Tag: Manufacturing

I recently read this article on the IndustryWeek website: Whirlpool's Green Takes Aim at World Class Manufacturing Byron Green, the vice president of manufacturing for Whirlpool's 14 factories in the U.S. and Mexico, said: "...manufacturing was littered with companies that saw lean as a collection of tools that could be deployed for a quick win. Successful companies, he said, instead see it as a bedrock of their culture."....

Here's an interesting article from Fast Company: At Toyota, The Automation Is Human-Powered The sub headline reads: While the rest of the auto industry increasingly uses robots...

Any rare event creates a number of challenges when it comes to manufacturing and supply chains. We're seeing a pretty historic "spike" in demand for products like the inexpensive glasses that allow one to safety view the eclipse (our friends in the totality zone can look at the totally-eclipsed sun safely, but that's the only time). You could call it "supply chain challenges" or a "lack of planning on my part," but I cannot find eclipse glasses anywhere. There are MANY articles online about this widespread problem -- it's been impossible to buy "eclipse glasses" anywhere. Why is this? What could have been done?

Mark's note: I somehow stumbled across this 2002 HBR article, Read a Plant--Fast, so I asked regular guest blogger Paul Critchley to write a post...

In today's post, Jason Morin, from XPO Logistics, writes a review of Jim Lancaster's recent book "The Work of Management," published by the Lean Enterprise Institute. Jim Lancaster is CEO of Lantech and the book tells the story of their Lean journey and their evolution over time.

It's almost Thanksgiving here in the United States, so I'll be taking the rest of the week off from the blog to enjoy some...

Joining me for Episode #258 is a many times returning guest, Jim Huntzinger, the President and Founder of Lean Frontiers (check out Episodes 8, 15, 33, 196, and...

I'm really excited to have Steve Bera as my guest for episode #256 of the podcast. I read about him as he was featured...

Scroll down for how to subscribe, transcript, and more This episode is sponsored by StoreSMART. My guest for episode #255 is Mark DeLuzio, author of the...

I'm a car guy. Above all other mechanical devices that we engineers get to be involved with, I am fascinated most with these incredible...

For decades, manufacturers have been tripped up by the simplistic idea that Lean is about "zero inventories." It probably didn't help that one of...

I've written before about the subject of hospitals "flexing" nurses and employees. I've criticized flexing (or the practice of sending employees home early because patient census is low) and I've pointed out that it's not keeping with "Lean" principles to "save money" by sending people home early.