Dec 12 2012
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
The incentives are stacking up in favor of making things at home. As General Electric discovered in its Appliance Park in Louisville, Ky., big things can happen when marketers and designers talk to assembly line operators.
Thanks to Kevin Hop for sending me this story. It must be music to Bill Waddell’s ears.
See on www.npr.org
Dec 3 2012
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
What does “Lean IT” mean? Most of those who use this term think of it as the application of Lean principles to the operations of IT companies or departments. To others, including myself, it is primarily about the effective use of IT in support of Lean manufacturing, which is a completely different but very real problems.
The IT departments of manufacturing companies are rarely any help in implementing Lean. The plants’ information systems are full of data about the business and the technology of the plant that is only accessible through the IT department, but its members are busy implementing system upgrades and have no clue what uses this data could be put to.
On the other side are Lean implementers whose computer skills are limited to Excel and PowerPoint, and who underestimate the potential of 21st century IT based on comments made by Ohno in the 1960s.
I looked in vain for any discussion of these issues in the presentations at this summit, although plenty of solutions exist. There could have been, for example, discussions of how data warehousing technology to consolidate data from multiple legacy system into a single, comprehensive source of clean data about product and process specs, the status and history of demand and production, quality, maintenance, inventory, and the supply chain, along with plans for the future.Then it would have been fascinating to hear how tools like the ones Nate Silver applied to US presidential politics could be applied to identifying patterns in this data could be used to allocate products among families and size production lines for each family…
We could also have heard about Lean implementers breaking out of the Excel/PowerPoint box, learning how to design and query databases, and how to judiciously apply data mining tools.
This is about making IT effective, and it should be job one. Then we can worry about applying Lean internally to IT department to make them more efficient.
See on www.lean-it-summit.com
Nov 27 2012
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
In the Seattle Times article Boeing Dreamliner on track, but rework may stretch to 2015, aerospace executives reported to Wall Street analysts the company’s historic scientific milestone of bending the fabric of time and space, as Dreamliner production achieved a state of being both on track and notably behind at once.
See on www.gembapantarei.com
Nov 22 2012
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Are you Lean, becoming Lean, doing Lean or thinking Lean? Almost the entire province of Saskatchewan has gone Lean. On the surface Lean offers everything front line workers should want. …
See on diablogue.org
Nov 14 2012
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
From this article, it appears that the focus is on clerical support functions and loading docks, not on patient care. This is how it is described:
“Recently, the hospital used Lean thinking concepts to create more efficiency between its clinical and clerical staff by ensuring that the proper documentation forms are available for particular procedures.
‘We created a card that informs the clerical staff what form is needed and how many forms to print,” said Rommell. “We also did some reorganization in our loading dock area to create more efficiency in handling our supplies.’”
As is common in the press, the background on Lean is not entirely accurate. For example, the article says:
“… the Toyota Production System[…] spread to American manufacturers with publication of the book, ‘Lean Thinking'”
Actually, it started in the early 1980s, about 15 years before.
Further, it says:
“…hospitals across the nation have moved to incorporate the Japanese principles of ‘Six Sigma’ and ‘Lean’…”
Six Sigma came from Motorola, and there is nothing Japanese about it.
And next:
“Toyota […] has been using these principles for a long time…”
Toyota never used Six Sigma.
See on www.morningstarpublishing.com
Dec 21 2012
Hosting factory visits: 10 best practices
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
It is easier to find advice on how to visit factories than on how to host visits. Torbjørn Netland fills this gap.
See on better-operations.com
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By Michel Baudin • Blog clippings • 0 • Tags: Factory visits