IMPLEMENTATION OF LEAN AND JIT PRACTICES FOR WASTE REDUCTION IN THE FOOD MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

The food manufacturing systems, especially dairy processing facilities, consist of constant challenges regarding the waste production, the uneven production flow, and the large inventory because of the perishability and strict quality standards. The adoption of lean manufacturing and Just-in-Time (JIT) practices have been quite well known to enhance the efficiency of the operations; but the amalgamation of these models in the ongoing food processing settings is not highly prevalent. The paper examines how Lean and JIT can be applied to reduce waste and improve the flow of production and a milk pasteurization and packaging system. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) was also used as the case study to examine the current condition of material and information flow and to determine the key areas of waste, such as the waiting time and work-in-process inventory. The future state was also conceptually developed based on the current state analysis; it involved combining the principles of Lean and JIT, which included production that works in a pull manner, synchronization of the flow, and control of inventory. Production Flow Efficiency (PFE) and waste reduction indicators were used to determine the effectiveness of the proposed implementation. This was done through the analysis based on assumed yet realistic operational data, as had been done in previous methodologies of Lean manufacturing case studies. The outputs reveal that there were significant decreases in waiting time, intermediary inventory, and overall lead time, which resulted to a tremendous enhancement in the Production Flow Efficiency. The results prove the thesis that the combined use of the Lean and JIT practices can be effective to improve Production Flow Efficiency and waste reduction on the dairy manufacturing systems. The work is significant to the literature because it offers a systematic use of the example-based approach to the implementation of Lean-JIT in the food processing companies and offers useful information on enhancing operational sustainability in large dairy processing plants.