Lean Manufacturing Archives | Page 21 of 24

Lean Blog Interview with Dr. Jeffrey Liker

By Jon Miller - August 28th, 2006

Visit the Lean Blog to hear Mark Graban’s podcast interview of Dr. Jeffrey Liker, author of The Toyota Way and Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineerring at the University of Michigan. Find out answers to pressing Lean m

What is Jishuken?

By Jon Miller - August 27th, 2006

For people who have worked at Toyota or companies strongly influenced by Toyota, the term “kaizen” is used more in the general sense, closer to philosophy than activity. The term jishuken is used to describe the intentional

The Kaizen Turnaround Kings at Danaher

By Jon Miller - August 21st, 2006

If the U.S.A. needed a poster-child for kaizen and Lean manufacturing success, $20 billion industrial holding company Danaher Corporation would be a good candidate. As this Investor’s Business Daily article details, they have bee

The Environment Where Takt Time is Ideal

By Jon Miller - August 17th, 2006

The topic of takt time and specifically “how does it apply to me?” seems to be a popular one, based on comments left by readers at this blog entry. The latest from John asks for advice on the environment where TAKT time is

One Key to a Lean Culture: Be Dissatisfied in the Work You Do

By Jon Miller - August 3rd, 2006

We met today with a long-term client of ours who has a small fabrication shop near our office. They make prosthetics (artificial limbs) which are each truly “one of a kind”, custom fit to the individual. As a small, growing

One Definition of Lean Manufacturing

By Jon Miller - July 31st, 2006

During a conference call to plan the agenda for a global meeting of Lean manufacturing leaders at one of our clients, they identified their desire to establish “one definition of Lean manufacturing” at their company. This m

Lean Manufacturing, Chicken Knife. Six Sigma, Cow Knife.

By Jon Miller - July 29th, 2006

I learned a new Chinese expression this week from a Six Sigma Master Black Belt from Taiwan. We were discussing how Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma fit together, and how sometimes there can be misunderstandings and conflicts between t

Standard Work is Kaizen Instruction for Managers

By Jon Miller - July 21st, 2006

Standard Work may be the most important Lean manufacturing tool that you don’t know enough about. Built on the three elements of takt time, work sequence, and standard work in process (standard WIP), it is the cornerstone of the

What’s Next After Lean?

By Jon Miller - July 18th, 2006

When I saw the article I thought surely one of the other Lean bloggers would jump all over it. Perhaps it was too easy. So I let it slide for a few days. Then I changed my mind. What’s next after Lean? Asks the interview with aut

How Toyota Used IT to Cut New Product Development Time in Half

By Jon Miller - July 5th, 2006

This is a follow up to a previous post on How Toyota Uses Information Technology (IT) for Kaizen based on an interview with Toyota CIO Amano in the Nikkei BP magazine. This one is titled The Role of the CIO is to Change the Way We Work

No One Does Lean Like the Japanese

By Jon Miller - July 1st, 2006

No one does Lean like the Japanese. Or at least that’s the title of an article in the July 10, 2006 BusinessWeek. It’s good to see Lean production being featured in mainstream business magazines like this even if it’s

Some Thoughts on Future State Value Stream Mapping

By Jon Miller - June 8th, 2006

To paraphrase a military expression “The most dangerous thing in a combat zone is an officer with a map” in Lean manufacturing terms: “The most dangerous thing on the shop floor is a manager with a value steam map.” I have noth

Lean Manufacturing in the Construction Industry

By Jon Miller - May 17th, 2006

Eric Sander Senior Operations Consultant I have recently had the pleasure of working with a young business owner who has discovered the potential of Lean Principles in an industry very much in need of improvement, the building trades.

Five Practical Ways to Stay on the Sunny Side of Lean

By Jon Miller - May 12th, 2006

It’s not easy to read so much about the dark side of Lean. I’ve received e-mails this week from readers who are upset that I would post attacks on Lean manufacturing and kaizen. It’s no fun to learn terrible things about your fav

Interview with Darius Mehri, Author of “Notes from Toyota-land”

By Jon Miller - May 11th, 2006

Today we continue exploring the dark side of Lean as we interview Darius Mehri, author of Notes from Toyota-land. Darius is an American who spent three years working as an engineer in Japan at a Toyota group company. He changed the nam

Juxtaposition of an efficient assembly line and stressed workers

Lean Production Does Not Respect People

By Jon Miller - May 10th, 2006

Many of those exposing the dark side of Lean production take aim at “Lean production” as defined in the book The Machine that Changed the World. This book compares the Japanese and U.S. automotive industries and identifies best pra

Kanban cards in a flow with people represented on the cards

Human Kanban

By Jon Miller - May 9th, 2006

Kanban is a material and information flow management tool. They are typically cards attached to containers of parts. The cards contain information about the parts and these cards are reused, traveling with parts. Kanban are used to con

War, Oil and Lean Production

By Jon Miller - May 8th, 2006

Each day this week we will examine aspects of The Dark Side of Lean. Today’s theme is “War, Oil and Lean Production” – admittedly an extreme Left perspective based on Marxist thought and the examination of a murder-suicide at a

From the Mechanical Side to the Dark Side of Lean…

By Jon Miller - May 5th, 2006

This week started with an article about the top 5 reasons for using 3P. Requests from readers took us deeper into SMED and jidoka – all aspects of Lean manufacturing and machines. Without planning it the theme for the week was the �

The 5 Steps to Building Jidoka Equipment

By Jon Miller - May 4th, 2006

Delving deeper into themes related to the Production Preparation Process (3P) today I’ll explain what is meant by the “5 Steps of Jidoka” mentioned number sixteen of the 16 Catch Phrases of 3P. About Jidoka First some background

Designing Processes to Fit Lean Manufacturing with the 16 Catch Phrases of 3P

By Jon Miller - May 2nd, 2006

The 16 Catch Phrases of 3P are used as guidelines for designing processes according to Lean manufacturing principles of JIT (Takt, Flow, Pull) and Jidoka. As a result of a successful 3P workshop following the 16 Catch Phrases the equip

The Top 5 Reasons for Using Production Preparation Process (3P)

By Jon Miller - May 1st, 2006

Last week we had the opportunity to give an online presentation to an automobile manufacturer on the Production Preparation Process (3P) and the top 5 reasons for using it. We discussed the impact Production Preparation Process can hav

Tame the Hedgehog, Name it Kaizen

By Jon Miller - April 28th, 2006

A reader e-mailed me a couple of days ago and said “I personally don’t believe all problems can be solved by a group of workers gathered together doing Kaizen” and went on to make a convincing case that specialized kn

Lean Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering & HRD: No Animals Today

By Jon Miller - April 26th, 2006

Leon Fok asked me a question today about the differences in Japanese and American management practices and how this affects their kaizen efforts. Leon is the Publications Coordinator at Gemba and has been with us a month. His question

Job Shop Kaizen

By Jon Miller - April 12th, 2006

A continuous improvement specialist from a UTC group company e-mailed us today with the question “What principles should I look to implement for Job Shop Kaizen?” Kaizen in a job shop should aim to implement the same principles as

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