A how-to guide to shortening delivery times, eliminating waste, improving quality, and reducing costs. It describes not only what to do, but includes many tools useful to the reader describing how to do it. It explores tools including kaizen, value stream mapping, takt time, determining optimum lot sizes, setup reduction and problem solving.
A hands-on guide to adapting Lean principles and the Toyota Production System to high-mix/low-volume environments, Lean Production for the Small Company uses charts, pictures, and easy-to-understand language to describe the methods needed to improve processes and eliminate waste. It walks readers through the correct order of implementation and desc
This is the true story of how, armed with only Lean improvement methodologies, a specially trained Toyota Lean expert purchased a business he knew nothing about, applied Lean techniques, and succeeded in doubling sales and increasing profitability, before he finally sold the thriving business. With humility and humor, the author recounts his successes and failures, introduces his key employees and their struggles with change, and provides motivation and simple ideas for all readers looking to improve their businesses. He captures key points highlighted in text boxes and includes illustrative photos and examples of Lean tools at work. This story dispels the fallacy that Lean management does not achieve excellent results in high variation companies and job shops. Toyota’s OSKKK methodology is introduced to understand processes and guide a Lean transformation on the shop floor and in the office.
Lean manufacturing is the single most effective way to increase sales, cut costs, improve margins, and secure the future of a business. The problem is that the principles and philosophies of lean manufacturing are geared strictly to mass production operations and can be ineffective, even detrimental, for smaller job shops and make-to-order businesses. Now, Speed to Market delivers a proven approach for smaller suppliers who want to successfully cut their lead time and trigger profitable growth. Completely updated and expanded, the book explains how to: * Apply the principles of pull, flow, and the elimination of waste to every area of the company, at every stage from quotes to cash* Implement a continuous improvement process while sidestepping the typical implementation pitfalls* Ease scheduling problems* Improve performance and profitability using the book's practical concepts, process analysis tools, and perspective-enhancing techniques and much more
A Practical, Hands-on Guide to Lean Manufacturing This real-world resource offers proven solutions for implementing lean manufacturing in an enterprise environment, covering the engineering and production aspects as well as the business culture concerns. Filled with detailed examples, the book focuses on the rapid application of lean principles so that large, early financial gains can be made. How to Implement Lean Manufacturing explains Toyota Production System (TPS) practices and specifies the distinct order in which lean techniques should be applied to achieve maximum gains. Global case studies illustrate successes and pitfalls of lean manufacturing initiatives. Discover how to: Rigorously test and retest the state of your "leanness" with unique evaluators Develop and deploy plant-wide strategies and goals Improve speed and quality and dramatically reduce costs Reduce variation in the manufacturing system in order to reduce inventory Reduce lead times to enable improved responsiveness and flexibility Synchronize production and supply to the customer Create flow and establish pull-demand systems Perform system-wide and specific value-stream evaluations Generate a comprehensive list of highly focused Kaizen activities Sustain process gains Manage constraints and reduce bottlenecks Implement cellular manufacturing
Lean Thinking was launched in the fall of 1996, just in time for the recession of 1997. It told the story of how American, European, and Japanese firms applied a simple set of principles called 'lean thinking' to survive the recession of 1991 and grow steadily in sales and profits through 1996. Even though the recession of 1997 never happened, companies were starving for information on how to make themselves leaner and more efficient. Now we are dealing with the recession of 2001 and the financial meltdown of 2002. So what happened to the exemplar firms profiled in Lean Thinking? In the new fully revised edition of this bestselling book those pioneering lean thinkers are brought up to date. Authors James Womack and Daniel Jones offer new guidelines for lean thinking firms and bring their groundbreaking practices to a brand new generation of companies that are looking to stay one step ahead of the competition.
Known worldwide in manufacturing among those striving to maximize productivity and create pull scheduling of production as "the yellow book," this is the premier how to book for companies going lean. Touted by experts everywhere as practical, down-to-earth, and easy to read, it warns of cultural issues that are certain to arise, and gives step by step instructions for making the transformation. It clearly explains such tools as continuous flow, value stream mapping, kanban, kaizen, six sigma, just-in-time (JIT), techniques for quick set-ups, and other pillars of the Toyota Production System. It's full of examples of value stream mapping, how kanban can resolve material supply issues, how kaizen brainstorming can result in startling improvements overnight, how just-in-me (JIT) frees mountains of money tied up in work-in-progress, why Six Sigma quality needs to be built in and not inspected in, how bottlenecks can be eliminated, kanban snafus spotted before they happen, and how instilling a championship mentality in cross-functional teams an lead to increased productivity and continuous improvement that doesn't stop after the initial kaizen event.
A massive disconnect exists today between consumers and providers. As consumers, we have a greater selection of higher quality goods and services to choose from, yet our experience of obtaining and using these items is more frustrating than ever. At the same time, companies find themselves with declining customer loyalty, greater challenges in fulfilling orders, and a general sense of dissatisfaction in connecting with their customers. In LEAN SOLUTIONS, lean production experts Womack and Jones show consumers and companies alike how they can align their goals to achieve greater value with less waste.
When I was first given the job of managing a small plastics factory back in 1989, I quickly realized that most of the books and teaching on Lean Manufacturing were designed for big companies and were not relevant to my factory. —Tim Mclean The last 25 years has seen Tim lead and assist over 100 small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturing operations. This experience has now been condensed in to Grow Your Factory, Grow your Profits: Lean for Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises, a start-to-finish guide on how to run a successful small and medium-sized manufacturing operation. The book presents case studies, practical examples, illustrations, charts, and pictures from real SME manufacturers to provide straightforward solutions to the issues facing every growing manufacturing business. In the book, Tim McLean explains: How to recruit the right people and design the right organization How to empower those people to take accountability and free yourself up from day to day "fire fighting" How to develop a Lean Plant Layout that will maximize productivity and optimize the use of space How to manage materials in order to slash inventory and shortages How to schedule production in order to cut lead times, cut inventory, and delight customers How to get started on a Lean transformation when you lack the resources of a big company The book details how SMEs differ from large organizations and why the approach to improvement must also be different. Covering the complete life cycle of small and medium-sized manufacturers, the book addresses a different SME manufacturing issue in each chapter. This enables readers to tackle issues at their own pace and in their own order of priority. Grow Your Factory, Grow Your Profits is essential reading for owners, managers, and operational leaders in the 90 percent of manufacturing enterprises that are small or medium sized.
