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.
Maintaining a fat-free factory floor Here’s a nice factory case study, once again in the textiles industry (just like this recent post). It’s a company that is using Lean as a business strategy, to transform how they do business, to…
Let’s kick off July with some stories about Lean, stories that seem positive on the surface, at least. Be sure to read down to the final story, the textile maker, I think that’s my favorite of the three. Hamilton Sundstrand…
Sometimes these stories come across the wire in batches, there’s a flurry of positive Lean news this week: Pierce ablaze with orders Here’ s a story about “lean fire trucks” (and a horrible pun in the newspaper’s headline there, don’t…
Perspectives in Responsible Sourcing: June 3, 2007 – June 9, 2007 Nike is out with its most recent “Corporate Responsibility Report.” As Rachelle Jackson wrote about in the blog I’ve linked to: “Aside from the [reducing] overtime commitment, they are…
Louisville Slugger: The sweet spot: As the article points out, Kentucky is quite the hotbed of lean manufacturing, with the influence of the Toyota Georgetown plant. Another company claims to have been at it longer, Hillerich and Bradsby, the maker…
Rockford Register Star | Web site of the Rock River Valley Here’s a small case study from Rockford IL: For Leading Edge, a 120-employee shop that fabricates hydraulic tubing, the same Lean methods have increased efficiency, shortened response times and…
U.S. hanger factories lose out to Chinese manufacturers – March 5, 2007: “ This isn’t a Lean article, just an article that caught my eye some time back, detailing the demise of a factory that had production moved to China.…
I’ll probably start this as a weekly or monthly feature, publishing the links and articles that I tuck aside as “drafts” but never end up blogging about. This will be more just a list of links, with no commentary. TPM…
Dakota MEP : Success Stories Thanks to blog reader Justin for sending this my way. In fact, if you ever have Lean stories that would be good for the blog, please email me using the link in the left hand…
New Haven Register – Bitter Ending Thanks to Lean Blog reader Tom for sending this my way, sad story that it is. Hershey’s candy is moving a plant from Connecticut to Virginia: The Hershey Co. will close its Peter Paul…
I had an internal factory tour that reminded me of Mark’s recent blog on the Not So Lean Factory Tour. The plant was not nearly the horror story Mark experienced, and in fact, it was one of best examples of…
Since I’ve been working exclusively in healthcare for almost two years, I haven’t been in too many factories lately. I was excited to get an invitation from the local Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) chapter to tour a local factory.…
