Leading Lean Column
by Jamie Flinchbaugh The May issue of Assembly Magazine is out and with it, my lastest column of Leading Lean which you can find inside the back cover, or follow this link. The topic this month is benchmarking, a very…
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Suggestion Programs
Some people have said that the pinnacle of lean programs is an effective suggestion program, whether its called quick and easy kaizen or an idea program or simple everyday work that has no name. Too many companies want to jump…
Lean Factory Design Part 3
I’ve been posting a few comments on factory design (Part 1 and Part 2). Here a final, but important, comment on what people do wrong as they design a new factory, or re-layout an existing one. 5. The Design Process…
Lean Factory Design Part 2
I’ve been posting a few comments on factory design. See Part 1 here. Here are a few more comments on what people do wrong as they design a new factory, or re-layout an existing one. 3. Secondary Flows We place…
The Future of Auto Suppliers
by Jamie Flinchbaugh For those not paying close attention, billionaire and industry-fixer-upper guy Wilber Ross has been on the prowl for struggling auto supply assets. Ross has gone in to both the textile industry and the steel industry, swept up…
Lean Factory Design Part 1
I did some of my long-ago masters thesis work on factory design (you can read a rather dated article on the topic here). I’ve had the opportunity to design factory layouts ranging from a $1B investment down to a company…
Extending the Life of Equipment
Here’s an interesting article on how Chrysler will be selling its manufacturing equipment from the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant to a Russian manufacturer. This isn’t the first deal of its kind, but it shows that Chrysler is being creative in…
Where do you spend your $?
I’m not anti-Wal-Mart, anti-Starbucks or anything like that. I think people should be free to compete in a fair market, and if Starbucks brews a better pot than Bob’s Coffee Shack, then Bob should either get better or close. But…
State Competitiveness
Since Mark has been posting on the woes of the Big 2 automakers based in Michigan, I thought I would share some interesting statistics. Much is said about labor rates in the U.S. compared to China and other countries, but…
Lean Lessons from History
If lean is about learning, then we must find sources of learning everywhere. One place I look not so much for inspiration but for specific lessons is from the sayings of successful leaders of the past. Consider what a ‘lean…
Pull issues in service
For my first direct posting to LeanBlog.org, I thought I would jump right in. I get a lot of responses to my column, Leading Lean, which is in Assembly Magazine each month. I welcome those emails and thought I would…
Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity
Departments – ASSEMBLY Here is the latest lean column from Jamie Flinchbaugh. You can read my Q&A with Jamie here, and he is also the author of the book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To Lean.” Jamie makes the argument that the main…
