Ebook Application of lean paradigm in red meat processing
Nearly 100 years ago Henry Ford drew on the Chicago slaughterhouses’ disassembly (breaking down of a meat carcass) processes to build the world’s first assembly flow production line (Hounshell, 1984). Ford’s flow production system for a single product later mutated into mass production for many product variants.
Toyota subsequently developed a flow production system for many product variants lean production (Womack et al., 1990). Lean production contrasts the batch and-queue mode of mass production, by emphasising the importance of smooth flow and continuous improvement (Womack and Jones, 1996; Bicheno, 2000). Presently, lean production is a prominent management concept in today’s world-class industry (Womack and Jones, 1996).
This paper takes the concept of lean production and explains how some lean techniques can improve productivity and quality in red meat cutting plants. The two basic lean techniques discussed are Takt-time (Rother and Shook, 1998), which is the basis for smooth continuous production flow and standardized work (Tapping and Fabrizio, 2000) which is the basis for continuous improvement.
A multiple case study approach (Yin, 2003a) is adopted in this paper. Two sets of case studies present examples from both traditional and advanced meat cutting rooms. By comparing and contrasting the results from the two sets of case studies it is revealed that there is a typical 25 per cent productivity gap between traditional and advanced plants.
The pattern of practices in the advanced plants closely matches the pattern of practices in the lean production system (Womack and Jones, 1996; Bicheno, 2000). The paper contributes explanation of why the lean practices lead to superior performance in the advanced plants. This paper explains the effects of Takt-time and standardized work practices on productivity and quality of red meat cutting plants.
Download
PDF Ebook Application of lean paradigm in red meat processing
Posted in :
