All Posts on Lean Blog

IndustryWeek : Driving The Lean Supply ChainNone of the speakers here have the name recognition of IW's last web presenter (James Womack), but this lean supply chain seminar on June 2nd could be interesting. Click on the headline link to…
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Rockwell Automation Power Services - Lean Production OverviewI've seen many companies that create their own buzzword or name for TPS and Lean Manufacturing. I just came across Rockwell Automation System's "Power Lean" program. It appears…
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Indianapolis Star: An upside to plant closings for those that survive: "Scavenging industrial auctions around Chicago, Herzberg picked up 700 die sets last year worth about $1 million new. He spent $3,500. 'A new die shoe can cost…
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SupplyChainBrain: The Library: "Before you consider outsourcing to China," Fabin says, "you might want to consider which aspects of production it makes sense to outsource. You need a clear picture of your total supply chain cost."…
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Manufacturers' Blog I just discovered the official NAM blog, take a look if you want to see their perspectives on issues of the day. It's not really focused on lean, but looks at U.S. competitiveness, government policy, free/fair trade,…
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IndustryWeek : Editor's Page :From Industry Week's editor:"Lean management is not an option. Lean not only will help companies survive the immediate threat of brutal price competition, in its most advanced implementation, lean also will…
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BBC NEWS :It's not just the U.S.... Scotland also is facing closures/moves to China."'We increasingly acknowledge that this situation is a symptom of a global manufacturing system which is dominated by low cost production in other…
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Aerospace Notebook Interesting glimpse into Boeing's "moving line" efforts. They were very successful in cutting cycle times on the 737 program, but not without some significant pain. This article claims the 777 moving line transition…
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mlive.com:I was in Holland, Michigan quite a bit the past few years doing consulting work. That town has really been hit hard by factory closings and job cuts. See the next article below for more on one reason we're losing jobs to China --…
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Click here to request free book downloadThis is a nice offer, a free electronic copy of the book "Lean Manufacturing for the Small Shop."Please check out my main blog page at www.leanblog.org The RSS feed content you are reading is…
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China Economic Net:Even Chinese companies feel pressure from increased costs, whether from material or labor. "To Chinese enterprises, price is determined by the supply-demand relation, so it seems clearly different for various industries…
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U.S. revives China clothing import quotaChina Calls U.S. Move to Textile Limits Unfair, Urges TalksI don't know if there are any easy answers in this situation. If Chinese textile goods are cheaper and/or better cause the market says so,…
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Control Engineering : At least the certification won't be like an APICS certification where you just have to take a test and you're certified. "Three key aspects of the certification process will include: mentoring by and of certification…
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From Wall St. Journal (no subscription required for this one): Long article, not all of it is strictly "lean" related, but thought this was an interesting example of what sounds like an "Extended Value Stream Mapping" type activity --…
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Here is a link to an earlier post on the conference and another link about "Lean Consumption" (including a link to a recent HBR article).Click "Comments" to see some of my notes from what Womack said along on the conference.The full archive…
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Bloomberg.comInteresting that imports from China slowed last month, at least if you're comparing just two data points. Analysts think there is good news to be found here that the economy is not slowing down (which I hope to be true).But,…
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The American responsible for the plan to import cars made in China "contends he will field cars, made by Chinese automaker Chery, that will be at least 30 percent cheaper than the competition, including a sedan to…
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Forbes.com: "Toyota is moving to increase output in North America because it believes more than two-thirds of vehicles it sells in the US should be made within North America to avoid the political and cultural tensions that have surfaced…
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