Lean thinking originated with the Toyota Production System. Its success in streamlining existing automotive manufacturing processes led to the adaptation of those principles to other areas of business ...

Digital information technologies can help companies enhance their lean manufacturing strategies. Tim Stuart, founder and president at Visual Decisions Inc., used a FitBit to illustrate how. “FitBit ...

“They need a conveyor,” said the guy on my left as we observed the assembly process. Operators walked back and forth from the assembly station to bring finished parts to the shelf and to get ...

In today's manufacturing environment, assembly work is routinely characterized by short production cycles and constantly diminishing batch sizes, while the variety of product types and models ...

Shannon Karels, a senior operations manager, and Kathy Miller, a senior operations executive, use their collective experience to share knowledge about supply chain leadership and the journey to ...

Developed in the 1950s as a means to survive and compete against the giants of the automotive sector, lean manufacturing helped Toyota evolve from a small-volume producer (with little capital) to ...

As Toyota Motor Corp. embarks on what many experts believe will be a long journey toward rebuilding its reputation for top quality, the company's status as the model for lean manufacturing also has ...

1. Accessing data. One of the great challenges when executing a project to gather and report OEE metrics is easy access to manufacturing equipment status. The obstacles may include islands of ...

In an effort to make your production line more efficient, look at the different ways to lay out the production line or overall manufacturing plant. Two of the most common layouts are the process ...

Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that have adopted lean manufacturing practices have shown tremendous results in terms of empowering their workers to take independent decisions, ability to ...