Feb 24 2015
3rd Annual Survey of US-Based Manufacturing Executives | BCG
Source: www.slideshare.net
News
Feb 16 2015
Buy More Robots? | Adams Nager | IndustryWeek
“More robots means lower unemployment and better trade performance. […] The United States does not lose jobs because there is not enough work to be done but rather because U.S. industry is not competitive with foreign producers. More robots will help fix this.”
Source: www.industryweek.com
Michel Baudin‘s comments:Really? If you are not competitive, just buy more robots! But wait… Haven’t we heard this before? Isn’t it what GM did in the 1980s? Under Roger Smith’s leadership, from 1980 to 1989, GM spent about $40B on robots, and this investment didn’t make it competitive.
It doesn’t mean robots are bad, only that they are not a panacea. Toyota’s Global Body Line is designed to use welding robots where they are justified, and manual welding where not, using the same fixtures.
In an auto parts plant in Japan, I remember seeing a machining cell with old machines served by robots. A few yards away were new, automated lines that didn’t use robots.
It looked very much as if the old cell with new robots was the result of incremental automation, and that the lessons learned had been applied in the design of the new lines.
Robots are tools. If you know how to use them, they will help you; if you don’t, buying more is just a waste of money.
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Feb 12 2015
How Do You Address Employee Resistance to Lean Manufacturing? | Larry Fast | IndustryWeek
“In the first six to 12 months, get the turkeys out. Don’t drag your feet.”
Source: www.industryweek.com
Michel Baudin‘s comments:
The problem with this approach is that, at the outset of Lean transformation, management doesn’t know what it’s doing. It’s not the managers’ fault, but the skills of leading a Lean transformation in this particular organization have to be learned along the way.
More often than not, the author’s version of “addressing the issue early” means firing loyal employees for disagreeing with something you later realize was wrong. And the message it sends is not one of commitment but of a mixture of brutality, incompetence and disrespect.
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Feb 10 2015
How to Do a Gemba Walk | Michael Bremer | Slideshare
“A ‘how to’ outline for executives trying to do an effective Gemba Walk”
Source: www.slideshare.net
Michel Baudin‘s comments:
No disagreement with what Michael Bremer is saying, but I would emphasize observation skills more.
One exercise Kei Abe came up with is the bug hunt. You take a team of managers to the floor and give each one 20 red tags. They they have 20 minutes to attach the tags to such “bugs” as frayed cables, devices held with duct tape, puddles of lubricant, misplaced items, etc. They usually have no trouble using all 20 tags.
I also ask people to be like the Count in Sesame Street and count people walking, machines not working, etc. These activities have a data collection and validation value in their own right, but they also focus the eyes of participants and make them notice details they would otherwise miss.
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Jan 30 2015
Lean six sigma the oxymoron | Troy Taylor | LinkedIn
“In the beginning Toyota created TPS, then came Motorola in 1986 with their six sigma process. In 1988 John Krafcik coined the term Lean in his paper entitled“Triumph of the Lean production system” which was quickly popularised by Womack, Roos and Jones in 1991 with the publication of their book “The machine that changed the world”. Then in 2002 Michael George and Robert Lawrence junior published their book entitled “Lean Six Sigma: Combining Six Sigma with Lean Speed”.
Ever since this point organisations have been attempting to mesh the 2 methodologies into one business improvement technique and failing.”
Source: www.linkedin.com
Michel Baudin‘s comments:
Troy speaks from experience. Mine is similar, but I am not as negative on Six Sigma as he is. I think of Six Sigma as an approach that is useful within a range of applicability and is limited in scope.
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Mar 30 2015
Toyota’s Shared-Parts Strategy | IndustryWeek
Source: www.industryweek.com
Specifics are trickling out about Toyota’s plans. It seems that they want to make more different products from fewer components and have plants that are competitive even at low volume.
Readers’ comments on the idea of having fewer platforms and more common parts are focused on the risk of extensive recalls, and the way such recalls can wipe out any savings achieved by the strategy.
It really is a matter of degree and of execution. Having fewer dashboard options might reduce the attractiveness of your products, but using fewer types of proportioning valves will not. Also, it is easier to ensure not only availability but quality as well for fewer components, making recalls less likely.
With regards to volume in a given plant, Toyota’s strategy seems a continuation of their work on the Global Body Line, in which the same infrastructure and fixtures could be used for robotic welding at high volume and manual welding at low volume.
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
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By Michel Baudin • Press clippings • 1 • Tags: Toyota, Toyota Production System