1. Visit a repetitive manufacturing facility in your area. What are the major causes of inventory? Be sure to ask about lot sizes and setup times. Would a lean
production system work in this facility? Why or why not?
2. Define repetitive manufacturing and compare it with job shop or batch manufacturing.
3. Why did the concepts, principles, and techniques of lean emerge and evolve in Japan, not in the Western countries?
4. State the lean tenets in your own words.
5. Why is a stable master schedule desirable for a lean
production system? What is the effect if it is not stable?
6. How can lot sizes and inventories be reduced in a lean production system? Discuss specific approaches.
7. Describe typical supplier relations before and after embracing lean tenets.
8. How do workers and managers in a lean production system differ from their counterparts in traditional non lean environments?
9. Discuss how lean thinking can lead to a reduction of costs (material, labor, overhead), other than inventory. Be specific.
10. Are there repetitive manufacturing firms that should not use lean? Why?
11. Find an example from the Internet of the application of lean thinking to a service operation. Describe how the lean tenets are applied in this setting.
12. How can lean thinking be applied to accounting, finance, human resources, and marketing processes?
13. Identify some of the seven forms of waste in the following situations.
a. Restaurant
b. Doctor’s office
14. Construct a value stream map for the following processes.
a. Cafeteria
b. Grocery store
15. What does it mean to say that a supply chain can be too
lean? Give examples why this may be a problem
