Lean Production systems

The complexity of the production process and the higher demand for quality and individualization leads to structural changes and challenges in the production process. The analysis of interdependencies of Lean Production Systems as an industrial standard und Industrie 4.0 is able to determine new spaces of action and alternative solutions to optimize the production processes. The analysis shows that the technologies and systems of Industrie 4.0 does not compete but rather support the principles of Lean Production Systems.

In today’s business environment enterprises react to changing conditions with the implementation of Lean Production Systems (LPS). But changing conditions are not only effecting the production. The role of product development is becoming increasingly important to the overall business success. Many enterprises react by designing specific Lean Development concepts. As there are different approaches to design concepts, enterprises have to decide which approach to follow. This paper presents the approach, which takes LPS as the basis, considering the circumstances of the development process and transfers it to the development process to design a Lean Development concept. It is demonstrated how the transfer of the LPS-principles based on VDI 2870 would affect the development process.

In this paper we present a short summary of the empirical studie we conducted among German logistics service providers in order to derive the diffusion of methods of Lean Production Systems in this industry. The study sheds light on the extent of the latent application of some methods so as to evaluate the preconditions of the development of a „Lean Production System” for logistics service providers.