Role of IT in Lean Manufacturing : A brief Scenario

A concept of Lean can be seen as a loosely connected set of potentially competing principles whose goal is cost reduction by the elimination of waste, and organise the possible effort to utilise waste of all kinds in a productive way. The avoidance and then lateral removal of waste has a long history, and as such this history forms much of the basis of the philosophy now known as "Lean". Many organisations are implementing 'lean manufacturing' (LM) with the objective of achieving a superior competitive advantage over other organisations. Few companies have attained their objective, while many of them did not. One of the reasons for failure is that the managers of these organisations have not understood clearly: how the performance measures of an organisation are affected, when it gets transformed through LM. Lean can be elevated through optimized utilization of Information Technology. Lean IT is the extension of lean manufacturing and lean services principles to the development and management of information technology (IT) products and services along with other manufacturing sectors . Its central concern, applied in the context of IT, is the elimination of waste, where waste is work that adds no value to a product or service. Although lean principles are generally well established and have broad applicability, their extension from manufacturing to IT is only just emerging. Indeed, Lean IT poses significant challenges for practitioners while raising the promise of no less significant benefits. And whereas Lean IT initiatives can be limited in scope and deliver results quickly, implementing Lean IT is a continuing and long-term process that may take years before lean principles become intrinsic to an organization’s culture. This paper is an attempt to summarise the various components of lean manufacturing, role of IT in lean manufacturing and a brief overview of lean and I T.