Lean Manufacturing Archives | Page 44 of 54

Continuous Improvement Video from Genie Industries

By Jon Miller - October 26th, 2006

Here is a quick follow up to yesterday’s post on 3P. Genie Industries is a local company that makes lifts. They have been doing kaizen for several years with great results. I have toured them and spoken to their continuous improv

How to Use 3P to Work Out Process Design Alternatives

By Jon Miller - October 25th, 2006

Apoorva from India asks, “Generally how many alternatives are worked out in 3P?” Production Preparation Process, or 3P as it is known, is the name used to describe the American consulting market’s understanding of the

Kaizen Suggestions at Nokia Factory in India Improve Quality

By Jon Miller - October 24th, 2006

There is an article in the Hindu Business Line on October 23, 2006 titled Smart Ideas at Work. The 3,500 workers at the Nokia factory in Chennai, India gave 1,800 kaizen ideas as part of their suggestion system. Many kaizen ideas seem

Educating People is Key to Operational Excellence

By Jon Miller - October 23rd, 2006

TPS is a system of training. These are the words from an article by Toyota on the TPS. The source escapes me at the moment, if anyone knows of it please add a comment. It’s my personal belief that the thing that sets Toyota apart

Not Trying to Coin A New Buzzword, But…

By Jon Miller - October 6th, 2006

I’m thinking of phrases to replace the one we are avoiding this month… Contiunously Improving Operation, Rational Manufacturing, Intelligent Operations, Smart Production, Holistic Production, Adaptive Manufacturing, Non-loc

It’s Not Really “Go See”, It’s “Go Observe”

By Jon Miller - September 18th, 2006

The Toyota Production System principle of genchi gembutsu is often translated in English as “go see”. This rolls off the tongue a lot easier than genchi gembutsu, but it doesn’t quite capture the essence. The word

Lean by Any Means Necessary

By Jon Miller - September 10th, 2006

We toured a tier 1 automotive supplier recently with a group of our customers on our Japan Kaikaku Experience. Our customers learned many things but there was one main lesson. First, the General Manager who took us on the in-depth gemb

What is Flexibility for Lean Manufacturing?

By Jon Miller - September 8th, 2006

Flexibility is a term that is often used interchangeably with Lean manufacturing. But what does it actually mean, and how does it relate to Lean philosophy? The Lean blog published an insightful post on Thursday, September 7th titled &

One Point Lesson: Operational Availability vs. Rate of Operation

By Jon Miller - August 31st, 2006

What is Operational Availability? First, a brief Japanese lesson, if I may. 可動率 is Operational Availability and is pronounced “ka-dou-ritsu”. 稼動率 is Rate of Operation and is pronounced “ka-dou-ritsu”

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

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