The best way to reduce machining lead time is to establish a “flow” from one process to another, using cells to link, synchronize, and eliminate excessive material handling, excess inventory, and ...

“We are different. Every job is unique.” “We cannot expect teamwork from skilled trades. Their work is too specialized.” “We must keep our people busy at all times. That’s why inventory is so ...

Today’s productivity improvement goals, and the significant disparity in wages between U.S. manufacturing and lower-cost countries, require shops to use as much of a machine operator’s idle time as is ...

Culture tends to spin around the core work process of an organization. It may either enable or hinder the work processes that we spend so much time trying simplify. Lean implementers generally agree ...

I almost can’t take it anymore. I have the pleasure of meeting hundreds of people and seeing hundreds of shops, from small two-person operations all the way to the largest manufacturers in the country ...

The following column comes through special arrangement with the Lean Enterprise Institute. It is an article written by Lean expert Art Byrne, CEO of The Wiremold Company, and author of The Lean ...