The Lean Manufacturing Tools in Polish Foundries

Abstract The concept of Lean Manufacturing (or Lean Production) is widely present in the quality management systems of the best factories. Foundry plants in Poland have continuously been implementing modern management tools; however, the experiences of the authors show that the usage of lean tools is at a lower level in domestic foundries than in similar plants abroad. This was the reason why a survey was prepared and over 300 foundry plants were questioned regarding the application of Lean Manufacturing tools. The questions (20 in total) asked if and what tools are implemented in the plant and what benefits have been achieved, or why lean tools have not been implemented in a particular plant. The answers were thoroughly analysed and the results show that, among others, only 29% of all foundries use lean tools, and the main reason why most of them do not is that these tools are not understood well enough.