- Published: December 9, 2021
- Updated: December 9, 2021
- University / College: Florida International University
- Level: Secondary School
- Language: English
- Downloads: 27
Lean Management Introduction Lean management is a method implemented by organization supporting the concept of long-term methodology and constant improvement to work that are in constant process of seeking some small variations in their processes to improve quality and efficiency. McDonald’s is one of the largest fast food restaurants in the world. The prime purpose of the paper is to use and apply the principles of lean management on one of the fast food center such as McDonald’s.
Discussion
The main purpose of the implementation of lean management is to drive the overall strategy of an organization, ensure consistently and constantly providing value to customers and maintain high level of service. Five principles of lean management includes specify value and identifying the customers, finding the value stream, make value flow, respond to customer pull and seek perfection (Hines, 2010).
Increase in consumer demand for quality and fierce competition has created a significant impact on fast food markets. Toyota Motor Company was the first business corporation to extensively develop the concept of lean management in the late 1970s. The occurrence of global recession has created a detrimental effect on organization to reduce costs. McDonald’s have set their sights on nullifying the issue by implementation of lean management. A set of key practices have been utilized by McDonalds to deliver effective service to the customers. Overproduction, inventory, motion, wasting time, defectives and transport are the seven sources of waste that are required to be eliminated.
Overproduction is one of the sources that are eliminated by McDonalds by introduction of new system to prepare limited stocks of sides, salad, ingredients and patties to combine them in to finished product. The lessening of duration of the process to 3 minutes has reduced the risk of overproduction. The organization succeeded to maintain the overall production cycle time between 1 and 15 minutes, which enhances customer satisfaction and waste reduction (Muller, 2012). One of the vital elements that company should focus on is continuous improvement by sharing best practice and regular audits. This links with the principle of pursuing perfection. The set of ideas of lean philosophy are no waste and perfect quality can be achieved by application of this process. An opportunity of wastage and cost is incurred by holding stock. McDonaldscan eliminate all inventories by implementation of sophisticated stock control system. The excess handling of goods has resulted in to occurrence of transport waste. McDonald brothers have originally designed Speedy System which is still being implemented to unite the complete process so that it can help to link all preparation facilities in route of the assembly line. Transport waste is kept at minimum level through the closer proximity to the counter. This process of minimization of transport waste connects with the idea of motion waste and makes value flow by elimination of waste which guarantees that product moves to the customer without any waiting or interruption.
Conclusion
This can be concluded that the implementation of principles of lean management in McDonalds can benefit to achieve improvements in quality, lead-time and productivity by eliminating waste. The quest towards meeting the demand, with no waste and perfect quality is at the heart of the lean philosophy. The application of effective Speedy System by McDonalds can reduce transport waste, simplifies each task and eliminates unnecessary processes to certify that value is added all the way through the process.
Reference
Hines, P. (2010). The Principles of the Lean Business System. Retrieved from: < http://www. atem. org. au/uploads/publications/-The_Principles_of_The_Lean_Business_System. pdf>.
Muller, C. (2012). Boston Hospitality Preview. Retrieved from: < http://www. bu. edu/bhr/files/2012/11/v1n1-Restaurant-as-Hybrid. pdf>.