Why in News?
- Recently, Ministry of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) introduced the MSME Competitive (LEAN) Scheme to give a roadmap to global competitiveness for the MSMEs of India.
- The idea is to enhance quality, productivity, performance and capability to change the mind-sets of manufacturers and transform them into world class manufacturers.
About Lean Manufacturing-
- Lean Manufacturing or Lean Production, known commonly as LEAN, is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal, other than the creation of value for the end customer, to be wasteful and thus should be eliminated.
- Lean Principles- Lean manufacturing involves a set of principles that lean thinkers use to attain improvements in productivity, quality, and lead-time by eliminating waste through kaizen.
- Principles of Lean Manufacturing are-
- Identify Value- Determine what value means from the customer’s perspective. This involves understanding what the customer wants, needs, and is willing to pay for.
- Map the Value Stream- Develop a map of the value stream, which is the sequence of steps needed to produce a product or service. This supports identify areas of waste and inefficiency.
- Create Flow- Create a smooth, continuous flow of work through the value stream. This includes eliminating bottlenecks and interruptions that decelerate the process.
- Implement Pull- Implement a pull system that creates products only as they are required, based on customer demand. This helps to decrease inventory and waste.
- Strive for Perfection- Continuous efforts for perfection by identifying and eliminating waste, enhancing processes, and ensuring quality.
Key Points of the Scheme-
- Objective- Through the LEAN journey, MSMEs can lower wastage substantially, increase productivity, enhance quality, work safely, expand their markets, and finally become competitive and profitable.
- Tools- As per the scheme, MSMEs will implement LEAN manufacturing tools such as 5S, Kaizen, KANBAN, Visual workplace, Poka Yoka etc under the able guidance of trained and competent LEAN Consultants to accomplish LEAN levels like Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.
- Government Support- The government will contribute 90 percent of implementation cost for handholding and consultancy fees.
- There will be an additional contribution of 5% for the MSMEs which are part of SFURTI clusters, owned by Women/SC/ST and situated in Northeast region.
- There will be an additional contribution of 5% for MSMEs which are registering through Industry Associations/ Overall Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) organizations after completing all levels.
- This is a distinctive feature to promote Industry Associations and OEMs for motivating their supply chain vendors to participate in this scheme.
Government Initiatives Related to MSMEs-
- Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) Scheme.
- Credit Guarantee Trust Fund for Micro & Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).
- Interest Subsidy Eligibility Certificate (ISEC).
- A Scheme for Promoting Innovation, Rural Industry & Entrepreneurship (ASPIRE).
- Credit Linked Capital Subsidy for Technology Upgradation (CLCSS).
- Zero Defect & Zero Effect.
Kaizen- It is a Japanese word that essentially means “change for the better” or “good change.”
- The goal is to provide the customer with a defect free product or service when it is required and, in quantity, it is needed.