LEAN MANUFACTURING ARTICLES
Get inspired and share!LEAN MANUFACTURING ARTICLES
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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...
Is Your Material Flow Based on Chaos or Consistency?
There are three choices to plan your material flow system: 1. Fixed time, variable quantity 2. Variable time, fixed quantity: 3. Chaos Any of the choices are valid depending on the context they are used in, and you’ll always have some element of each. The important...
Create Flow by Going Forklift Free
Forklift / fork truck free initiatives are everywhere. Either you’ve done it, you’re doing it, or you will be doing it soon. There are too many reasons not to, which I outlined in the "Why?" aspect of forklift free in our series. While all of those points are...
Eliminate Forklifts – Commit to Safety, Improve Efficiency, Reduce Cost
Commit to Safety Imagine forklifts driving around a school, hospital, or mall. Sounds crazy, right? So why would you tolerate forklifts driving around your work place? All companies say they prioritize safety, but we see fork lifts driving around plants and factories...
Get the Fork Outta Here! Forklifts, that is – Part 3
This is part 3 of a multi part series. Read part 1 for background on forklift usage, and part 2 for our perspective on why going forklift free should be an operational priority. Part two of this series introduced two perspectives on the forklift free subject - one...
Get the Fork Outta Here!
Forklifts, that is – Part 2
This is part 2 of a multi-part series. Read part 1 for background on forklift usage. There are generally two viewpoints related to forklift free / forklift restricted initiatives – one viewpoint understands it and are trying to figure out how to implement it, one...
Get the Fork Outta Here! Fork lifts, that is – Part 1
Eliminate fork lifts from all work and walk areas. Fork lift elimination from personnel zones should be the priority goal shared by leadership, health-safety-environment (HSE), and materials management – this applies to all industries, but manufacturing, production,...
Prioritize Improving
Your Internal Logistics System
I see different production and office environments every week, and all of them represent opportunities for improvement. A common theme is the subject of “Where to start?” If we split any work area up into two oversimplified categories you have 1. The work being...
Don’t think – Act! – with Customers in Mind
What is the purpose of a business? Focus, focus, focus on the customer. There are five fundamental components to a business, in descending order of importance: Customers Employees Products Suppliers Shareholders Of course there are other critical, necessary, and...
Geolean Global News: Create Superior Material Flow with Integrated Carts
Integrate Part Protection and Material Flow Carts with integrated part protection are a great way to control and manage WIP inventory. Instead of double handling WIP parts by putting them in a container, storing that container, and then putting that container on a...
Is PM Operation Critical? Ask the Navy.
The Navy has a problem – only 47% of their jets could fly right now. 47% operational readiness = 53% aircraft on ground. 53% of a potential resource unable to be used for the intended purpose. It’s not only the jets. There is also a backlog of ship refits. From...
Lean Management – An Interview with Geolean Co-Founder Ludovic Ott
An interview with Geolean founder Ludovic Ott was published in the magazine L'Opinion. Much of the discussion references conditions for French industry, but the same issues are equally present in North America. Original article in French, English translation below:...
Lessons From Leaders – Jeff Immelt, GE CEO, with LinkedIn
Jeff Immelt, CEO – GE, gave a set of interviews with LinkedIn this summer. Although it’s been a few months, the discussion points apply just as clearly now. I’d like to highlight a few statements that caught my ear specifically in a manufacturing context. Take a few...
Are you a Waste-buster or a Flow-master?
Most people familiar with the concept of lean manufacturing and standard production systems have heard of the seven wastes. If you haven’t, you’re probably going to skip this post and move on. If you have, there is an important point you may not have considered. There...
DOES YOUR MATERIAL FLOW NEED IMPROVEMENT? WE CAN HELP!
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.
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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