Aug 1 2013
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Renaud Anjoran shares his experience of mistake-proofing in Chinese factories, and quotes “Lean Assembly.” Thanks.
See on www.qualityinspection.org
Jul 6 2013
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
In addition to the Tokyo headquarters visit I wrote about Friday, analysts and editors were also invited to Shanghai before leaving Asia to attend a plant tour of Canon’s Suzhou facility. The facility is located in the Jiangsu province, an hour and a half bus ride west of Shanghai.
See on whattheythink.com
Jun 24 2013
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
“The implementation of this organizational model of production [Lean] may result if certain conditions are not met, in a deterioration of the workers´ health (musculoskeletal disorders, psychosocial risks, accidents).”
This document, from a French government agency, asserts that the implementation of Lean could make saferty worse in French plants. This might suggest that, without Lean, safety in French plants is adequate.
Lean is debated in France with the zero-sum assumption that, if you improve productivity and quality, it can only be at the expense of something else, usually safety. The idea that you can improve all dimensions of performance at the same time is not accepted.
My experience of French plants is of safety levels that are perhaps higher than China’s but a far cry from what you see in Japan or the US. The accidents waiting to happen range from people and forklifts sharing space without marked aisles, wine served in factory cafeterias, slick floors in metal working shops, operator jobs that require long carries of heavy parts,…
While it is conceivable that a poor Lean implementation could make this even worse, a reasonably good one is guaranteed to improve on this dismal situation, simply by paying long overdue attention to the details of operator job designs. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the INRS summary of recommendations, but they are already part of Lean.
See on osha.europa.eu
Dec 28 2012
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
CHENGDU, China — One day last summer, Pu Xiaolan was halfway through a shift inspecting iPad cases when she received a beige wooden chair with white stripes and a high, sturdy back.
At first, Pu wondered if someone had made a mistake. But when her bosses walked by, they nodded curtly. So Pu gently sat down and leaned back. Her body relaxed. The rumors were true. When Pu was hired at this Foxconn plant a year earlier, she received a short, green plastic stool that left her unsupported back so sore that she could barely sleep at night. Eventually, she was promoted to a wooden chair, but the backrest was much too small to lean against. The managers of this 164,000-employee factory, she surmised, believed that comfort encouraged sloth. But in March, unbeknownst to Pu, a critical meeting had occurred between Foxconn’s top executives and a high-ranking Apple (AAPL) official.
A revealing story, where “lean” is only used in the sense of a backrest to lean against. Under pressure, FoxConn has come around to replacing stools with chairs. In another 10 years, they may realize that sitting while working 10 hours a day is itself a problem, and redesign operations so that operators stand and move. They may also realize that you get higher productivity and better quality with 8-hour shifts.
See on www.siliconvalley.com
Oct 18 2013
China’s Angst: When Low-Cost Manufacturing Dies | PTC | Mark McKay
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Global manufacturing is in transition. The advantage of Chinese manufacturers is slipping, and every day brings more news of another American manufacturer gaining (or recovering) a little piece of …
See on blogs.ptc.com
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By Michel Baudin • Blog clippings • 0 • Tags: China, High-wages, Manufacturing