Skip to content

Example gallery · 21 examples · Lean manufacturing fundamentals

Lean manufacturing examples: 21 cases sorted by the five principles

Twenty-one lean manufacturing examples, sorted by the five lean principles: value, value stream, flow, pull and perfection. Each one names the place, gives the number before and after, and says what the change took. Nineteen are illustrative cases written to show the method on a job you would recognize. Two summarize published history and link to the source.

Last reviewed:

Score your own value stream against the five principles

A 25-item walk sheet that turns one value stream into a score per principle. Free, after one short form.

Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.

More about it on the lean principles assessment template page.

Want the long version? 8 Wastes Examples from Real Manufacturing Processes: what each of the eight wastes looks like on a shop floor, which is the tag on every card here.

Each card starts with the place and the problem, then gives three lines: the number before, the number after, and what the change took in time or equipment. The tags show which of the eight wastes the change removed and the kind of plant. Filter by either to find a case close to your own.

Waste removed
Plant type

Showing 21 of 21 examples

Value: what the customer is paying for

The first principle is to define value from the customer's point of view. These cases start with a question to the customer and end with work the plant stopped doing, or started doing differently, because of the answer.

    • Overprocessing
    • Fabrication

    Dropping checks the customer never asked for

    A bracket shop measured 11 dimensions on every part at final inspection. The customer's drawing marks 3 of them as critical. The quality engineer went through the drawing with the customer's buyer, kept the 3 critical dimensions on every part and moved the full 11 to the first and last piece of each lot.

    Before:
    About 4 minutes of checking per bracket, and a queue at the inspection bench most afternoons.
    After:
    About 70 seconds per bracket. No complaint on the 8 dropped dimensions in the six months that followed.
    What it took:
    One drawing review with the customer and a revised inspection sheet.
    • Waiting
    • Machining

    A fast lane for small repeat orders

    A machine shop quoted four weeks on everything. The sales manager asked its five largest customers what they would change, and all five named the wait on small repeat orders. The shop set one 3-axis mill aside for repeat jobs of 50 pieces or fewer and stopped queueing them behind long runs.

    Before:
    Repeat orders shipped in 19 working days on average.
    After:
    6 working days, measured over the next 40 repeat orders.
    What it took:
    One machine taken out of the general schedule, and a written rule for which jobs qualify.
    • Defects
    • Food and packaging

    Pallets built the way the customer unloads them

    A packaging plant shipped mixed pallets, several products stacked together to fill the truck. The customer's warehouse had to break down every pallet and sort it again, and wrong-product claims came back each month. The shipping lead visited that warehouse, then switched to one product per pallet with a label on two adjacent sides.

    Before:
    14 wrong-product claims a month.
    After:
    3 a month in the following quarter. Each truck now carries two fewer pallets, which the customer accepted.
    What it took:
    One visit to the customer's dock, a new pallet pattern and a second label printer.

Value stream: see every step and remove the wasted ones

The second principle is to identify the value stream for a product and take out the steps that add nothing. In practice that means following one product family from start to finish and writing down where it waits.

    • Waiting
    • Inventory
    • Fabrication

    Mapping one product family from dock to dock

    A fabrication plant mapped one family of steel frames from steel delivery to shipping. The map showed 11 days of lead time against 94 minutes of actual work. The longest wait was four days in front of paint, where frames arrived in whatever order welding finished them. Paint now takes frames in weld order from a marked lane that holds 20 at most.

    Before:
    11 days dock to dock, with about 300 frames waiting between weld and paint.
    After:
    6 days, and never more than 20 frames in the lane.
    What it took:
    Two days of mapping with the weld and paint leads, floor tape and one scheduling rule.
    • Motion
    • Food and packaging

    A 45-minute waste walk on one packing line

    Four people walked one packing line for 45 minutes with a waste walk sheet and wrote down 23 observations. The largest was the label printer. It sat 14 meters from the line, and the operator walked there and back about 60 times a shift. The printer moved to the line the same week.

    Before:
    About 1.7 km of walking per shift for labels alone.
    After:
    The printer is within reach of the operator. 9 of the 23 observations were closed in the first week.
    What it took:
    45 minutes, a checklist and a longer network cable.
    • Waiting
    • Transport
    • Machining

    First-piece checks moved from the lab to the machine

    After each setup, a machining cell carried the first piece to the quality lab at the far end of the plant and waited for the result. With six setups a day the machines stood idle while parts sat in the lab's queue. The gauges and the check sheet moved to the cell. The operator now checks the first piece, and the lab checks one setup in five again as an audit.

    Before:
    52 minutes of waiting per setup on average, about five hours a day across the cell.
    After:
    8 minutes per setup. The lab's audit found no disagreement with the operators in the first two months.
    What it took:
    A second set of gauges, operator training on the three checks, and the audit rule.

Flow: make the work move without stopping

The third principle is to make the product flow through the steps that are left. Smaller batches, shorter changeovers and work balanced to takt time all serve the same aim: a part goes to the next step instead of into a pile.

    • Waiting
    • Assembly

    Ford at Highland Park, 1913 (published history)

    The Lean Enterprise Institute's short history of lean begins its account of flow production with Henry Ford at Highland Park in 1913. It then follows the idea to Toyota, where Kiichiro Toyoda, Taiichi Ohno and others developed the Toyota Production System.

    What the source covers:
    Flow production at Highland Park, the development of the Toyota Production System, and the five principles this page is sorted by.
    Why it is on this page:
    Every flow example below is a small version of the same idea: work goes to the next step instead of waiting in a pile.

    Source: Lean Enterprise Institute: A Brief History of Lean

    • Inventory
    • Transport
    • Assembly

    Four batch benches turned into a one-piece-flow cell

    A valve assembly area had four benches in a row. Each bench built 40 pieces, then a forklift moved the tote to the next bench. The team rearranged the benches into a U, cut the batch to one piece and ran the cell with three people who hand each valve straight to the next step.

    Before:
    About 160 valves in progress, two days from first bench to last, and a wrong seal found only after 40 were built.
    After:
    6 valves in progress, under an hour through the cell, and a wrong seal caught on the next piece.
    What it took:
    A weekend move, one compressed air drop relocated, and a week of lower output while the team settled in.
    • Overproduction
    • Plastics

    A mold change cut from 74 minutes to 22

    A 350-ton injection press took 74 minutes to change molds, so the planner ran three days of demand at a time to avoid changeovers. The setter and a technician filmed one change, moved every task that could be done while the press was still running to before the stop, and fitted quick-connect couplings on the water lines.

    Before:
    74 minutes per change, and batches of three days of demand.
    After:
    22 minutes per change, and batches of one day.
    What it took:
    A mold cart, quick-connect couplings, standard clamp heights and a checklist for the work done before the stop.
    • Waiting
    • Assembly

    Balancing five stations to takt time

    A five-station assembly line had 27,000 seconds of working time per shift and a demand of 281 units, so takt time was 96 seconds. Station 3 took 118 seconds and station 5 took 61. The supervisor moved the 22-second label and bag step from station 3 to station 5.

    Before:
    Slowest station 118 seconds, and 228 units a shift.
    After:
    Slowest station 96 seconds, and 276 units a shift with the same five people.
    What it took:
    A stopwatch study of each station, a label printer moved two stations down the line, and a new work sequence sheet.
    • Motion
    • Machining

    Inserts kept at the lathe instead of the crib

    On a CNC lathe cell the operator walked to the tool crib for inserts nine times a shift, about three minutes a trip. The cell lead put a small stock of the six inserts the cell uses at the machine, with a minimum of two boxes of each and a card to hand in when a box is opened.

    Before:
    9 trips and about 27 minutes away from the machine per shift.
    After:
    About 1 trip a shift, to swap cards for boxes.
    What it took:
    A labeled drawer, six cards and an agreement with the crib attendant.

Pull: make only what the next step has used

Where continuous flow is not possible, the fourth principle is pull: the downstream step takes what it needs and the upstream step replaces only that. Kanban cards, two-bin systems and supermarkets are the usual tools.

    • Inventory
    • Assembly

    Two bins for every fastener

    An assembly line used 46 fastener part numbers, ordered by a planner from a weekly count. Stock-outs stopped the line about seven times a month while other bins overflowed. Each part number now has two bins sized for two days of use. When the front bin is empty the operator puts it on the top shelf, and the material handler refills it on the next round.

    Before:
    7 stock-outs a month and about 18 days of fasteners on hand.
    After:
    No stock-outs in the next three months, and about 5 days on hand.
    What it took:
    92 bins, labels with the part number and quantity, and two refill rounds per shift.
    • Overproduction
    • Inventory
    • Plastics

    A kanban card that says what to make and how many

    A molding plant made housings to a forecast and often had nine days of one part and none of another. Each part now has a fixed number of cards. The card for one housing reads: part 4410-B, 240 per container, made on press 7, stored in lane C2, card 2 of 3. A card comes back when assembly opens a container, and press 7 makes only what it holds cards for.

    Before:
    9 days of finished housings on average, with shortages most weeks.
    After:
    3 days on average, and one shortage in the first two months.
    What it took:
    Card counts worked out from daily use and replenishment time, a card rack at the press, and the rule of no card, no production.
    • Inventory
    • Overproduction
    • Machining

    A supermarket between machining and assembly

    Machining worked to a weekly schedule and pushed whatever it finished to assembly. Assembly ran short of some parts while others stacked up. A small supermarket now sits between the two areas, with two containers at most per part number. Assembly takes what it needs and machining makes only what has been taken.

    Before:
    About 1,900 pieces between the two areas and 11 shortages a week at assembly.
    After:
    About 700 pieces and 2 shortages a week.
    What it took:
    Racking with a marked location per part, the two-container limit, and a daily check by the machining lead.
    • Overproduction
    • Inventory
    • Food and packaging

    Every bottle size every day

    A bottling line ran one bottle size for two days, then the next, so the warehouse held a week of every size to cover the days it was not being made. Once the changeover was down to 18 minutes, the planner switched to every size every day, in the same order each day.

    Before:
    8 days of finished stock and 9 late orders a month.
    After:
    3 days of finished stock and 2 late orders a month.
    What it took:
    A shorter changeover first, then a fixed daily sequence posted at the line.

Perfection: find problems daily and fix them for good

The fifth principle is to keep going. These cases cover the habits that find and fix problems every day: stopping for a defect, 5S, mistake-proofing, operator ideas and the daily huddle. The last card shows a start that did not hold, and why.

    • Defects
    • Assembly

    Toyota's andon cord (published)

    Toyota describes jidoka as stopping at once when something abnormal happens, so that a defect is not passed on. The Lean Enterprise Institute's lexicon describes how this works in Toyota final assembly: an operator who sees a problem pulls a rope, and the line stops at a fixed position if the problem is not fixed within the cycle.

    What the sources say:
    Jidoka and just-in-time are the two pillars of the Toyota Production System, and the andon board shows where help is needed.
    Why it counts as lean:
    The problem is seen and dealt with where it happens and when it happens, not at the end of the line.

    Source: Lean Enterprise Institute lexicon: Andon

    • Motion
    • Assembly

    5S on one assembly bench

    An assembly bench had 43 items on it. The operator and the team leader sorted them with red tags: 17 are used every day, 7 a few times a week, and 19 went to the red-tag area. The daily tools got outlined places on a shadow board, and a weekly five-minute audit keeps it that way.

    Before:
    About 12 minutes a shift spent looking for tools and fixtures.
    After:
    Under 2 minutes, and a missing tool shows as an empty outline.
    What it took:
    Two hours, a board, a marker and an audit sheet with five questions.
    • Defects
    • Fabrication

    A fixture that will not take the part backwards

    A drilling fixture accepted left-hand and right-hand brackets either way round. About six a month were drilled on the wrong face and scrapped. A toolmaker added one locating pin that lines up with a notch only when the part is the right way round.

    Before:
    6 scrapped brackets a month, and a warning sign nobody read.
    After:
    None in the eight months since. The part will not sit in the fixture backwards.
    What it took:
    One pin and an hour in the toolroom.
    • Unused talent
    • Food and packaging

    An operator's idea that gave back 35 minutes a shift

    A case packer operator stopped the line about eight times a shift to clear carton flaps that caught on a guide rail. She wrote an idea card suggesting a rounded lead-in on the rail. Maintenance made the change in an hour during a planned stop.

    Before:
    8 stops a shift at about 5 minutes each.
    After:
    1 stop a shift, which gives back about 35 minutes of running time.
    What it took:
    One idea card, one hour of maintenance time, and a supervisor who answered the card within two days.
    • Waiting
    • Unused talent
    • Fabrication

    A ten-minute huddle at the board

    A fabrication shift starts with ten minutes at a board: yesterday's safety, quality and delivery numbers, the biggest stop, and an action list with a name and a date on every line. Problems the team cannot fix go to the area meeting the same morning.

    Before:
    14 actions open for more than a week, most with no owner.
    After:
    3 open for more than a week, eight weeks later.
    What it took:
    A board, a marker, a fixed time of 6:10, and a rule that every action has one name on it.
    • Unused talent
    • Plastics

    A 5S launch that faded, and the restart that held

    A molding plant ran 5S events in all six departments in one week. There was no audit afterwards and nobody owned the result. Twelve weeks later the areas looked as they had before. The restart took one cell, gave the cell lead a weekly audit, and moved to the next cell only when the score had held for a month.

    Before:
    Audit score 4.2 out of 5 right after the events, and 2.1 twelve weeks later.
    After:
    The first cell held 4 or above for ten weeks before the second cell started.
    What it took:
    A smaller scope, one owner per area and a weekly audit that takes ten minutes.

Illustrative examples. Apart from the two cards with a source link, the plants, people and numbers on this page are made up to show how each method works, and none of them is a real site or a LeanSuite customer. Use them as patterns, then measure your own before and after.

What to write down when you record your own lean example

An example other people can learn from, or that you can defend in a review six months later, has these six things on it.

  1. 1The place: one line, cell, bench or machine, not the whole plant.
  2. 2The measure before, with its unit and the period it was taken over.
  3. 3What changed, in one or two sentences a new supervisor would understand.
  4. 4The same measure after, taken over a period at least as long as the first.
  5. 5What the change took: hours, equipment and any output lost while people adjusted.
  6. 6Who checks that it is still in place, and how often.

How these examples were written

The grouping follows the five principles as the Lean Enterprise Institute states them. The two published cards say only what their sources say. For the rest, each case was written to answer the four things a reader needs before copying it: where it happened, the measure before, the measure after and what the change took.

The pages that rank for this search mostly list company names or tool names without a baseline. We left out company success figures we could not trace to a primary source.

Sources checked

Go deeper

The cards are the short version. These guides explain the method and walk through examples in full.

All our articles on this subject are in the lean manufacturing fundamentals topic.

Free templates and tools

Key terms

Lean glossary

Doing this in LeanSuite

FAQ

Questions about lean manufacturing examples

  1. A simple one is a two-bin system for fasteners. Each part has two bins at the line. When the front bin is empty the operator sets it aside and uses the second, and the empty bin is the signal to refill. Nobody counts stock or raises an order, the line does not run out, and the plant holds days of fasteners instead of weeks. The pull section above has that case with numbers.

  2. As the Lean Enterprise Institute sets them out: define value from the customer's point of view, identify the value stream and remove the wasted steps, make the product flow, let the customer pull where continuous flow is not possible, and pursue perfection. The examples on this page are grouped under those five.

  3. Toyota. Lean is the name later given to the Toyota Production System, which Toyota describes as resting on two pillars: jidoka, stopping when something abnormal happens, and just-in-time, making only what is needed, when it is needed, in the amount needed. Figures quoted for other companies are hard to check, which is why most cases here are illustrative and say so.

  4. Pick one bench or one machine and do 5S or point-of-use storage there. It costs almost nothing, the people who work there can do it in a couple of hours, and you can measure the result as minutes spent searching or walking per shift. Add a short weekly audit so it holds, then move to the next area.

  5. Two cards summarize published history and link to their source. The other nineteen are illustrative: the plants and numbers are made up to show how the method works and what a result is measured in. None describes a real site or a LeanSuite customer.

More example galleries

Or see all example galleries, the topics and the lean glossary.

Rather see it on your own problem?

Bring the problem you are stuck on, and we will show you on a call how LeanSuite handles it.

Book a 45-minute demo