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.
Wilbur Ross moves into the auto-parts industry – December 11, 2006 I referenced this article from FORTUNE a few days ago, but here’s an individual post. Wilbur Ross and his team walk shop floors looking for opportunities. Does anyone know…
Olevia opens U.S. LCD and LCos Assembly Plant at Digital Pipeline I was reading an article in the NY Times today about a downturn in manufacturing orders. What shocked me was the photo that accompanied the article. The caption showed…
Here is LeanBlog Podcast #11, once again with Norman Bodek of PCS Press and the author of many books, including Kaikaku: The Power and Magic of Lean. In this Podcast, we discuss a topic posed by a podcast listener, Bruce…
Few Hands, Many Hours – WSJ.com Sorry for the delay in getting to Part 3 in the WSJ series that I like to call, “Hey, We Still Build Stuff Here?” Here are links for parts one and two. Part 3…
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…
Along with the profiles of this year’s Industry Week’s Best Plants Award, the latest issue includes the latest census data on continuous improvement. Of course, a survey question being checked on a website is far from direct observation (or gemba),…
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.…
Got Boondoggle?: Japan Day 1 – Toyota Motor Kyushu Boondoggle indeed, Mike! I am really looking forward to reading more of Mike’s posts from Japan. He is traveling with a Gemba Research “Kaikaku” Tour of Japanese lean factories. Notice, you…
Aero-News Network: Columbia Aircraft Puts Bend Factory On A Diet Read the article and answer me this: did Columbia Aircraft have this bass-ackwards? They were facing booming demand (350% increase), yet they delayed lean for 12 months until after the…
Onshoring may not be the counter-argument to offshoring, particularly since most of the cases are just KEEPING work in the US when it could have moved overseas. That’s not really onshoring, it’s just preventing offshoring. This article from The Manufacturer…
I won’t comment on this much, because I’m not an expert on the Chinese auto industry (I still buy U.S.-built cars). But The Great Race: China offers big challenges but huge opportunities offers a primer on the ins and outs…
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…
