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.
“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…
Chambersburg Public Opinion – 150 years: TB Wood’s: Chambersburg’s oldest manufacturer: I don’t mean “too old” in terms of people, I mean for an “old company.” Here’s a story from Pennsylvania about a company that’s planning on being around for…
PACCAR Achieves Solid Third Quarter Sales and Profits: Lean success at PACCAR, from their quarterly announcement: “Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing Add Savings and Increase Capacity “PACCAR’s application of Six Sigma tools together with Lean Manufacturing techniques have realized cumulative…
It’s time for another segment of “cleaning out the backlog,” those articles I meant to blog about, but didn’t get to. These are also articles that don’t demand too much commentary…. so enjoy: Where is Gary Convis going now that…
TOM WALSH: Custom vehicle builder Spartan Motors has a can-do culture The article doesn’t mention “Lean,” but it’s nice to see a positive story coming out of the manufacturing world in Michigan. No surprise, it’s from a small company instead…
www.kansascity.com | 09/10/2007 | To survive and thrive in these days of globalization, manufacturing companies must carve away the fat. Here’s a nice news story that describes 5S and workplace organization as more than just a neatness or cleanliness exercise.…
USA Today – Lantech has success all wrapped up It’s a brief mention, but a positive mention of Lean in the USA Today Money section this week. Lantech, a Kentucky company, has had some amazing growth and they credited Lean…
Green Bay Press-Gazette – Tufco growing operations while keeping safety in focus: Another story from a small company in Wisconsin: “”It is easy to downsize. Growth is difficult,” LeCalsey said. “There are so many draw-offs of profitability in growth.” The…
Fanmaker hot on local production — chicagotribune.com Ok, sorry for the headline. I think mine’s worse than the Trib’s. The article gives credit to Lean for an Illinois company’s ability to compete against cheap imports: “Through sophisticated cost controls, Lakewood…
