Press clippings

May 30 2013

Modern automotive lean detailed at LMJ Conference 2013 | Manufacturer.com

See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing

“It is by constantly developing our people and focusing on fostering a culture of continuous improvement that we can hope to, one day, achieve success. This was the message of the 4th annual LMJ Conference, a two-day event held last week by TM’s sister publication Lean Management Journal in Birmingham. Manufacturing, naturally, made a very important contribution to the conference, with speakers from Volvo, Chrysler and Toyota Material Handling providing highlights from Day One.

See on www.themanufacturer.com

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May 25 2013

Israel’s Efficiency Contract Under Fire

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“TEL AVIV — Israel’s Defense Ministry is slightly ahead of schedule in a 10-year government-mandated plan to save 30 billion shekels (US $8.4 billion) through 2017, but no thanks, uniformed officers say, to the ministry’s high-priced contract with an international consulting firm.

Nearly five years into the plan, high-ranking officers here insist the lion’s share of the 9.2 billion shekels saved thus far stem from internal, self-generated measures, despite costly and — in many cases — unrealistic reforms proposed by New York-based McKinsey & Co.”

See on www.defensenews.com

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May 24 2013

Canada, a Model for Australia’s Automotive industry? | Business Spectator

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Work station at Dortec
Work station at Dortec

“Ford Australia’s move to close its two Australian plants from 2016 and transition to import-only brands only reinforces the sense of a looming death knell. But that isn’t the case with every developed-world auto sector struggling to compete with high domestic production costs and cheaper, mostly-Asian-built imports. Canada’s auto sector has also struggled with factors that would sound familiar to an Australian onlooker, such as its own high dollar, volatile domestic demand, offshore competition and wavering government subsidies.

But as much as those conditions in Canada instigated uncertainty, cuts and job losses, that struggle, which gained pace as the global financial crisis took hold, has also produced a level of productivity-focused innovation worth noting for any manufacturer or policymaker wondering if Australia’s auto sector has crossed its rubicon.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

Ford is closing its plants in Australia, which threatens the entire local automotive industry. The author looks to Canada for a model Australia could follow for this industry to survive and thrive. The article is mostly about Canada, and specificially about the Magna Dortec door latch plant Northeast of Toronto.

See on www.businessspectator.com.au

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May 15 2013

Lloyd’s Confuses Lean with Outsourcing | The Strategic Sourcerer

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“Lean manufacturing practices can create efficiency and reduce waste, but smaller inventories put companies at risk for major supply chain disruptions. Many organizations are reconsidering their procurement strategies for emergency preparedness after discovering their operational vulnerability in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as the flooding in Thailand, according to Lloyd’s.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

Since when is purchasing parts from half-way around the world a “Lean manufacturing practice”? Toyota and Honda do import parts into the US from Japan, but they have been working steadily to increase the domestic content of the cars they build in the US.

In a Lean supply chain, you use as many local suppliers as possible and  only buy from afar if you can’t help it. And local suppliers are subject to the same disasters as you, and inventory in the pipeline is just one more asset that can be destroyed in the earthquake or tsunami.

In the late 1930s, the German aircraft industry organized its supply chain in a system called “ABC,” which involved frequent deliveries from nearby suppliers and almost no inventory at the assembly site. It was in anticipation of a man-made disaster: enemy air raids. Allied bombs could not destroy components that had yet tp be made.

The article just reiterates the old belief that you can protect yourself against shortages by holding inventory. It may work for crude oil, but not for the 30,000 items needed to build a car. To protect against a Fukushima type event, you would have to keep weeks of safety stocks of all the items all the time, which is not a practical idea.

See on www.strategicsourceror.com

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May 14 2013

Improvement at Chrysler supplier Dakkota | Automotive News

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Dakkota Systems’ instrument panel factory is joined at the hip to Chrysler’s Windsor minivan assembly plant.

See on www.autonews.com

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May 10 2013

Michelin’s Obsession with Quality | Pete Selleck | IndustryWeek

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Pete Selleck

“…It’s brand image,” he explained. “There is tremendous value to the perception of trust—customers don’t want to worry about the products they buy; they want it to be trouble free. We can offer them that….

We all use the same equipment to make tire, so we know it’s not the equipment that makes the difference. It’s the interface between the equipment, the material and the person—the training and the qualification of the person—that makes the difference.”

 
Michel Baudin‘s insight:

I see two key statements in this article, both quoted above:

  1. The first is an acknowledgement that the company’s reputation for quality is its crown jewels. It’s priceless, and worth any burden to nurture and protect, and the classical “cost of quality” calculations based on the direct costs of failures, appraisals and repairs are irrelevant.
  2. The second is that the key is the way people work with machines. Selleck does not reference jidoka, but his thinking is in line with it and, unlike the bulk of the American literature on Lean, puts the spotlight on production engineering

See on www.industryweek.com

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