Tag Archives: lean manufacturing

Lean and Theory of Constraints

Posted on March 22, 2006 by John Hunter

David Anderson’s post, Lean vs. TOC – No Conflict [the broken link was removed], is an excellent addition to the previous post here: Lean Thinking and Management. I demonstrated these ideas recently by taking an updated version of my XIT Sustained Engineering paper from the TOCICO in Barcelona [the broken link was removed] to the Lean Design and Development conference and recasting all the exploitation and subordination steps as waste reduction instead. David refers to a post, looking for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Software Development, Theory of Constraints | Tagged , | 1 Comment

NUMMI Plant Model

Posted on March 8, 2006 by John Hunter

NUMMI plant a model for ailing car industry (site broke the link so I removed it) by Tim Simmers: The historic NUMMI joint venture – the first of its kind on U.S. soil between a Japanese and an American carmaker – is something of an industry gem. Its secret to success, besides the common sense of building small cars and trucks that are in demand, has been its good labor relations and adoption of Toyota’s “lean manufacturing” techniques. Referred to … Continue reading →

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Executives Participating in Kaizen Events

Posted on March 1, 2006 by John Hunter

The Masco Mapmakers [the broken link was removed] by Bill Waddell Guys from Brasscraft or Morgantown Plastics might go to a Delta faucet plant for the event – and note that these are executives, not factory level folks – that spend the week working on the kaizens. Of course, the Grand Kaizens are not the only ones. Individual plants hold their own kaizens by the hundreds. The primary purpose of the Grand Kaizen is to spread the lean message throughout … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing | Tagged , ,

Made in the USA

Posted on February 28, 2006 by John Hunter

Is ‘Made in U.S.A.’ back in vogue? [the broken link was removed] As the need for speed in fashion retailing becomes ever more crucial to merchants, industry observers say “Made in U.S.A” is once again looking more attractive to some U.S. retailers versus importing from China. … The company used to import 70 percent of its merchandise from China and elsewhere and manufactured a smaller 30 percent of it in the U.S. Today it manufactures 60 percent locally and imports … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Systems thinking | Tagged | 2 Comments

La-Z-Boy Lean

Posted on February 25, 2006 by John Hunter

La-Z-Boy changing production lines to compete with China [the broken link was removed]: But in an attempt to better compete with the overseas market, the Neosho plant, along with six others in its division, is transitioning to the Lean Cellular Manufacturing method. In the new concept, the chair or sofa is manufactured by a team within a cell, thus eliminating separate departments. No jobs will be lost in the transition from batch-and-queue to lean cellular. “Basically, we will have teams … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing | Tagged

TPS – Take 2

Posted on January 25, 2006 by John Hunter

The cover story in latest issue of Industry Week focuses on what people have missed when applying ideas from the Toyota Production System. Learning From Toyota — Again [the broken link was removed] by John Teresko: “Why is it that the TPS tools of lean, agile, TQM, TPM, re-engineering, just-in-time, cellular/continuous workflow and so on — never seem to really pay off big [aside from Toyota]?” asks Michael Paris, president of Hinsdale, Ill.-based Paris:Consulting. His response: “Unless TPS is everywhere … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , ,

Rebirth of American Industry

Posted on December 21, 2005 by John Hunter

William Waddell excellent posts on the Evolving Excellence blog are always an interesting read. He, and Norman Bodek, have published a new book, Rebirth of American Industry. Read the full Excerpt from the book [the broken link was removed]. The Evolving Excellence blog also has a post: A New Must-Read Book – From Our Own Bill Waddell [the broken link was removed]. Norman Bodek has also written: Kaikaku, The Idea Generator: Quick and Easy Kaizen (with Bunji Tozawa) and The … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Lean thinking, Manufacturing | Tagged ,

TPS v. Lean Manufacturing

Posted on December 19, 2005 by John Hunter

Great article from Superfactory, TPS vs. Lean and the Law of Unintended Consequences [the broken link was removed] by Art Smalley: Real TPS is not just about “flow” or “pull production” or “cellular manufacturing” or any of the other catchy phrases or tools you may frequently hear. For over fifty years TPS in Toyota has been primarily concerned with making a profit, and satisfying the customer with the highest possible quality at the lowest cost in the shortest lead-time, while … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Ford’s Wrong Turn

Posted on December 5, 2005 by John Hunter

Mr. Ford’s Wrong Turn, Why U.S. Automakers Can’t Blame Japan by James P. Womack: What makes this claim so extraordinary is that Japanese companies, led by Toyota Motor Corp., are thrashing Ford by building vehicles in North American factories with North American-made parts and North American workers, who receive American-style wages and health benefits. And increasingly, these Japanese brand vehicles are engineered in America by Americans. Consider a few facts about Toyota. About 65 percent of the vehicles the firm … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Toyota Production System in Indiana

Posted on November 29, 2005 by John Hunter

Photo by Daniel R. Patmore Via Evolving Excellence [the broken link was removed], Indiana plant president passes on lessons [newspaper also broke link so I removed it too]: Q. Is it different teaching the Toyota Production System to American team members than it is to teach it to Japanese? A. It’s not so different. Americans are eager to learn. American team members are more serious about job security, so their motivation is higher than that of the Japanese. The Japanese … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management Articles, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , ,

Lean Forest Products

Posted on November 23, 2005 by John Hunter

On The Move NRRI Forest Products promotes ‘lean’ manufacturing processes [the broken link was removed] by Chuck Watson: “Since U.S. furniture manufacturers typically had lead times greater than four to eight weeks, China could build and ship products to the U.S. within that same timeframe, for less cost.” … His project team focuses on wood materials innovation and manufacturing, improvement in this vital industry, employing the lean manufacturing model initiated by Taiichi Ohno (Toyota) … A one-week “Kaizen Blitz” (overhaul) … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles | Tagged

Interview with Jim Womack

Posted on November 4, 2005 by John Hunter

Q&A With Jim Womack by Mark Graban: The whole idea of lean solutions is to start with today’s customer in today’s circumstances and ask what the customer really wants. When we do this, the first thing to note is that manufactured goods have gotten vastly better, somewhat cheaper James Womack also lists the six principles of Lean Solutions which seems to be boil down to one of the principles: “Get me exactly what I want” (though the way he describes … Continue reading →

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Go Lean to Remain Competitive

Posted on October 26, 2005 by John Hunter

Go Lean to Remain Competitive [the broken link was removed]: Captains of industry should adopt Lean Production Systems, an idea {conceived} by Toyota for its car-making, to transform their plants to efficient ones, for survival in the globalisation era Sundaram Clayton Limited Brakes Division President C N Prasa. In 1998 the SCL Brakes Division won the Deming Prize and in 2002 they won the Japan Quality Medal. Sundaram-Clayton Limited [the broken link was removed], Mission: We are committed to being … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, India, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , , ,

Eliminating Complexity from Work

Posted on October 20, 2005 by John Hunter

Eliminating Complexity from Work: Improving Productivity by Enhancing Quality [broken link replaced with link from the Internet Archive] by F. Timothy Fuller. National Productivity Review, Autumn, 1985. A case study of a process improvement from 1985. as much as half of the activities of about sixty people had been to set up and take down jobs, expedite, move material, count material, and do other tasks that were unnecessary in the new process. Related: productivity improvement articles and links

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement | Tagged ,

The Lion of Lean

Posted on September 25, 2005 by John Hunter

Great article – The Lion of Lean: An Interview with James Womack [broken link was removed] by Francis J. Quinn, Supply Chain Management Review: Let’s just take one example in the purchasing area. People say, “Yes, we’re going to have a lean purchasing organization. And we’ll start by having target pricing.” You say, “Great, but how are you going to do target pricing?” “Well, we’ll set the prices 5 percent below what they are now and that will be our … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Lean thinking, Management | Tagged

Collaboration Rules

Posted on August 17, 2005 by John Hunter

Collaboration Rules [broken link was removed] by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf: We have found that Toyota’s managerial methods resemble, in a number of their fundamentals, the workings of the Linux community; the Toyota Production System (TPS) owes some of its vaunted responsiveness to open-source traits. In fact, Toyota itself is evolving into a hybrid between a conventional hierarchy and a Linux-like self-organizing network. … Both emphasize granularity: They pay attention to small details, eliminate problems at the source, and … Continue reading →

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