The Lean Approach In Engineering Enterprises

The concept of Lean Production was generated in 1980’s, and became more and more mature as time goes by. However, the traditional Lean Management methodologies mainly focus on manufacturing process. Besides in the past ten years mature methodology for applying Lean principles in engineering process has been developed, the tools and generic practices of implementing Lean is still under discussion. For Chinese enterprises, the best practices of implementing Lean methods in engineering process, which includes product development process, are rarely known. However, the economic crisis not only has strong impact on manufactory industry, but also on engineering companies. Furthermore, as the competition goes more and more intense, reducing costs, improving efficiency and optimizing competencies become urgent topics for organizations. This issue is especially a key issue for international giant company A. This article started from the research result in recent years, leveraged on the advanced international experience in Lean engineering, so to tailor an approach for company A, in order to improve the performance of its engineering process through Lean methodologies. Through applying VSM, DSM and fishbone figures, the process is analyzed in details. Further discussion has been performed regarding how to optimize Kaizen, how to integrate Kaizen into company strategy and how to monitor the result and implementation of Kaizen.