How Black Women Are Portrayed in Music Videos free essay sample

One group member will present how Black Women are depicted in music videos. The objective is to analyze the words being sung and how they impact black consciousness in this regard. The criteria for this admitted extremely limited case study research was that the artists chosen for examination had to have been recognized as in the top 25 in terms of popularity at the time. This status was determined by consulting the national music charts such as Billboard Top 100 or Soul Train Top 100 merchandising surveys. Topic: How Black Women are Depicted in Music Videos At first glance, music videos may appear to be a harmless entertainment outlet that promotes the sale of popular music. But closer inspection reveals hat it is indeed a cultural phenomenon that has an impact far and beyond music sales. Since the beginning of Black Entertainment Television (BET), Music Television (MAT), and Video Hits One (VHF-I) in 1 980, 1981, and 1985 respectively, music videos have been a dominant factor in American culture, as well as a platform from which current American attitudes, values, and preoccupations can be readily accessed. We will write a custom essay sample on How Black Women Are Portrayed in Music Videos or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Together with the songs melody and lyrics, music videos are powerful tools that impact minds with images that shape a persons attitude. Throughout the ninetieth century, music ideas have influenced various perceptions on the images of women. No matter what the women in the music videos are singing about, or what actions they are doing in the videos, there is almost always a sexual overtone. For women to be portrayed in this way has many consequences, for the images that we view in everyday life shape the way we think. Viewing a music video that has a woman being portrayed in an overtly sexual manner once may not have a very serious affect on a person, but seeing many different music videos all portraying women sexually, and seeing these videos over and ever, does indeed shape a persons mind to view women with much less respect than they would otherwise. This therefore, is where the problem lies. In analyzing current video themes, it is helpful to review historical stereotypes and themes of women.An examination of historical portrayals of black women reveals a staggering semblance to that of the present day media presentations. One of the most common and enduring stereotypes of black women in American culture is that of the Siebel -the hyper-sexual, promiscuous, and lewd black female, depicted wearing little or no clothing. According to Ferris State Professor David Pilgrim, Siebel images from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia depicts the common attitude regarding Black women that permeated American culture from slavery down through the Jim Crow period of the sass.He explains, everyday items . .. Depicted naked or scantily dressed Black women, lacking modesty and sexual restraint. (Pilgrim )To say the least, common household and utility items such as drinking glasses, ashtrays, sheet music, and fishing lures, speak to the objectification and deeply entrenched defamation of Black women and their humanity within American culture. Siebel is a name that survived down through the centuries, in various cultures to denote the wicked and immoral hussy. The historical stereotype of Black women as Siebel in American culture continues today in many aspects of modern media presentations, particularly the role of the hip hop music video siren that will be discussed later in further detail. To be sure, Black women have been a willing and available participator in popular hip hop music videos. Black females that make up a major portion of participants as well as audience Of these videos and the like have fully bought into the notion that their value is reduced to he bump and grind of their hips and buttocks.The deconstruction and analysis of the following top hip hop videos demonstrate the power of stereotypes in not only shaping cultural attitudes, but in the perception of self as well. To take a case in point, in the music video, Sexual Seduction, Snoop Dog is portrayed as a pimp, surrounded by black women, dressed in either leather or lace negligees, in scene after scene of various sexual poses, bending down at his feet, finger in mouth, crawling seductively on the floor, posed on his revolving bed, eagerly anticipating his every sexual desire.This died pales in comparison to his 2003, P. I. M. P. collaboration with fellow rapper Fifty Cent. In this video, F-fifty Cent wakes up with three women in bed, who clean and dress him for the day. He is then escorted to the Pimp Headquarters where Snoop Dog and veteran pimps, including Chicago Magic Don Juan, initiates him into the pimp hall of fame. The following pool party features beautiful and scantily clad women sitting around in celebration as a dark skinned model in earth tone bikini and heels gyrate to the camera angled underneath her crotch.Two submissive female models in negligees ND wearing dog cuff and chains are escorted by a slick dressed female pimp, showing that exploitation can also be a female game. Slow motion frames of jiggling female flesh and body parts and seductive facial shots with lips slightly parted, further demonstrates the objectivity of female sexuality. True, men are writing and producing these songs and videos, however all the blame cant be placed on their shoulders. If there werent the 50,000 women going to audition for these rolls in the videos, then the producers and rappers wouldnt be able to produce the videos, because they wouldnt have the image of sex to sell. Shimmed Videos published an article on Violoncellist. Com specifically talking about the way women are portrayed in music videos. Videos makes a statement and poses these questions: I often wonder, do they realize how they are the exploiting themselves? Are they cognizant of the history of the devaluation of Black womanhood? The women in these videos need to realize the image that they are presenting to the world, and the preconceived notions and stereotypes that they are reinforcing. I believe that the main thing on the womens minds is the paycheck that they will receive at the end of shooting their video. Bell Hooks rites in Anti A Woman, that since woman was designated as the originator of sexual sin, Black women were naturally seen as the embodiment of evil and sexual lust. This is reenacted today in the current music videos. Videos also expresses how essential it is that women of all ages start exploring self loving practices. Which will teach women how to love and embrace, love and respect their bodies. There are artist out there that try to empower the spirits of women through their lyrics. For instance, India Aria wrote a song titled l am not my Hair. This song and video successfully gives off an empowering message to women. India is basically reaching out to Women and telling to embrace themselves as god created them. That there isnt a need for the superficial things to be considered a strong beautiful woman. Our generation is in a great need for artist that are willing to send out messages positive empowering messages. In browsing through Youth, I found a rapper that is using mediums like Youth, and other free online posting sites, to spread his powerful truthful message. Frenchman wrote and rapped a song titled Black Queens, as a tribute to all black women, but mainly to strong powerful Black Women in history. He pays respect to several people: Correct Scott King, Sojourner Truth, Lena Horn, Billie Holiday, Nina Simons and Harriet Tuba to name a few. How Black Women Are Portrayed in Music Videos free essay sample Three different time periods were chosen representing approximately three different generations of black music (40 years apart- sass, sass and sass). Members of the group have researched literature on black music In these specific periods of time, choosing the songs by either black male or female artists to examine in terms of the messages transmitted through their work about the relationship between men and women of the Black Diaspora.One group member will present how Black Women are depicted in music videos. The objective is to analyze the words being sung and how hey impact black consciousness in this regard. The criteria for this admitted extremely limited case study research was that the artists chosen for examination had to have been recognized as in the top 25 in terms of popularity at the time. This status was determined by consulting the national music charts such as Billboard Top 100 or Soul Train Top 100 merchandising surveys. We will write a custom essay sample on How Black Women Are Portrayed in Music Videos or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Topic: How Black Women are Depicted In Music Videos At first glance, music videos may appear to be a harmless entertainment outlet that promotes the sale of popular music. But closer Inspection reveals that It Is ended a cultural phenomenon that has an impact far and beyond music sales. Since the beginning of Black Entertainment Television (BET), Music Television (MITT and Video Hits One (VHF-I) in 1980, 1981, and 1985 respectively, music videos have been a dominant factor In American culture, as well as a platform from which current American attitudes, values, and preoccupations can be readily accessed.Together with the songs melody and lyrics, music videos are powerful tools that impact minds with images that shape a persons attitude. Throughout the twentieth century, music ideas have Influenced various perceptions on the images of women. No matter what the women In the music videos are singing about, or what actions they are doing in the videos, there Is almost always a sexual ove rtone. For women to be portrayed In this way has many consequences, for the Images that we view In everyday life shape the way we think. Beveling a music video that has a woman being portrayed In an overtly sexual manner once may not have a very serious affect on a person, but seeing many different music videos all portraying women sexually, and seeing these ideas over and over, does indeed shape a persons mind to view women with much less respect than they would otherwise. This therefore, is where the problem lies. In analyzing current video themes, it is helpful to review historical stereotypes and themes of women. An examination of historical portrayals of black women reveals a staggering semblance to that of the present day media presentations.One of the most common and enduring stereotypes of black women In American culture Is that of the Sizeable -the hyper-sexual, promiscuous, and lewd black female, depicted earring little or no clothing. According to Ferris State Professor David Pilgrim, Sizeable Images from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorable depicts the common attitude regarding Black women that permeate d American culture from slavery down naked or scantily dressed Black women, lacking modesty and sexual restraint. (Pilgrim )To say the least, common household and utility items such as drinking glasses, ashtrays, sheet music, and fishing lures, speak to the objectification and deeply entrenched defamation of Black women and their humanity within American culture. Sizeable is a name that survived down through the centuries, in various cultures to denote the wicked and immoral hussy. The historical stereotype of Black women as Sizeable in American culture continues today in many aspects of modern media presentations, particularly the role of the hip hop music video siren that will be discussed later in further detail.To be sure, Black women have been a willing and available participator in popular hip hop music videos. Black females that make up a major portion of participants as well as audience of these videos and he like have fully bought into the notion that their value is reduced to the bump and grind of their hips and buttocks. The deconstruction and analysis of the following top hip hop videos demonstrate the power of stereotypes in not only shaping cultural attitudes, but in the perception of self as well.To take a case in point, in the music video, Sexual Seduction, Snoop Dog is portrayed as a pimp, surrounded by black women, dressed in either leather or lace negligees, in scene after scene of various sexual poses, bending down at his feet, finger in mouth, crawling seductively on the lour, posed on his revolving bed, eagerly anticipating his every sexual desire. This video pales in comparison to his 2003, P. I. M. P. collaboration with fellow rapper Fifty Cent. In this video, Fifty Cent wakes up with three women in bed, who clean and dress him for the day.He is then escorted to the Pimp Headquarters where Snoop Dog and veteran pimps, including Chicago Magic Don Juan, initiates him into the pimp hall of fame. The following pool party features beautiful and scantily clad women sitting around in celebration as a dark skinned model in earth tone bikini and eels gyrate to the camera angled underneath her crotch. Two submissive female models in negligees and wearing dog cuff and chains are escorted by a slick dressed female pimp, showing that exploitation can also be a female game.Slow motion frames of Jiggling female flesh and body parts and seductive facial shots with lips slightly parted, further demonstrates the objectivity of female sexuality. True, men are writing and producing these songs and videos, however all the blame cant be placed on their shoulders. If there werent the 50,000 women going to audition for Hess rolls in the videos, then the producers and rappers wouldnt be able to produce the videos, because they wouldnt have the image of sex to sell. Chimes Voided published an article on Violoncellist. Mom specifically talking about the way women are portrayed in music videos. Voided makes a statement and poses these questions: l often wonder, do they realize how they are the exploiting themselves? Are they cognizant of the history of the devaluation of Black womanhood? The wome n in these videos need to realize the image that they are presenting to the roll, and the preconceived notions and stereotypes that they are reinforcing. I believe that the main thing on the womens minds is the paycheck that they will receive at the end of shooting their video.Bell Hooks writes in Anti I A Woman, that since woman was designated as the originator of sexual sin, Black women were naturally seen as the embodiment of evil and sexual lust. This is reenacted today in ages start exploring self loving practices. Which will teach women how to love and embrace, love and respect their bodies. There are artist out there that try to empower the spirits of women through their lyrics. For instance, India Rare wrote a song titled l am not my Hair. This song and video successfully gives off an empowering message to women. India is basically reaching out to women and telling to embrace themselves as god created them. That there isnt a need for the superficial things to be considered a strong beautiful woman. Our generation is in a great need for artist that are willing to send out messages positive empowering messages. In browsing through Youth, I found a rapper that is using mediums like Youth, and other free online posting sites, to spread his powerful truthful message.

Perils of Human Obediance essays

Perils of Human Obediance essays From the time we are born the ideals of obedience is taught and instilled in us all. Authoritarian figures are established and rules, guidelines, and codes of ethics are instituted. Each person chooses how strictly to follow these terms by his or her own accord, knowing that they will suffer the repercussions and consequences for disobedience. Whether it is a parent spanking a child or an adult being fired from a job there is always a certain disciplinary actions for not following orders. Everybody is expected to obey authority at all costs, but what happens when following orders means defying ones own morals? In 1963 Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram set up and conducted an experiment to test this very questions limits. It was designed to Force participants to either violate their conscience by obeying the immoral demands of an authority figure or refuse those demands(Milgram 343). In it a teacher(Milgram 345) subject and a learner(Milgram 345) subject are used. The teacher is a clueless volunteer but the learner is a pre-informed actor. Learner subjects are strapped in a chair and to a fake electric shock generator. The teacher is instructed to teach word pair questions to the learner and administer an electric shock for each wrong answer, increasing the voltage with each wrong answer. Testing not the learners ability to respond, but the teachers obedience to authority when ordered to continue regardless of the pleas to stop by the learner. It brings up the definite human conflict of personal-morals versus following orders from a higher authority. The results were unexpected and shocki ng to even Milgram himself. An unbelievably high 25 of 40 teacher subjects complete the test to the end, administering the highest possible shock level to the learner subject many times(Milgram 347). This shocking behavior is a demonstration of human nature being prone to follow orders at all ...

Develop customer service plan Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Develop customer service plan - Coursework Example The company will be the market leader in the next decade particularly in the service delivery to the consumers. Moreover, the business entity will also be a leader in terms of the consumer base due to the improvement in the services thus attracting more consumers. The business entity aims at delivering services to the consumers that are friendly and in a professional manner. Similarly, the institution will deliver quality to the consumers thus improving the value of the service and reduce cost of services at the same time. The focus will also focus on both the internal as well as the external consumers (L., 2010, p. 16). Any commodities that any customer buys will be delivered through the available delivering companies. The consumer will receive a notification of the company that will deliver his or her commodity. In the instance of delays, the delivery of the commodity will take part in the next twelve hours (K, 2004, p. 12). The institution operates under a consumer-oriented policy that tends to create a friendly relationship with the customers. The view tends to establish the expectations of the consumer and recognize the extent of the goodness of the prevailing services The company will contact the consumers through emails and telephone calls in an attempt of finding out their experiences and their consequent expectations. The business entity will also undertake a survey that will register five areas of study. The areas include assurance, the reliability, empathy, tangibles as well as successive responsiveness. Consequently, the business entity will undertake the analysis of the findings from the research (Krenn, 2011, p. 22). The institution tends to create direct telephone conversations with the consumers. The use of emails is also in place whereby appreciation of every email is mandatory in order to improve the feedback time. The policies and procedures will tend to operate from

Succesful Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Succesful Marriage - Essay Example Team work as explained by Coontz (2005) is the greatest of the factors to make a marriage successful. Team work involves doing things together and sharing all the details of the couples. It also involves sharing all the decision as well as making decisions together without one going behind the other’s back which in the end lead to lack of trust, fights and ultimate breakup. However, if the couples share all the information including secrets even the most trivial of them all, it means that in any difficulty or misunderstanding which is the likely recipe for divorce, the couples will go through it together as a team. Just like teamwork in workplaces requires contribution of all the parties involved, team work in marriage works in the same way with both partners contributing equally whether it is in time, finances or otherwise. When there are children in the marriage, teamwork is expected in raising them and this means being on the same page regarding curfews, deadlines, allowanc es and school work. Trust is the other greatest factor. Trust is different from team work in that without trust, team work is likely to fail, but a couple can last more in marriage with trust only than with team work only without trust. Trust means an in depth believe in one’s partner and especially when they are around people of the opposite sex or away from each other. What destroys most couples is lack of trust which leads to paranoia that the partner is going to leave you for another beautiful or handsome and more financially stable or younger partner. If these doubts and paranoia thoughts start entering the mind of the couples, trust starts crumbling, arguments increase, there is secret surveillance and this is the high road to divorce. Discussing insecurity issues is the best way to trust. The other most important thing is communication. Communication goes both ways if understanding and

Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis

Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis Introduction In any organization there are essential activities which need to be run effectively: production, quality, logistic, and so on. These activities are the means for the main purpose of any company which is to make money (Goldratt, 1993:41). Today the companies are facing a fierce market place: set the production with customer demand, in variety and quantity, and pursuit superior quality. To reach this is a high goal for any company, reach that and being effective is the core of nowadays strategy plan. The financial crisis that exploded the last year led many companies analyze the way they were operating in, and seek how to be more effective and make the company sustainable in the medium and long term. Reduction of cost is important at any time but reduction in time of crisis is essential. The way to escape the pitfalls faced in the mass production requires a redefinition of the production management system which eliminates the waste and pursuit the efficiency of the company as a whole. This dissertation is a case study base in an industry of automotive  industry. This sector has the characteristic of being very influential in the development of emerging trend in management.  From Henry  Fords  and the introduction  of the  moving  assembly to Toyota Production Systems many innovations have been development in this sector. Taiichi Ohno (1988) was the first person to identify seven inefficiencies which do not contribute to the goal of any company. These inefficiencies of wastes are denominated as muda in the Toyota Production System. It was after the book The machine that changed the world?, 1990, when the term Lean began to be known all over the world. Lean thinking is the medicine for companies suffering from inefficiency, and is Lean because it provides a way to do more with less; less human resources, less equipment, less time and less space, (Womack J. et al., 1990:15). All this reduction measures could be easily translated into money hence when a company is making money it has a future to plan. Another  characteristic  of  automotive industry  is  the  low  margins. The company, in which is based the dissertation, as  many  of  others  automotive manufacturers, is struggling  with  low  or  negative  profits. Through the application of Value Stream Mapping, Cell layout, and Takt time is the intention of the research to show and encourager the company to swap from traditional production into lean manufacturing Confidentiality   The company where the case study is bases is a sensitive phase of change. Due to this reason this dissertation will not display the company name, name of persons working at the company and other pieces of information that can be derived from the research. Therefore the company is referred throughout all dissertation as the company. Aims and objectives The main objective of this dissertation is to study and understand lean model and revealing the efficiency of lean techniques by applying them in a case study. These objectives can be summarised as the following: To carry out an extensive literature review about the lean model. To study the different elements and techniques of lean Draw the potential new ways to seek the processes and process layout. Outline potential improvements in the points below which contribute to solve the problem of the current highly expensive processes. Quality Lead Time Space Inventory Workers required This study intends to show the benefits of lean approach application and be used as an internal feasibility study of the potential application of this philosophy into the company. Nevertheless, whether the company finally decides to apply these principles or not is not the purpose of this project. Methodology The methodology for the first three chapters involves and intensive literature search and review on the lean philosophy. The source of this information was from extensive range of information sources as: written literature; books, journals, and the internet resource; also detailed discussions with lecturers and colleges who had knowledge on the topics. An important part of the literature review was to understand the concept of the lean and how can be applied. Secondary data is based in review documentation provided by the company. Primary data collection is based on the observation of how the company is currently working and after the working procedure are know lean approach will be applied starting with Value Stream Mapping, and the subsequence tools and techniques, described in more detail in the next chapters. Nevertheless a deep explanation to this topic will be found in the methodology chapter. Limitations One of the most important limitations for this dissertation is time limit, driven in part for the limitations time that the research had to the company. The research will be focus to a small area, but the same steps can be applied for all areas/families. No consideration will be taken, about potential issues derived from this research concerning to material handling. Another limitation is the confidential agreement between the research and the company, for this reason relevant information data could not be publicly released. The distance to the company being researched and the researcher is clear limitation for the arrangement of appointments with the company. Nevertheless this limitation known beforehand and a planning was agreed with the company in the first meeting; both sides agreed to make three on site visit of 3 working days each and another visit for presenting the research. 13,14,15 of Aprilà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  1 toma de contacto y anÃÆ' ¡lisis de la situaciÃÆ' ³n actual 21,22,23 of Juneà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  2 Implementation de VSM, cell layout, takt time,. 13, 14, 15 of July à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  3 seguimiento de las mejoras applicadas 24 of Augustà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   4 Ajustes y presentacion del projecto a la compaÃÆ' ±ÃƒÆ' ­a. Research structure This dissertation is divided into 8 chapters, with a brief outline below; Chapter 1 Introductionà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  This chapter explains about the nature and the background of the dissertation objectives. Chapter 2 Literature reviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Is included here a study of the background literature on lean manufacturing. Chapter 3 Tools and techniquesà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter explains the tools and techniques used under the umbrella of lean manufacturing. Chapter 4 Methodologyà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter gives the overall view of the research design taking into account the methodology under taking to do the primary research and explain the type of research, data and tools used. Chapter 5 Company overviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter discuss the current situation of a second tier car company which is faced a crisis. Chapter 6 Implementation of lean Chapter 7 Data result and analysis Chapter 8 Conclusion and recommendations. This page is left blank on purpose Literature Review Origins of Lean Manufacturing Any new management approach that emerges will undoubtedly contain pieces from the knowledge from the past. Therefore we can find characteristic of lean were addressed in the past like: interchangeable parts developed by Ely Whitney (1765-18825), the work standardization made by Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), or the time and motion studies made by Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924), where he pursuit the elimination of non-value elements. But without any doubts the most influence person in the development of Lean was Henry Ford, he organized all the elements of a manufacturing system; people, machines, tooling and raw materials, in a continuous flow system, for manufacturing the famous model T by applying this methodology the factory achieve to rise the effectiveness in the assembly process and by 1920 he achieved to reduced the price of the model T at 34% of the original price in 1908. Kiichiro Toyoda travelled to EEUU (1929) in his search for learn the American Way. Fords assembly line provided the flow idea upon which Kiichiro Toyoda based his early car production, but soon he realized the need to adapt it to the market conditions and the culture in Japan. They knew that they could not compete with the giants like Ford in foreign markets. Therefore, they were producing only for internal market, and bring the raw materials from outside, for that reason Toyota could not lower cost by exploding economies of scale, thats why they build a systems upon an strategy: to make many models in small numbers (Ohno, 1988). They pursuit the cost reduction through the elimination of the inefficiencies; defined as muda, Japanese word for waste. (W. J. Hopp et al, 2000) Henry Ford vision about systematic elimination of waste, standardization and elimination of process variability, Quality at the source, and so forth was so inspirational for Ohno and the definition of TPS. In the book Toyota Production System; beyond large-scale Production, 1988, Ohno quoted the Fords book Henry Fords Today and Tomorrow in different chapter as a key to the development of lean principles. In 1945, after Toyoda Kiichiro set an ambitious goal: Catch with America in three years (Ohno, 1988). In order to achieve this goal Toyota production system was developed as a respond to the severe competition imposed by mass production and offered an alternative production system according with the restrictions of the moment. Under these conditions Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) was brought into the company as a leader to translate the ideas of Kiichiro Toyoda into action. He was working for the company since 1932 but wasnt until 1943 when he went transfer to Toyota Motor Company, where he became Machine-shop manager in 1949. During that period the company was fighting on bankruptcy hence major investment or massive inventories werent affordable. For many years the western companies had cut the cost by increasing the production but after oil crisis, explore around 1973, rapid growth stopped and the principle if you can make it, you can sell it (Ohno, 1988, p2), most of the Japanese industries had losses, but Toyota overcame these problems. The capability of Toyota to overcome the crisis was the trigger for eyes opener to Japanese companies and implement the TPS. The Toyota Production System (TPS) was first denominated in the West as Just in Time (JIT).After the initial visits of industries from western countries to Japanese industry, the people returning with stories of factories which produced only what was needed, when needed, without any Just In Case expensive stock. Later, we realised that there was more than this, and the JIT was worked because was part of a more global management system, TPS. A system in fact useful to reduce costs and from that time the TPS became very popular. (Y. Monden 1993). But this system got popularity in the western countries after a researcher made in 1990 for Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. This five year research about the future of the automobile makers, revealed a gap between the conventional mass production and the new trend used in Japanese industries. This book coined the term Lean as a description of the Toyota Production System. Definition of Lean As is described above, Toyota Production System was born in Toyota (1945). This system is sustained for two pillars: Just in Time and Autonomation or Jidoka. The name of Lean manufacturing was given in a research published by Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) in 1990. Ohno make three statements in his book Toyota Production System; beyond Large-Scale Production, 1988, taken together we can use as his definition: The basis of the TPS is the absolute elimination of waste. The two pillars needed to support the system are: Just in Time and Autonomation (Jidoka) (Ohno, 1988 p4) Cost reduction is the goal (Ohno, 1987 p8) After World War II, our main concern was how to produce high-quality goods. After 1955, the question became how to make the exact quantity needed (Ohno, 1987 p33). We can conclude that for Ohno the TPS consist of many techniques that are designed to reduce the cost by removing the waste and providing the right product, at the right quantity at the moment is required. Using less of everything this statement was made in the book The machine that change the world (Womack et al. 1990) as a definition of Lean production. Another important contribution of TPS was a new approach of looking at the equation formed by: Price, Cost and Profit. When TPS was developed, the western was using the following equation to obtain price of a product: Price=Cost + Profit In this formula if the cost increase, the best way to maintain the same profit is by raising the price, is based on the principle that is the company who fix the price. By offering more feature, quality or service they can raise the price. By another hand, Japan proposed the next expression: Profit=Price â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Cost In this equation is the market, the final customer who is fixed the price. The companies used the voice of the customer as a means to design the new features of a product, and the price they are willing to pay for it. With this equation the only way to obtain better profits is by reducing the cost as much as possible (fig. 3.1). This equation leads the companies to pursuit internal improvement if they want to keep or raise the profit in the current market situation. (J. Santos, et al. 2006). Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 Equation price-cost benefits (adaptation of J. Santos et al 2008) Price fixed by the customer Cost Profit Summarizing we can conclude that Lean is a theory of management that consider the uses of resources for any means other than the creation of value from customer point of view is a waste (defined below); and pursuing the elimination waste as a means of achieving greater efficiency of the process. (Y. Monden, 1993) Seven types of Wastes Muda is a Japanese means waste. According to James P. Womack (2003) any activity which absorbs resources but creates no values is called waste. Lean thinking provides a way to identify the value, defined by the final customer, and analyze the value stream in the search for not added value action in order to eliminate and based in Continuous improvement, where the search for new improvements is never ending. (Womack et al., 2003) The wastes defined by Ohno include parts not right the first time, piles of products made in Just in case, processing step that no one had analyzed, to realized that they are not needed, transporting goods thought work floor, workers, machinery or material waiting to the next step in the process, and so forth. (Womack et al., 2003, p16). There are many types of waste; some are easy to discern others difficult. An important thing to remember is that to eliminate waste, you must find it first, towards eliminating it. The seven wastes (7Ws) addressed by Ohno (1988) are detailed below, with the addition of the one defined by Womack, 2003. Overproduction Manufacturing companies, sometimes produce more than they have sold, some times because they want to build an inventories, in the expectation that the market requirements arise, another times with the purpose to keep everyone busy and / or to achieve a high used of the facilities. Whatever the reason is, making products for which there is no demand is waste and can drive the company out of business. The key point to found this waste is compare what is produced versus what is sold. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Waiting This waste will include delay between the end of one activity and the start of the next activity. This waste can take many forms: operators or machineries waiting for orders, parts, materials, parts for the preceding process, equipment repairs, and so on. Contrasting with the previous waste, this one it is easy to identify. As It was explain above, some companies minimizing the waste of waiting by keeping the workers and the machines active all the times, incurring in that way in the previous waste; overproduction. Stopping the machines and allowing workers to be idle in occasion, is less costly than producing products with no orders. Another advantage of these spare times is that the workers can used it to search for improvements. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Transporting It is any kind of unnecessary transport of workers, parts, products, etc moved from one location to another. There two things that determine the transport through the factory; the layout facility and the sequence of operations. (J. Nicholas, 1988) No value is added in any items while they are moving around, therefore all time and facilities involve in that are wastes. Rearranging the layout and putting sequential equipment together allow us to minimize this waste. Too much machining; over processing. A process may itself contain steps that are ineffective or unnecessary. When company use expensive or high precision equipment where investing in smaller and more flexible equipment would be adequate. This often results in poor plant layout because The monuments are located far away from the process and making the process incur in waste such transportation, wait and in addition overproduction (in order to set high utilization, and justify the investment). Inventories Ohno in his book Toyota Production System, Beyond Large Scale Production (1988), qualify the inventory as the root of all evil because covers other kinds if wastes and inefficiencies and encourages to wasteful practices. Inventories represent items waiting for something to happen, where there are many associated and hidden costs (storage space, handling, management, insurance, lost of opportunity, and so forth). John Nicholas (1988) identifies that many companies even when they recognize the high cost of the inventory they justify them for dealing with issues such: To cover fluctuations in future demand, where more accurately forecasted are necessary. To cover the delay in lead times caused by breakdowns or delivery delays, where a Preventive maintenance plan would be necessary as well a close relationship with the suppliers. To cover long setup times, where an improvement in standardization as well as a study of the setup times made the big batch unnecessary. We can use the analogy of a ship on water (figure 2.1) to clarify the idea of hidden costs and problems incurred with high level of inventory. As inventory is reducing, problems are exposed, which can be resolved. After that, the inventory is lowered again, in order to get more problem appear and management has to resolve them in order for the system to work. Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 Analogy of water and inventory Worker absenteeism Work load imbalance Downtime Quality Scrap Rework Out of spec. materials Set-up Times Process variation Inventory level is hidden all problems By reducing the inventory, production problems arise WIP The research is agreed with Ohno (1988) when he argued that people tend to build some inventory as a respond of their farming roots. Our ancestors grew rice for subsistence and stored it in preparation for times of natural disasters (Ohno, 1988) this type of accumulation is no longer practical from the moment that we can find everything that we need from the corner shop. Nevertheless, break this habit in the day to day factory habits is difficult, is requires a change of attitude. But we need to keep in mind that reduction of inventory is not an end itself; it is a mechanism for revealing problems and wasteful practices in the production system. Moving People in work often confuse being in motion with working. A worker in constant motion all day may actually be doing little work; we should consider which portion of the motion is actually added value to the product. This waste is related to ergonomics and the objective is to obtain that the 100% of the motion is work; added value. Hence pursues the elimination of wasteful motion, but not by increasing work. Motions as bending, stretching, walking, lifting, reaching, picking up, transporting, loading, and so forth take workers time and increase the cost, but not add value. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Making defective parts and products. The simplest form of waste is products that do not meet the specification. Manufacturing products right at first time requires no money. Defects in any product are a major source of waste, hold up production and increase production lead times avoidable if products were done right the first time. Quality defects result in rework or scrap and involve a remarkable cost to organizations, along with the associated costs such: re-inspecting, rescheduling quarantining inventory, and capacity loss.   The key point is attain Quality at the source or Quality Assurance where the parts are made right the first time, transforming the old idea of Quality Assurance; where the parts are inspected at the end of the line. In order to achieve this we can use tools such: Poka Yoke, Kaizen, and so forth. (Y. Monden, 1993) Underutilization of Employees In the book Lean Thinking by James P Womack and Daniel T. Jones (1996), was added another wasted, added to the seven defined by Ohno (1988); which was denominated by them as Underutilization of employees. The companies hire employees for the physical skills, and sometimes the managers forgot to take an advantage of the brainpower that they hired with those skills. Some common causes of inability to see this waste may result in mudas such high employee turnover, inadequate hiring practices, and so forth. Not Used the employees as an experts of the process in which they are working is a waste of creativity and the improvement ideas that they can generate, this waste deserved the same important than the previous seven described above. Tools and Techniques There are many definitions that refer to lean; as Toyota Production System, Just in Time, Jidoka, flexible workforce, Kanban, TQM and so forth; partly because for many years had been confusion and many practitioners; mix up the purpose with the means. Lean production may be viewed as a bunch of all this practices/tools, and all underneath subsystems give the necessary support to the main system. The main systems Ohno (1988) described as two pillars are: Just inTime Autonomation with human touch, or Jidoka The tools/techniques of lean, as supporting subsystems can be said as; Kanban Poka-yoke Visual Control, Andon Value Stream Mapping Standard Operations One Piece Flow 5S Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Levelling Production Benchmarking SMED Multifunctional Workers Kaizen Some of the most relevant for the research purpose are explained below. The two pillars of Lean: Just in Time In 1950 Toyota was near to bankrupting, as a consequence they couldnt afford major investment in new machineries or substantial inventories. In 1956 Ohno travel to America, where he got the perspective of Just-In-Time in the American supermarket. He was interested in way the supermarket were working; by providing to customer what they need, when they need and in the quantity they need. Ohno transfer this idea down to the process, and he developed a system that is working like a coordinate chain of small supermarket, where all processes are transformer in customer for the previous step and supplier for the next step and every step is only produced the quantity needed for the next step, with perfect quality and no waste. The system was denominated as pull system. TMMK (7may2010) JIT was developed in the framework of TPS and evolved due to the need of the Japanese industry to survive in the post-war global market. Soon, the value of the system was proven into the manufacturing industry and a large number of companies worldwide hastened to implement this model to their own production systems (Monden, 1993). Ohno developed a number of methodologies to support the Just in Time system; one of the best known is the Kanban system, detailed below. Pull system and Kanban The traditional mass production system is the one denominate as push production system, where every station start to assembly a part when the raw material arrive to the work station. The way to manage production system is usually based in forecasting. The parts usually are processes in batches according to a schedule for each process (fig 2.2). The materials must usually wait until the workstation complete the previous work and is performing the changeover necessary. Changes in schedules, breakdown in machinery and other incidents, make a planning inaccurate. (J Nicholas, 1988). When a problem occurs at one stage, the problem will not be notice in the rest of the system, because an inventory between the workstation are insulated the problems in each workstation, and dependency between workstation was low. Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ3 Push System Retention points Process 1 Retention points Process 2 Inspection Retention points inspection Information and material flow High variability in lead times, long lead times, large Work in Progress inventory, and a numerous quality issues are arisen in this system. Besides with the problems associated with maintaining valid scheduled, made by the forecasting office, which is far a way from the shop floor and all the problems that arise in the manufacturing process. By contrast the pull production is sometimes called stockless, because is minimized the work in progress, pursuit the one piece flow. It seeks to have every stage in a process produce and deliver materials downstream in the exact quantities and the exact times requested. (J Nicholas, 1988). Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ4 Pull System Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Max Min Delivery point Max Min Max Min Information Flow Refer to the figure 2.3, when a customer order arrives to the delivery point, this work station sends a production order to the downstream process, in order to refill the product had been delivered. The work station 2 in the moment is used more than two parts, and let the buffer with the minimum quantity, then sends a production order to the work station 1. Just in time pursues the zero inventories; the system that is describing here is used a buffer, in that way any process shouldnt wait to have the necessary material to start producing an order. Refer to the figure 2.3 each work station begins de production as soon as the order upstream is received. (J Nicholas, 1988). In contrast with the Push production system, any problem in any work station is affected the whole system, so that all stage are working together in order to resolve the problem, increasing the chances of solving the root problem. Kanban is a subsystem to support of the JIT system and was developed by Toyota in the early stages of TPS. Kanban is a Japanese word for card, but not necessarily need to be a card, sometimes can be a signboard, container, empty space, and so forth. The broadly idea is to use the Kanban, whatever the form is takes, as a signal to produce a specific number of parts request for the next process. (N. Slack et al, 2004). The system is not used a complicated and expensive computer schedules. The theoretical operation of Kanban is no one product is manufacture until is demanded for the final customer. Therefore the signal Kanban is used as a trigger for a production. There are different types of Kanban; Conveyance Kanban, also know as a move Kanban, whose purpose is to move the goods along different production stages. The Production Kanban, work as a signal to a production process that can start producing a part to be place in the inventory. (N. Slack et al, 2004) There are two procedures of using Kanban system; dual-card (used both production and conveyance) this is the original Toyota method, and the single-card, explained below (used only the production, but acting as both move and produce authorization), is more often used the last one, for the simplicity of use. (N. Slack et al, 2004) Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 Kanban system. Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Delivery point Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Information Flow Order to the supplier To explain the concept we can use the example in figure 2.4, where each process made two piece batches. When the delivery point sent two finished parts, the operator takes a Kanban card from the container and sends it back down to the previous workstation; process 2,where that part is assembled. When the Kanban card is received, the previous work station start to assemble new batch of 2 parts, and consequently it sends downs to the previous process the Kanban card in order to refill the parts used in the last operation. This chain or work orders is repeated until an order is sent to the supplier of raw material. This system keeps to minimum the paperwork, provides a self-manage workstation and one the more important achievements is that the inventory of Work in Progress is kept to a minimum. The parts are assembled only when a need for them and WIP is reducing by dropping the number of cards into the system. The two pillars of Lean: Jidoka Jidoka is a Japanese word meaning automation with a human touch, refers to the automatic control of defects under the supervision of an employee; or as is described by Ohno (1988) Autonomation. Is refers to a process that has incorporated mechanism to detect non conformances and not allowed the process to pass a product if there isnt a conformance with the requirements.   Sakichi Toyoda began to used Jidoka, also known as Autonomation; he invented the automatic looms that stopped immediately when any thread broke. In that way one operator was able to manage many machines with no risk of producing outside specifications. This pillar of TPS is a â‚ ¬Ã‹Å"Proactive Systematic Approach. That is means instant detection of non conformances at the root source, pursuing the prevention is chosen over correction for problems after its occurrence. Through this principle we ensure that hundred per cent of the products are free defects, and when a defect is found this is fixed directly, otherwise the worker had the authority to stop the line, in order to resolve it.(J. Nicholas,1998).No OK parts are very important in JIT, when a one short part can cause the stoppage of the whole factory, just to remember one of the quotation for define JIT The exact product in the exact moment that is required (Ohno, 1988) This authority to stop the line meets resistance in western managers, because they are afraid that this can cause a delay in the lead time. But that is only the negative side, by another hand should be viewed as improvements in the process, the root of many quality issues are discovered and as a result they are resolved. Thought Jidoka principles the employees are more aware of quality issues and the related problems, and the number of defects and rework drop at the end of the line. (Nicholas, 1988 Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis Automotive Industry Lean Model Analysis Introduction In any organization there are essential activities which need to be run effectively: production, quality, logistic, and so on. These activities are the means for the main purpose of any company which is to make money (Goldratt, 1993:41). Today the companies are facing a fierce market place: set the production with customer demand, in variety and quantity, and pursuit superior quality. To reach this is a high goal for any company, reach that and being effective is the core of nowadays strategy plan. The financial crisis that exploded the last year led many companies analyze the way they were operating in, and seek how to be more effective and make the company sustainable in the medium and long term. Reduction of cost is important at any time but reduction in time of crisis is essential. The way to escape the pitfalls faced in the mass production requires a redefinition of the production management system which eliminates the waste and pursuit the efficiency of the company as a whole. This dissertation is a case study base in an industry of automotive  industry. This sector has the characteristic of being very influential in the development of emerging trend in management.  From Henry  Fords  and the introduction  of the  moving  assembly to Toyota Production Systems many innovations have been development in this sector. Taiichi Ohno (1988) was the first person to identify seven inefficiencies which do not contribute to the goal of any company. These inefficiencies of wastes are denominated as muda in the Toyota Production System. It was after the book The machine that changed the world?, 1990, when the term Lean began to be known all over the world. Lean thinking is the medicine for companies suffering from inefficiency, and is Lean because it provides a way to do more with less; less human resources, less equipment, less time and less space, (Womack J. et al., 1990:15). All this reduction measures could be easily translated into money hence when a company is making money it has a future to plan. Another  characteristic  of  automotive industry  is  the  low  margins. The company, in which is based the dissertation, as  many  of  others  automotive manufacturers, is struggling  with  low  or  negative  profits. Through the application of Value Stream Mapping, Cell layout, and Takt time is the intention of the research to show and encourager the company to swap from traditional production into lean manufacturing Confidentiality   The company where the case study is bases is a sensitive phase of change. Due to this reason this dissertation will not display the company name, name of persons working at the company and other pieces of information that can be derived from the research. Therefore the company is referred throughout all dissertation as the company. Aims and objectives The main objective of this dissertation is to study and understand lean model and revealing the efficiency of lean techniques by applying them in a case study. These objectives can be summarised as the following: To carry out an extensive literature review about the lean model. To study the different elements and techniques of lean Draw the potential new ways to seek the processes and process layout. Outline potential improvements in the points below which contribute to solve the problem of the current highly expensive processes. Quality Lead Time Space Inventory Workers required This study intends to show the benefits of lean approach application and be used as an internal feasibility study of the potential application of this philosophy into the company. Nevertheless, whether the company finally decides to apply these principles or not is not the purpose of this project. Methodology The methodology for the first three chapters involves and intensive literature search and review on the lean philosophy. The source of this information was from extensive range of information sources as: written literature; books, journals, and the internet resource; also detailed discussions with lecturers and colleges who had knowledge on the topics. An important part of the literature review was to understand the concept of the lean and how can be applied. Secondary data is based in review documentation provided by the company. Primary data collection is based on the observation of how the company is currently working and after the working procedure are know lean approach will be applied starting with Value Stream Mapping, and the subsequence tools and techniques, described in more detail in the next chapters. Nevertheless a deep explanation to this topic will be found in the methodology chapter. Limitations One of the most important limitations for this dissertation is time limit, driven in part for the limitations time that the research had to the company. The research will be focus to a small area, but the same steps can be applied for all areas/families. No consideration will be taken, about potential issues derived from this research concerning to material handling. Another limitation is the confidential agreement between the research and the company, for this reason relevant information data could not be publicly released. The distance to the company being researched and the researcher is clear limitation for the arrangement of appointments with the company. Nevertheless this limitation known beforehand and a planning was agreed with the company in the first meeting; both sides agreed to make three on site visit of 3 working days each and another visit for presenting the research. 13,14,15 of Aprilà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  1 toma de contacto y anÃÆ' ¡lisis de la situaciÃÆ' ³n actual 21,22,23 of Juneà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  2 Implementation de VSM, cell layout, takt time,. 13, 14, 15 of July à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  3 seguimiento de las mejoras applicadas 24 of Augustà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   4 Ajustes y presentacion del projecto a la compaÃÆ' ±ÃƒÆ' ­a. Research structure This dissertation is divided into 8 chapters, with a brief outline below; Chapter 1 Introductionà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚  This chapter explains about the nature and the background of the dissertation objectives. Chapter 2 Literature reviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Is included here a study of the background literature on lean manufacturing. Chapter 3 Tools and techniquesà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter explains the tools and techniques used under the umbrella of lean manufacturing. Chapter 4 Methodologyà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter gives the overall view of the research design taking into account the methodology under taking to do the primary research and explain the type of research, data and tools used. Chapter 5 Company overviewà ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   This chapter discuss the current situation of a second tier car company which is faced a crisis. Chapter 6 Implementation of lean Chapter 7 Data result and analysis Chapter 8 Conclusion and recommendations. This page is left blank on purpose Literature Review Origins of Lean Manufacturing Any new management approach that emerges will undoubtedly contain pieces from the knowledge from the past. Therefore we can find characteristic of lean were addressed in the past like: interchangeable parts developed by Ely Whitney (1765-18825), the work standardization made by Frederick W. Taylor (1856-1915), or the time and motion studies made by Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924), where he pursuit the elimination of non-value elements. But without any doubts the most influence person in the development of Lean was Henry Ford, he organized all the elements of a manufacturing system; people, machines, tooling and raw materials, in a continuous flow system, for manufacturing the famous model T by applying this methodology the factory achieve to rise the effectiveness in the assembly process and by 1920 he achieved to reduced the price of the model T at 34% of the original price in 1908. Kiichiro Toyoda travelled to EEUU (1929) in his search for learn the American Way. Fords assembly line provided the flow idea upon which Kiichiro Toyoda based his early car production, but soon he realized the need to adapt it to the market conditions and the culture in Japan. They knew that they could not compete with the giants like Ford in foreign markets. Therefore, they were producing only for internal market, and bring the raw materials from outside, for that reason Toyota could not lower cost by exploding economies of scale, thats why they build a systems upon an strategy: to make many models in small numbers (Ohno, 1988). They pursuit the cost reduction through the elimination of the inefficiencies; defined as muda, Japanese word for waste. (W. J. Hopp et al, 2000) Henry Ford vision about systematic elimination of waste, standardization and elimination of process variability, Quality at the source, and so forth was so inspirational for Ohno and the definition of TPS. In the book Toyota Production System; beyond large-scale Production, 1988, Ohno quoted the Fords book Henry Fords Today and Tomorrow in different chapter as a key to the development of lean principles. In 1945, after Toyoda Kiichiro set an ambitious goal: Catch with America in three years (Ohno, 1988). In order to achieve this goal Toyota production system was developed as a respond to the severe competition imposed by mass production and offered an alternative production system according with the restrictions of the moment. Under these conditions Taiichi Ohno (1912-1990) was brought into the company as a leader to translate the ideas of Kiichiro Toyoda into action. He was working for the company since 1932 but wasnt until 1943 when he went transfer to Toyota Motor Company, where he became Machine-shop manager in 1949. During that period the company was fighting on bankruptcy hence major investment or massive inventories werent affordable. For many years the western companies had cut the cost by increasing the production but after oil crisis, explore around 1973, rapid growth stopped and the principle if you can make it, you can sell it (Ohno, 1988, p2), most of the Japanese industries had losses, but Toyota overcame these problems. The capability of Toyota to overcome the crisis was the trigger for eyes opener to Japanese companies and implement the TPS. The Toyota Production System (TPS) was first denominated in the West as Just in Time (JIT).After the initial visits of industries from western countries to Japanese industry, the people returning with stories of factories which produced only what was needed, when needed, without any Just In Case expensive stock. Later, we realised that there was more than this, and the JIT was worked because was part of a more global management system, TPS. A system in fact useful to reduce costs and from that time the TPS became very popular. (Y. Monden 1993). But this system got popularity in the western countries after a researcher made in 1990 for Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones. This five year research about the future of the automobile makers, revealed a gap between the conventional mass production and the new trend used in Japanese industries. This book coined the term Lean as a description of the Toyota Production System. Definition of Lean As is described above, Toyota Production System was born in Toyota (1945). This system is sustained for two pillars: Just in Time and Autonomation or Jidoka. The name of Lean manufacturing was given in a research published by Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) in 1990. Ohno make three statements in his book Toyota Production System; beyond Large-Scale Production, 1988, taken together we can use as his definition: The basis of the TPS is the absolute elimination of waste. The two pillars needed to support the system are: Just in Time and Autonomation (Jidoka) (Ohno, 1988 p4) Cost reduction is the goal (Ohno, 1987 p8) After World War II, our main concern was how to produce high-quality goods. After 1955, the question became how to make the exact quantity needed (Ohno, 1987 p33). We can conclude that for Ohno the TPS consist of many techniques that are designed to reduce the cost by removing the waste and providing the right product, at the right quantity at the moment is required. Using less of everything this statement was made in the book The machine that change the world (Womack et al. 1990) as a definition of Lean production. Another important contribution of TPS was a new approach of looking at the equation formed by: Price, Cost and Profit. When TPS was developed, the western was using the following equation to obtain price of a product: Price=Cost + Profit In this formula if the cost increase, the best way to maintain the same profit is by raising the price, is based on the principle that is the company who fix the price. By offering more feature, quality or service they can raise the price. By another hand, Japan proposed the next expression: Profit=Price â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Cost In this equation is the market, the final customer who is fixed the price. The companies used the voice of the customer as a means to design the new features of a product, and the price they are willing to pay for it. With this equation the only way to obtain better profits is by reducing the cost as much as possible (fig. 3.1). This equation leads the companies to pursuit internal improvement if they want to keep or raise the profit in the current market situation. (J. Santos, et al. 2006). Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ1 Equation price-cost benefits (adaptation of J. Santos et al 2008) Price fixed by the customer Cost Profit Summarizing we can conclude that Lean is a theory of management that consider the uses of resources for any means other than the creation of value from customer point of view is a waste (defined below); and pursuing the elimination waste as a means of achieving greater efficiency of the process. (Y. Monden, 1993) Seven types of Wastes Muda is a Japanese means waste. According to James P. Womack (2003) any activity which absorbs resources but creates no values is called waste. Lean thinking provides a way to identify the value, defined by the final customer, and analyze the value stream in the search for not added value action in order to eliminate and based in Continuous improvement, where the search for new improvements is never ending. (Womack et al., 2003) The wastes defined by Ohno include parts not right the first time, piles of products made in Just in case, processing step that no one had analyzed, to realized that they are not needed, transporting goods thought work floor, workers, machinery or material waiting to the next step in the process, and so forth. (Womack et al., 2003, p16). There are many types of waste; some are easy to discern others difficult. An important thing to remember is that to eliminate waste, you must find it first, towards eliminating it. The seven wastes (7Ws) addressed by Ohno (1988) are detailed below, with the addition of the one defined by Womack, 2003. Overproduction Manufacturing companies, sometimes produce more than they have sold, some times because they want to build an inventories, in the expectation that the market requirements arise, another times with the purpose to keep everyone busy and / or to achieve a high used of the facilities. Whatever the reason is, making products for which there is no demand is waste and can drive the company out of business. The key point to found this waste is compare what is produced versus what is sold. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Waiting This waste will include delay between the end of one activity and the start of the next activity. This waste can take many forms: operators or machineries waiting for orders, parts, materials, parts for the preceding process, equipment repairs, and so on. Contrasting with the previous waste, this one it is easy to identify. As It was explain above, some companies minimizing the waste of waiting by keeping the workers and the machines active all the times, incurring in that way in the previous waste; overproduction. Stopping the machines and allowing workers to be idle in occasion, is less costly than producing products with no orders. Another advantage of these spare times is that the workers can used it to search for improvements. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Transporting It is any kind of unnecessary transport of workers, parts, products, etc moved from one location to another. There two things that determine the transport through the factory; the layout facility and the sequence of operations. (J. Nicholas, 1988) No value is added in any items while they are moving around, therefore all time and facilities involve in that are wastes. Rearranging the layout and putting sequential equipment together allow us to minimize this waste. Too much machining; over processing. A process may itself contain steps that are ineffective or unnecessary. When company use expensive or high precision equipment where investing in smaller and more flexible equipment would be adequate. This often results in poor plant layout because The monuments are located far away from the process and making the process incur in waste such transportation, wait and in addition overproduction (in order to set high utilization, and justify the investment). Inventories Ohno in his book Toyota Production System, Beyond Large Scale Production (1988), qualify the inventory as the root of all evil because covers other kinds if wastes and inefficiencies and encourages to wasteful practices. Inventories represent items waiting for something to happen, where there are many associated and hidden costs (storage space, handling, management, insurance, lost of opportunity, and so forth). John Nicholas (1988) identifies that many companies even when they recognize the high cost of the inventory they justify them for dealing with issues such: To cover fluctuations in future demand, where more accurately forecasted are necessary. To cover the delay in lead times caused by breakdowns or delivery delays, where a Preventive maintenance plan would be necessary as well a close relationship with the suppliers. To cover long setup times, where an improvement in standardization as well as a study of the setup times made the big batch unnecessary. We can use the analogy of a ship on water (figure 2.1) to clarify the idea of hidden costs and problems incurred with high level of inventory. As inventory is reducing, problems are exposed, which can be resolved. After that, the inventory is lowered again, in order to get more problem appear and management has to resolve them in order for the system to work. Figure 3â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ2 Analogy of water and inventory Worker absenteeism Work load imbalance Downtime Quality Scrap Rework Out of spec. materials Set-up Times Process variation Inventory level is hidden all problems By reducing the inventory, production problems arise WIP The research is agreed with Ohno (1988) when he argued that people tend to build some inventory as a respond of their farming roots. Our ancestors grew rice for subsistence and stored it in preparation for times of natural disasters (Ohno, 1988) this type of accumulation is no longer practical from the moment that we can find everything that we need from the corner shop. Nevertheless, break this habit in the day to day factory habits is difficult, is requires a change of attitude. But we need to keep in mind that reduction of inventory is not an end itself; it is a mechanism for revealing problems and wasteful practices in the production system. Moving People in work often confuse being in motion with working. A worker in constant motion all day may actually be doing little work; we should consider which portion of the motion is actually added value to the product. This waste is related to ergonomics and the objective is to obtain that the 100% of the motion is work; added value. Hence pursues the elimination of wasteful motion, but not by increasing work. Motions as bending, stretching, walking, lifting, reaching, picking up, transporting, loading, and so forth take workers time and increase the cost, but not add value. (J. Nicholas, 1988) Making defective parts and products. The simplest form of waste is products that do not meet the specification. Manufacturing products right at first time requires no money. Defects in any product are a major source of waste, hold up production and increase production lead times avoidable if products were done right the first time. Quality defects result in rework or scrap and involve a remarkable cost to organizations, along with the associated costs such: re-inspecting, rescheduling quarantining inventory, and capacity loss.   The key point is attain Quality at the source or Quality Assurance where the parts are made right the first time, transforming the old idea of Quality Assurance; where the parts are inspected at the end of the line. In order to achieve this we can use tools such: Poka Yoke, Kaizen, and so forth. (Y. Monden, 1993) Underutilization of Employees In the book Lean Thinking by James P Womack and Daniel T. Jones (1996), was added another wasted, added to the seven defined by Ohno (1988); which was denominated by them as Underutilization of employees. The companies hire employees for the physical skills, and sometimes the managers forgot to take an advantage of the brainpower that they hired with those skills. Some common causes of inability to see this waste may result in mudas such high employee turnover, inadequate hiring practices, and so forth. Not Used the employees as an experts of the process in which they are working is a waste of creativity and the improvement ideas that they can generate, this waste deserved the same important than the previous seven described above. Tools and Techniques There are many definitions that refer to lean; as Toyota Production System, Just in Time, Jidoka, flexible workforce, Kanban, TQM and so forth; partly because for many years had been confusion and many practitioners; mix up the purpose with the means. Lean production may be viewed as a bunch of all this practices/tools, and all underneath subsystems give the necessary support to the main system. The main systems Ohno (1988) described as two pillars are: Just inTime Autonomation with human touch, or Jidoka The tools/techniques of lean, as supporting subsystems can be said as; Kanban Poka-yoke Visual Control, Andon Value Stream Mapping Standard Operations One Piece Flow 5S Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Levelling Production Benchmarking SMED Multifunctional Workers Kaizen Some of the most relevant for the research purpose are explained below. The two pillars of Lean: Just in Time In 1950 Toyota was near to bankrupting, as a consequence they couldnt afford major investment in new machineries or substantial inventories. In 1956 Ohno travel to America, where he got the perspective of Just-In-Time in the American supermarket. He was interested in way the supermarket were working; by providing to customer what they need, when they need and in the quantity they need. Ohno transfer this idea down to the process, and he developed a system that is working like a coordinate chain of small supermarket, where all processes are transformer in customer for the previous step and supplier for the next step and every step is only produced the quantity needed for the next step, with perfect quality and no waste. The system was denominated as pull system. TMMK (7may2010) JIT was developed in the framework of TPS and evolved due to the need of the Japanese industry to survive in the post-war global market. Soon, the value of the system was proven into the manufacturing industry and a large number of companies worldwide hastened to implement this model to their own production systems (Monden, 1993). Ohno developed a number of methodologies to support the Just in Time system; one of the best known is the Kanban system, detailed below. Pull system and Kanban The traditional mass production system is the one denominate as push production system, where every station start to assembly a part when the raw material arrive to the work station. The way to manage production system is usually based in forecasting. The parts usually are processes in batches according to a schedule for each process (fig 2.2). The materials must usually wait until the workstation complete the previous work and is performing the changeover necessary. Changes in schedules, breakdown in machinery and other incidents, make a planning inaccurate. (J Nicholas, 1988). When a problem occurs at one stage, the problem will not be notice in the rest of the system, because an inventory between the workstation are insulated the problems in each workstation, and dependency between workstation was low. Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ3 Push System Retention points Process 1 Retention points Process 2 Inspection Retention points inspection Information and material flow High variability in lead times, long lead times, large Work in Progress inventory, and a numerous quality issues are arisen in this system. Besides with the problems associated with maintaining valid scheduled, made by the forecasting office, which is far a way from the shop floor and all the problems that arise in the manufacturing process. By contrast the pull production is sometimes called stockless, because is minimized the work in progress, pursuit the one piece flow. It seeks to have every stage in a process produce and deliver materials downstream in the exact quantities and the exact times requested. (J Nicholas, 1988). Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ4 Pull System Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Max Min Delivery point Max Min Max Min Information Flow Refer to the figure 2.3, when a customer order arrives to the delivery point, this work station sends a production order to the downstream process, in order to refill the product had been delivered. The work station 2 in the moment is used more than two parts, and let the buffer with the minimum quantity, then sends a production order to the work station 1. Just in time pursues the zero inventories; the system that is describing here is used a buffer, in that way any process shouldnt wait to have the necessary material to start producing an order. Refer to the figure 2.3 each work station begins de production as soon as the order upstream is received. (J Nicholas, 1988). In contrast with the Push production system, any problem in any work station is affected the whole system, so that all stage are working together in order to resolve the problem, increasing the chances of solving the root problem. Kanban is a subsystem to support of the JIT system and was developed by Toyota in the early stages of TPS. Kanban is a Japanese word for card, but not necessarily need to be a card, sometimes can be a signboard, container, empty space, and so forth. The broadly idea is to use the Kanban, whatever the form is takes, as a signal to produce a specific number of parts request for the next process. (N. Slack et al, 2004). The system is not used a complicated and expensive computer schedules. The theoretical operation of Kanban is no one product is manufacture until is demanded for the final customer. Therefore the signal Kanban is used as a trigger for a production. There are different types of Kanban; Conveyance Kanban, also know as a move Kanban, whose purpose is to move the goods along different production stages. The Production Kanban, work as a signal to a production process that can start producing a part to be place in the inventory. (N. Slack et al, 2004) There are two procedures of using Kanban system; dual-card (used both production and conveyance) this is the original Toyota method, and the single-card, explained below (used only the production, but acting as both move and produce authorization), is more often used the last one, for the simplicity of use. (N. Slack et al, 2004) Figure 4â‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ5 Kanban system. Process 2 Inspection Material Flow Process 1 Inspection Delivery point Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Max Min Kanban Information Flow Order to the supplier To explain the concept we can use the example in figure 2.4, where each process made two piece batches. When the delivery point sent two finished parts, the operator takes a Kanban card from the container and sends it back down to the previous workstation; process 2,where that part is assembled. When the Kanban card is received, the previous work station start to assemble new batch of 2 parts, and consequently it sends downs to the previous process the Kanban card in order to refill the parts used in the last operation. This chain or work orders is repeated until an order is sent to the supplier of raw material. This system keeps to minimum the paperwork, provides a self-manage workstation and one the more important achievements is that the inventory of Work in Progress is kept to a minimum. The parts are assembled only when a need for them and WIP is reducing by dropping the number of cards into the system. The two pillars of Lean: Jidoka Jidoka is a Japanese word meaning automation with a human touch, refers to the automatic control of defects under the supervision of an employee; or as is described by Ohno (1988) Autonomation. Is refers to a process that has incorporated mechanism to detect non conformances and not allowed the process to pass a product if there isnt a conformance with the requirements.   Sakichi Toyoda began to used Jidoka, also known as Autonomation; he invented the automatic looms that stopped immediately when any thread broke. In that way one operator was able to manage many machines with no risk of producing outside specifications. This pillar of TPS is a â‚ ¬Ã‹Å"Proactive Systematic Approach. That is means instant detection of non conformances at the root source, pursuing the prevention is chosen over correction for problems after its occurrence. Through this principle we ensure that hundred per cent of the products are free defects, and when a defect is found this is fixed directly, otherwise the worker had the authority to stop the line, in order to resolve it.(J. Nicholas,1998).No OK parts are very important in JIT, when a one short part can cause the stoppage of the whole factory, just to remember one of the quotation for define JIT The exact product in the exact moment that is required (Ohno, 1988) This authority to stop the line meets resistance in western managers, because they are afraid that this can cause a delay in the lead time. But that is only the negative side, by another hand should be viewed as improvements in the process, the root of many quality issues are discovered and as a result they are resolved. Thought Jidoka principles the employees are more aware of quality issues and the related problems, and the number of defects and rework drop at the end of the line. (Nicholas, 1988

For a Better Way of Living

The economic article A Better Way’s main thesis is that productivity has paved the way for a better living in today’s world. The article starts off with a general but historical background of how production was in the earlier years and lays down the path of productivity which led to its positive effects in the present. It further points out how a closed-mind towards productivity is actually detrimental for future advancement. This paper will both discuss the key points of the article and my reaction to the same.The general map and cycle of productivity is this: human beings used to do everything by themselves. The entire body of a person is used from the physical to the mental. There was need for muscle power and agility to be able to work. Then came the inventions that rapidly took over the work that humans used to do. It is at this point that human workers are displaced and had to look for other jobs to do. This general map and cycle is best exemplified in the agraria n sector wherein farmers used to everything in the farm from tilling the soil to planting the crops to harvesting.And yet with the invention of machineries, tools, irrigation, and even the appearance of scientifically altered and advanced seeds, farmers had no place in the farm. And so they had to leave the farms for the city to work in factories and the industrial sector. At this point, another cycle begins. Assembly lines in factories are replaced by machines that can do the job better, faster and more efficiently. There was more output for a shorter span of time when machines are used. Once again, the worker is displaced. Productivity is one cycle that is very much disliked by the average worker.It is the kind of change that is not readily acceptable as its short term effects are negative for the ordinary man. It seems that with the proliferation and rapid emergence of different kinds of technologies, it seems that there is no more need for a human being in the workforce. Industr ies are no longer satisfied with the physical skills of a person. There is a clamor for the mental capacity of a worker. Anything related to muscle power is no longer enough since there are many machines and even robots that can do the job.Of course, the initial capital output or investment on such advancements are really expensive, compared to just hiring someone to do the job. And yet in the long run, the investment pays off. The article defends productivity in the sense that productivity actually creates more jobs for the workforce. It says that although the initial effect is that workers are displaced, these workers can actually shift to other industries where their talents are needed and will be more helpful.It further provides that there is a hierarchy of talents that productivity can never replace such as imagination and creativity. Although it is a valid point that machines can never be creative or imaginative, it cannot be discounted that creativity and imagination is only available to a limited number of jobs such as the music, literary, and film industry. This then comes to my mind: productivity involves the manual aspect of the workforce. When technology takes over the manual skills of industries, the only thing needed is mental skills.And these mental skills often require a certain amount of schooling and education. Going back to farmers who may not have been able to go to school, or the city children who could not afford to go to college, where will they be found when all the blue-collar jobs are taken over by robots? What will happen when labor becomes immobile? Surely, the idea of more for less will be applauded by business owners and traders and economists. But where will this leave the average Joe? I am not against the arguments of the article.In fact I do admit that productivity definitely has its advantages. For example, although the email has made communications easier, there are still those things that cannot be sent over the internet suc h as bulky packages. For this, manual labor is still needed. And yet it is easier and faster to receive packages nowadays since there are trucks and airplanes that could bring them to you, instead of a messenger on foot. Life is indeed much better, even if this imaginary messenger of mine had lost his job.I also admit that it is people who are responsible for all these advancements. It is the brightness of the human mind and human nature’s need for progress that brought about all these. And yet I ask, when will the world say, I am satisfied? Living standards may be better now but isn’t anyone afraid that there will come a time that machines will rule our world and people will just be subordinate to them? It may seem like a ridiculous idea but in our day and age where robots are invented as housemaids, it doesn’t sound so crazy after all.The unmeasured payoffs of productivity seem so enticing at first look. But there will come a time when displaced workers have n o more industries to go to; when even college graduates cannot find a job because technology does it for them. The question will be: now what? Imagination and creativity can only go so far. When the productivity cycle suddenly stops, when labor can no longer exercise its mobility, when inventions start inventing, it will probably only be mothers who will have a full-time job. After all, technology can never replace the touch and love of a mother.

A researcher strongly believes Essay

1.A researcher strongly believes that physicians tend to show female nurses less attention and respect than they show male nurses. she sets up an experimental study involving observations of health clinics in different conditions. In explaining the study to the physicians and nurses who will participate, what steps should the researcher take to eliminate experimental bias based on both experimenter expectations and participant expectations.? The first step should be to consider that using an experiment in clinical conditions is a bad idea. An ethnographic study might be a better approach. The next step should be to consider what is really being studied. Is the point of the study to determine how physicians treat female nurses when compared to male nurses, or is it to determine the degree of difference? Would the individual’s gender (both that of the doctor and that of the nurse) make a difference? The results of a study would not be valid without considering the possibility that it is gender, not sex, that makes the difference. If pressed to design this experiment, I would gain permission to do the observation (or experiment, if you prefer). Then I would ask the doctors and nurses involved to participate in training vignettes. I would film the vignettes so that my work could be triangulated by other researchers. I would have a research assistant play the role of a patient, but would not disclose to the doctor and nurse that this was not a real patient. I would ask the doctor(s) to film the training vignette, perhaps of the way to decide whether or not to order a particular type of test, twice. The first time they would be given a male or female nurse; the second time, the reverse. The videos would be observed by myself and a research diary kept, with my personal feelings about the vignettes and the participant’s actions recorded so that any bias could be accounted for later. I would write my conclusions about the individual’s behaviors. Then, I would have two other researchers do the same. The conclusions of the three researchers would be compared and if two of the researchers had the same opinion about the behaviors of the physician, that opinion would be recorded as the official observation. The outlier observation would be recorded and archived. If the time was available I would film each physician six times: with a masculine male nurse, with a feminine male nurse, with a masculine female nurse, with a feminine female nurse, and with an obviously transgender male and female. The repetitive nature of doing this could easily be explained by saying the â€Å"client† was not clear what they wanted yet. 2.In what ways is the â€Å"fight-or-flight response helpful to humans in emergency situations? The fight or flight response helps the individual who is in an emergency situation to get the â€Å"blood pumping† so that the body can effectively run, or fight. The heart rate goes up; the individual may sweat or develop goose bumps. The sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system governs flight or fight. Once the emergency is over – or perhaps, there never was an emergency, but the person believed there was – the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system takes over and helps calm the body down. The parasympathetic system stores energy for the next time it is needed in an emergency. The simplistic answer to this question is that fight or flight helps the human body prepare to survive. 3 Much research is being conducted on repairing faulty sensory organs through devices such as personal guidance systems and eyeglasses, among others. Do you think that researcher should attempt to improve normal sensory capabilities beyond their â€Å"natural† range (for example make human visual or audio capabilities more sensitive than normal)? What problems might this cause? This is both a question of science, and of ethics. We may be able to do something (even without unwanted side effects) but this does not mean we should. Once the capacity exists to better ourselves through technology, individuals who are in competitive situations will want this technology to make themselves more competitive. Perhaps a cochlear implant, for example, can be used not only for the non-hearing to hear, but to make the hearing have something resembling super-hearing, without being detectable by others. It is easy to foresee a situation where CEOs would want this implant to make  it possible to hear what members of the board are muttering, or that football players would want it so they can hear what the opposing quarterback is saying in the huddle. From a technical perspective, however, the human body is not comprised of stand-alone parts any more than a car or truck is. The body is put together in a system. The body’s parts are designed to work together in a particular way, much the same way that the carburetor, air filter, engine, spark plugs, and cooling system are designed to work together in a vehicle. The vehicle cannot work correctly if the driver of a 68 Mustang takes out the fuel pump designed for that vehicle and inserts one designed for a 2002 Humvee. The frame is not the same; the engine is not the same. Parts are not plug-and-play; they are not interchangeable. They have to be matched. In a car, trying to string together parts designed for a variety of vehicles will result in one of three outcomes: either the parts won’t work together as a whole, they will work together but badly, or they will work together and then blow out prematurely. The human body would be exactly the same. One size does not fit all.