BARRIERS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF LEAN MANUFACTURING IN THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY

The concept of lean management in an organization, improving products and processes using the Lean Manufacturing concept, is discussed in this paper. Striving for excellence is the key factor in maintain-ing competitiveness on the market. Only organizations able to adapt to changing environmental condi-tions faster than others achieve an advantage, and the management in line with the Lean Manufacturing philosophy is de facto change management. In this paper, important factors in the ceramic industry, which should be taken into account when implementing Lean Manufacturing are characterized. Important factors affecting the implementation of lean tools include, such as: the size of the enterprise, involvement of employees, knowledge about the Lean concept, technological factor, type and variety of the product line, as well as the specificity of the ceramic industry. The great-est opportunity associated with the implementation of Lean is to increase the competitiveness of the company obtained through: meeting the quality and economic expectations of customers. The greatest opportunity associated with implementation of the Lean is to increase competitiveness of the company obtained through: meeting the quality and economic expectations of their customers. Practice shows, however, that despite the simplicity of rules and tools, few organizations manage to achieve the level of excellence of the pioneer of this concept, the Japanese Toyota Corporation

Implementation of lean instruments in ceramics industries

The article presents the results of the research on the level of implementation of Lean instruments in the ceramics industry. The research was carried out in ceramic factories in Poland and Germany. Based on the results obtained, the most commonly used Lean instruments in the ceramics industry were defined. The dependence of the use of Lean instruments on the size of the enterprise was also determined. It was established that the Lean activities undertaken in the ceramics industry are focused solely on the implementation of individual methods and tools, without a pre-defined goal. This approach in the ceramics industry is ineffective, but unfortunately it is most often used in the implementation of the Lean philosophy, especially in small ceramics enterprises

Lean Manufacturing in the ceramic industry

The problem of implementation of the concept of Lean Manufacturing in the ceramic industry, based on the enterprise manufacturing ceramic fancy goods, is presented in this article. The most important information about the concept of Lean Manufacturing, as well as the current state of implementation of the Lean concept in the ceramic industry. Major barriers in the implementation of the Lean concept are identified and selected instruments of the Lean concept applied in individual areas of the waste elimination are assigned

An analysis of the innovative exhaust air energy recovery heat exchanger

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are responsible for a nearly 50% of total energy consumption in operated buildings. One of the most important parts of the ventilation system is an air handling unit with a heat exchanger for energy recovery which is responsible for effective and efficient energy recovery from exhaust air. Typically heat exchangers are characterised by the producers by heat and humidity recovery efficiency up to 90% and 75% respectively. But these very high values are usually evaluated under laboratory conditions without taking into account a dynamic change of outdoor and indoor air conditions significantly affecting the recovery efficiency. In this paper, results of thermal, humidity and enthalpy recover efficiency of innovative energy recovery exchanger have been presented. The analysed system allows adjustment of the humidity recovery especially useful in the winter period and forefends energy use for an anti-froze system of energy exchanger. Presented result show that analysed innovative system can achieve the value of thermal efficiency recovery higher than 90% and efficiency of humidity recovery about 80%. This is possible because the analysed system is able to work without the use of any primary source energy or other anti-freeze systems. Presented in this research unique solution is able to work without external anti-freeze systems even in extremely adverse outdoor air conditions such as minus 20°C and humidity 100% RH

An analysis of the innovative exhaust air energy recovery heat exchanger

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are responsible for a nearly 50% of total energy consumption in operated buildings. One of the most important parts of the ventilation system is an air handling unit with a heat exchanger for energy recovery which is responsible for effective and efficient energy recovery from exhaust air. Typically heat exchangers are characterised by the producers by heat and humidity recovery efficiency up to 90% and 75% respectively. But these very high values are usually evaluated under laboratory conditions without taking into account a dynamic change of outdoor and indoor air conditions significantly affecting the recovery efficiency. In this paper, results of thermal, humidity and enthalpy recover efficiency of innovative energy recovery exchanger have been presented. The analysed system allows adjustment of the humidity recovery especially useful in the winter period and forefends energy use for an anti-froze system of energy exchanger. Presented result show that analysed innovative system can achieve the value of thermal efficiency recovery higher than 90% and efficiency of humidity recovery about 80%. This is possible because the analysed system is able to work without the use of any primary source energy or other anti-freeze systems. Presented in this research unique solution is able to work without external anti-freeze systems even in extremely adverse outdoor air conditions such as minus 20°C and humidity 100% RH