore, personal experience from previous training, work and study has influenced the report