Nov 23 2011
San Antonio’s Nugget Co. goes Lean to reduce water consumption (???)
Via Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
“…Over the next two years, the center will work with The Nugget Co. to improve its wastewater treatment processes and to reduce the amount of water the manufacturer uses to produce its sheep and lambskin products…” (http://t.co/RcyYivMr) This is a novel application of Lean. I understand why overuse of water may be a problem for the company, but not what part of Lean might conceivably solve it. Assuming that water plays a part in the chemistry of leather making, the amount consumed is a matter of process engineering, and it is difficult to imagine anyone other than experienced process engineers finding how to reduce it without hurting quality. Lean projects typically improve the way an organization executes its processes, but not the processes themselves. They affect line and workstation design, operating policies, production control methods, and support activities, but usually not the phyics or chemistry of the processes.
Via story.manufacturingmirror.com
November 26, 2011 @ 10:38 am
Why is it the “annointed experts” the ONLY ones who can start an improvement. If principles are clear (save water) and process understood (making of quality leather) people who are trained and work with this process every day SHOULD be in the lead for improvement. In biopharm I regularly fielded process suggestions from frontline personnel. Of course in an FDA environ. it had to be approved but the ideas came from the floor.
November 26, 2011 @ 11:29 am
People become experts on a process by studying the science and technology for a few years and then developing and experimenting for a few more in industry. This is not the same type of knowledge that you get from being a production operator for the same period of time, and it is complementary.
Leather making is an ancient process, in which production operators may know the influence of water on output quality. In more modern processes, like plastic extrusion or thin film growth in semiconductors, operators have at best a basic understanding of the physics and chemistry of what happens inside the machines during automatic cycles.
In these processes, they can contribute to the layout of their work stations and the handling of materials, but they would not suggest tweaking flow rates or temperatures in reaction chambers because they don’t know how it might affect the product.
If your pharmaceutical industry experience different?