The application, utilisation and level of value adding of selected Lean Manufacturing techniques amongst Assembly Manufacturing in Gauteng

Any organisation’s aim is to make profit. This phenomenon determines the survival and growth of each business activity. Organisations have to learn faster about new production techniques in order to become leaner and to enter new competitive environments as they experience lower reward potential in the existing environments. Organisations have to deliver faster to the markets, with product quality exceeding customers’ expectations with regard to competitive price. Lean manufacturing provides manufacturers with techniques to overcome these problems. The question arises which techniques to choose from the wide array of lean manufacturing techniques that are available. The aim of this study was to determine which lean manufacturing techniques Gauteng manufacturers, specifically in the Johannesburg area, prefer to use. The value that these techniques contribute to the manufacturing process was measured in a percentage of productivity improvement, inventory reduction and operating cost reduction. The research design was both qualitative and quantitative in nature and a structured questionnaire, applying the Likert scale, was used to gather the data. Most of the manufacturers in the Johannesburg area indicated that the techniques had, to a large extent, led to improvement in their productivity. These manufacturers indicated the opposite of what the literature indicate, namely that the techniques only reduced inventory to a moderate extent. The manufacturers did not prefer the techniques recommend by the lean manufacture advocates, which are mainly Just in time (JIT), waste elimination and value-stream mapping. They preferred total preventative maintenance (TPM), cycle time and assembly line balancing. iii In general a positive relationship was indicated between how frequently the techniques were used and the level of value it added, in terms of reduction in inventory levels, cost reduction and productivity improvement. Conclusion drawn from this research is that Gauteng assembly manufacturers use these techniques to a limited extent, which is to their disadvantage. Of all the lean manufacturing techniques Single Minute of Dies (SMED) has indicated a 87.5% improvement in inventory reduction if it was used always and a 75% operating cost reduction was reported. It is therefore recommended that Gauteng assembly manufacturers should pursue the implementation of lean manufacturing techniques, to reduce inventory levels, improve productivity and reduce cost. This will ultimately reduce waste and lead to an increase in company profits. The result suggested that further research can be conducted to verify industry’s perception in terms of the reasons why they do not implement and use lean manufacturing techniques, especially JIT. The same research can be extended to other industries for example, logistics and procurement.Mrs. L.M.M. Hewit