Still Built on the Homefront – WSJ.com ($$$) The Wall St. Journal surprised me — today is the start of a 4-part series about manufacturing, “Still Made in The U.S.A.” Today’s feature is Bobcat, which has 1300 employees in little…
The Connecticut Post Online – Shelton firm shows off streamlining: Here’s another story about a small private manufacturing company, Electri-Cable Assemblies, and their lean success. It seems like all I’m able to feature here is small companies. The larger Fortune…
Voting glitches feared on Nov. 7 | Chicago Tribune Why is Lean such a powerful methodology? I think part of the reason is because it’s so rarely applied in the “real world” — the notions of good system design and…
As Morning Traffic Grows, Commuters Opt For Earlier Rush Hour – WSJ.com This WSJ article (free version here) talks about how commuters are, in many cases, choosing to leave for work earlier (or later) to beat traffic. The article bemoans…
“Lean and mean might not be enough” Here’s yet another article about lean with the “Lean and mean” headline. As you know if you’re a regular reader, I hate the phrase. There’s nothing “mean” about lean methods and the lean…
I had to buy a new router for home (a different quality discussion about why my old one quit working after a year). I noticed an error proofing (poka yoke) device on the back of the router (the orange strip…
By Mark Edmondson, LEAN Affiliates I made a day trip to the Assembly Technology Expo in Chicago last week. What an adventure. After all, here’s an event dedicated to the latest automated innovations for manufacturing: Over 600 leading suppliers were…
With permission from the recruiter, posting this as a free service. As a blog reader, does it add value to see a job posting once in a while? Give me feedback under “Comments.” I’m posting this because it looked like…
lean enterprise institute survey (Google cache HTML) Click here for Word Doc version I don’t recall seeing this survey last year and the 2006 survey is in the works, according to my contact at the LEI. The LEI asked: “What…
Got Boondoggle?: Lean Manufacturing Epiphany Great post from Mike about his Japan tour, including this gem: My lean manufacturing epiphany is quite simple, LEAN IS HARMONY. Culturally speaking in Japan, harmony is a treasured state of being for a person.…
I know not everybody travels, so y’all might not be concerned about attempts to see lean (or NON lean) practices in the travel world. But, I travel almost weekly, so this is one “gemba” I see quite a bit. One…
A tale of two factories – FORTUNE Here is an interesting piece from the latest FORTUNE magazine. The reporter visited two Tenneco Automotive plants that both make mufflers — one in Litchfield, Michigan (my home state) and one in China.…