Jun 6 2013
Food Processors Must Balance High Throughput With Flexibility | Food Processing
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See on www.foodprocessing.com
Press clippings
Jun 4 2013
Enterprise Ireland and Lean | Irish Times
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“The Japanese are renowned worldwide for their car production where the concept of the management philosophy Lean derives from. It all began at Toyota when the car manufacturers discovered a new, more efficient method of producing cars valued by customers all over the world. The principles learned at Toyota became known as Lean which is claimed can be applied to almost any business. The core principle is creating value by reducing waste and unnecessary risk.”
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
While informing us that the Irish government has an agency promoting Lean, this article reflects common misconceptions.
No, it’s not a “Japanese management philosophy.” it is an approach developed by individuals who happened to be Japanese, which is not the same. Most Japanese today do not know or practice it, and quite a few non-Japanese do.
And this emphasis on “creating value” is an American talking point, not the Toyota Production System.
According to the article “Toyota benchmark themselves constantly,” which is news to me. While it is clear that Toyota is on the lookout for new ideas, I had not heard of Toyota doing benchmarking surveys of competitors. My understanding is that Toyota’s management considers such surveys to be a waste of time.
The article equates Lean with Continuous Improvement, giving the impression that it’s all there is to it.
And finally, the article repeats the Business Week claim that the Shingo Prize is “the Nobel Prize for operational excellence.”
See on www.irishtimes.com
Jun 2 2013
Article on “Lean warehouse” off the mark
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Michel Baudin‘s insight:
This article is all about the efficiency of warehouse operations and the way “Lean” can reduce warehouse labor. It says almost nothing about the effectiveness of warehouse operations. From this article’s perspective, driving an empty forklift is a waste to be eliminated, but there is not a word about using other means than forklifts to move goods, in perhaps less than pallet quantities, such as carts or small trains. There is not a word either about locating frequently used items in the locations that are easiest to reach, or collocating items that are frequently used together…
At least in manufacturing operations, the number of people used in warehouse operations is a tiny fraction of the number used in production, and increasing their productivity is not the issue. A Lean implementation may instead increase their numbers to improve service and achieve much larger productivity gains in production.
The pursuit of fully loaded forklifts and trucks may increase the efficiency of storage, retrieval, and transportation operations, but also delay e deliveries and hurt the performance of the business as a whole. This is not just my own observations. It has been described as a systematic phenomenon by researchers like Hau Lee.
See on www.dcvelocity.com
Jun 1 2013
Car Making in Australia: Welcome to the Lean times | Troy Taylor | Manufacturers’ Monthly
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Welcome to the Lean times
Manufacturers’ Monthly
So why is Toyota’s management style (A.K.A. Lean management) so different from the others? Firstly Toyota’s system is built on 2 pillars that everyone must promote and follow,.
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
Troy Taylor recounts his experience of working at Toyota in the UK and how it survived and thrived while competitors closed plamts. He sees it as showing the way to Australian car makers.
See on www.manmonthly.com.au
May 30 2013
Ohno Disciple Led Earthquake Recovery in Semiconductor Plant| The Truth About Cars
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“After the March 11 monster earthquake and tsunami wiped out large parts of Japan, headlines focused on the near-meltdown of Fukushima. Recently, I learned that there was a strong likelihood of a worldwide economic meltdown, caused by a microchip factory 80 miles south of Fukushima. Here is the story of how the crisis was contained.
‘I was already retired when the earthquake came,’ remembers a Toyota official who requested that his name is not published. He is a seasoned production expert, one of the few alive who received personal training from Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota production system. ‘I thought, let others handle the problem, but I was wrong.’ He was recalled and asked to spearhead the Toyota part of the reconstruction effort.”
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
While critics have often claimed that low inventories made Lean supply chains vulnerable to natural disasters, Toyota’s record in actual events says otherwise, in cases including, in the US, the Mississippi flood of 1993 and, in Japan, the Aisin Seiki fire of 1997 and now the Fukushima earhquake of 2011.
As it turns out, the combination of vigilance in logistics and relationships that make it possible to enlist the supply chain in rapid recovery works better than inventory. In the case of the Fukushima earthquake, more inventory would simply have meant more losses.
See on www.thetruthaboutcars.com
Jun 17 2013
GE Locomotive Plant Threatened, Lean Viewed as Salvation | GoErie.com
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“[…]But lean manufacturing is the norm, not the exception, in the global economy. Yet it’s also true that hands-on workers can be innovators about how to improve production and streamline work flow.”
See on news.google.com
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By Michel Baudin • Press clippings • 1 • Tags: GE Transportation, General Electric, Lean manufacturing