Apr 4 2014
The Day I Thought I’d Get Fired from “The Old GM” – Putting Quality over Quantity | Mark Graban
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
About a decade before Mark, I spent time implementing scheduling systems in GM plants, and my memories, while not great, are less gloomy than Mark’s. My main project was at the GM aluminum foundry in Bedford, IN which is still open today, unlike the Livonia plant where Mark worked.
I remember being impressed by the depth of automotive and manufacturing knowledge of the GM engineers and managers; I also remember them as unable to implement any of their ideas, because it was dangerous to be perceived as someone who makes waves. They had no need for the scheduling system, but it was a corporate decision to deploy it in 150 plants, and they just had to get along.
The company culture was dysfunctional — particularly in quality, safety, and improvement — but the plant was in a small town where the employees all knew each other and worked to make a go of it as best they could. And, they are still around.
I have since experienced a radically different quality culture in another car company. The quality manager in a parts plant once noticed that defectives had been shipped to final assembly. The parts had been machined so well that they didn’t leak at final test even though they were missing a gasket.
The quality manager — who told me the story — felt that he had to do whatever it took to prevent the cars being shipped with the defective parts. What it did take was driving two hours to the assembly plant at night, locating the finished cars with the defective parts in the shipping yard, and removing their keys.
See on www.leanblog.org
Apr 5 2014
Lean Systems Program Turns 20 This Year | UKNow
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
“It has been 20 years since the University of Kentucky took its first big step on the road to becoming a world-leading center for lean systems research and training.
The journey began in 1993, when representatives from the UK College of Engineering embarked on a series of discussions with Toyota leaders, regarding the possibility of collaboration in lean knowledge development and manufacturing research and development.[…]”
Congratulations!
This story is about a Lean certification program at the University of Kentucky (UK), not in the United Kingdom.
I have some reservations about Lean Certification in general and the following comments about the University of Kentucky program in particular, based on the online syllabus:
The University of Kentucky’s program includes Core Courses — a train-the-trainer program — and Specialty Courses — for professionals outside of production operations. Some but not all the specialty courses are targeted at functions within the organization but others are about tools. Just the core courses add up to three one-week training sessions, while each specialty course is typically a one- or two-day workshop.
From the University’s web site, however, I cannot tell when, or if, participants ever learn how to design a machining cell, or an assembly line, or how to reduce setup times. In the core courses, it’s great to talk about mindsets, culture, and transformational leadership, but where is the engineering red meat?
The specialty courses address planning, improvement methods, logistics, supplier development, and other unquestionably important topics, but offer nothing about manufacturing or industrial engineering.
See on uknow.uky.edu
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By Michel Baudin • Press clippings 0 • Tags: Lean, Lean certification, Toyota, University of Kentucky