Manufacturing is where many Lean ideas were first developed—but lasting results never come from tools alone. This archive explores manufacturing through the lens of leadership, safety, culture, and systems thinking, drawing lessons from real plants, executives, and frontline experiences that still matter today.
From Toyota and NUMMI to modern aerospace, appliance, and industrial operations, these posts show how manufacturing excellence depends on respect for people, learning from problems, and designing systems that make the right work easier.
I was watching a show (via Tivo, back over the weekend) that I just discovered on the National Geographic Channel — Ultimate Factories, their episode on fire truck manufacturing at Pierce Manufacturing. It’s a cool show for HD also. I…
IndustryWeek : Introducing Training Within Industry Our friend Bryan Lund is featured in this interview with IndustryWeek (click here to subscribe) about the Training Within Industry Program. I love the focus on developing people: IW: What do you hope to…
CJOnline / The Topeka Capital-Journal – Topeka Hallmark to absorb work Is there a Hallmark card that says, “Sorry you lost your job?” They do, sort of. When companies use Lean, it’s not uncommon to find extra capacity through efficiency…
How I Helped Move a Factory to Mexico – Business Week Hat tip to Jennifer in Washington state for pointing this article out to me. It’s the tale of an idealistic college grad whose temp job involves gathering data that…
By Jason Turgeon: Google made headlines last year when it announced it that it was going to devote a significant chunk of cash to developing renewable energy that was cheaper than coal (the RE eSolar, a small startup that appears…
Appleton Post-Crescent: Little Chute company sees a sharp future Here’s another story about a small company in Wisconsin — they’re using Lean to get more competitive. Valley Grinding & Manufacturing (nicknamed “VG”) makes equipment that’s used to sharpen blades and…
TOM WALSH: DeVos’ answer for manufacturing in Michigan: Flexibility, teamwork Here is an article about the Republican who lost the Michigan governor’s race last year, Dick DeVos. Considering all of the problems in the state’s economy, it might have been…
Article Link: Lifting specialists set to lose weight I’m always a bit skeptical when I hear about Lean being a “project.” Sure, a project can be a starting point, but as the first step to transitioning to a Lean management…
“Help Wanted” highlights skills drain in U.S – Yahoo! News Here’s an interesting story about the shortage of machinists: While millions of jobs making everything from textiles to steel have moved to new powerhouses like China in recent years, precision…
New England Peptide Implements Lean Manufacturing Here is an article about what might seem like a very untraditional industry using Lean — biotech. It’s a favorite excuse in almost any industry to say “we’re different,” but those who want to…
Lean manufacturing in action is a beautiful thing The link above is a column in a Wisconsin newspaper. He visited a plant “a few months ago” and is just now writing about it. I guess the lead times in newspaper…
El Paso Times – Bubble Busters say farewell Here’s what would otherwise be a nice story about employees working together on kaizen (continuous improvement). The team is being rewarded with a trip to Japan: “In December, the group, who call…
