LEAN MANUFACTURING ARTICLES
Get inspired and share!LEAN MANUFACTURING ARTICLES
Get inspired and share!
How to Choose the Right Lean Solutions Provider
If you are looking to become more lean as an organization, you will need to purchase products that help your team become more efficient and support the changes you want to implement. When evaluating what products or solutions you might use, there will be...
How Lean Solutions Provide Value-Added Services to Logistics Companies
Lean isn’t quite as big a buzzword in logistics as it is in manufacturing. After all, it was first introduced as “lean manufacturing” and originated with the Toyota Management System. However, as more lean practitioners and thinkers expanded out of automotive into...
Why Robots Aren’t The First Solution to Enhancing Efficiency
Robots never get tired. Robots never make mistakes. Robots don’t get injured. Robots don’t take vacations, sick days, or lunch breaks, and they never complain. Automation seems to solve nearly every problem attributed to people in many areas of our lives. But in truth...
What to Look For When Purchasing Flow Racks
Flow racks are an important but under considered piece of equipment. They present product clearly, enable small box packaging, and support pull and FIFO systems. Good flow racks can have huge benefits in safety, productivity, and delivery. Here are the major things...
Don’t Make This Mistake Starting Your Lean Initiative
There’s ongoing discussion in the lean community about where to start transformation projects. It’s an important debate because of how often lean implementations fail and the toll the failures take on people, companies, and the positive understanding of lean. Hard...
How Lean Solutions Can Improve Plant Safety
Lean manufacturing is all about becoming more effective and efficient. Applied correctly, the lean system will improve all operational metrics on the way to achieving greater efficiency. Applied incorrectly or with too much emphasis on production, other metrics like...
What’s the Difference Between Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement?
Although the terms lean manufacturing and continuous improvement are thrown around and used interchangeably, they are not the same. Lean manufacturing is a business operating system, originating from the Toyota System, with applications across industries. Continuous...
Strange reporting from the WSJ on “just-in-time”
I often enjoy the “Top Supply Chain and Logistics News” segment from the Wall Street Journal. Good, quick updates on a range of relevant supply chain topics that are hard to find easily from a single source. In the February 6th column they had a strange comment on...
Grab the mop – learning through action
I was leaving the office last Tuesday after working on a new marketing campaign and walked down the hall to shut the lights off. I had plans to meet a channel partner with our CEO for dinner and didn’t leave much time buffer. On my way over to the light switch I...
Boeing’s Bombardier Airbus’ Unintended Consequences
The impact of unintended consequences are felt long after they are first recognized, and the impact of the Boeing-Bombardier-Airbus news this week will be felt for decades. The most recent outcome is a tie-up between Airbus and Bombardier’s C Series jet program,...
The Power of Flow, Demonstrated in Donuts
I'm a big donut fan. When I'm in your city, I'm searching out the local hotspot to test the best. As an invention, donuts are up there at the top. Maybe flight is better, but only by a fraction. Took a weekend trip to upstate NY this summer and found a...
Treat your capital budget like a nice steak – leave the fat in
"The root of my success is acting rationally about capital allocation" - Warren Buffett As the weather here starts to turn and we enter the fourth quarter of the calendar year, two separate cycles combined in my mind. The cool weather creates perfect...
Don’t start the layout until you know the process
Do you feel like you’re in an infinite loop of frustrating layout changes as you keep changing process elements? It’s probably because you started layout planning too soon. Two quotes on this subject from Chihiro Nakao, from the book Kaizen Forever “Build...
3 Steps to Better Material Flow — Connect Your System
You’ve made the decision to go lean. One of your initiatives for this year is to go forklift free and you have a plan for how to make it happen. There is a solid plan for where parts will be stored, where they will be used, the packaging they’ll be in, and how to...
Lean is not an investment, it’s a decision
We hear this question all the time – “What will my payback from lean be?” The payback will be tremendous, the increase in capability will be tremendous, the impact on your environment will be tremendous, the impact on your people will be tremendous. It can start as an...
One Piece Flow Everything, Everywhere
One piece flow everything, everywhere. There’s a lot of assumptions baked into that statement. An assumption that one piece is the right quantity, that flow is the most efficient condition, and that it has universal application. We shouldn’t take those...
Lessons in the Toyota Production System (TPS) – from Panera?!
The “fast casual” restaurant category may be the furthest thing from automotive production, but a recent article in the Wall Street Journal perfectly captures the application of Toyota Production System (TPS) principles to this industry. It’s a fun illustration of why...
4 In’s and 1 Out – 5 Material Flows to Know
Every warehouse, manufacturing plant, production facility, and logistics operation – no matter where they are or what they do – has to manage the same 5 kinds of material and information flow. Your success will be determined by how well you design and integrate these...
Lean Lessons in the News
Click on the headings below for links to full news articles Tool and Die – Manufacturing canary in the coal mine? IndustryWeek recently posted an article on the tool and die industry that's worth a read. The manufacturing ecosystem depends on healthy tool and...
5 Signs Forklift Free Is A Must For Your Operation
There is clear support for the safety, resource efficiency, and productivity of forklift free / fork truck free initiatives. Those elements show why the initiative is important, but they don’t always create the clear moment of insight into your operation and why it...
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THE COMPLETE
GUIDE TO LEAN INTEGRATION
Here's everything you need to know broken down into manageable parts that are easy to implement.
IS YOUR FACTORY A GOOD FIT FOR LEAN INTEGRATION?
Fill out our lean integration checklist to determine if your factory might be ready for lean integration.
THE COMPLETE
GUIDE TO LEAN INTEGRATION
Here's everything you need to know broken down into manageable parts that are easy to implement.
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