What is a Value Stream?
The definition of genius is taking the complex and making it simple. - Albert Einstein I have good news for you. If you are in the manufacturing business, you can become a genius today, right now. The shop floor can be a complex maze of raw materials moving in interlocking....
The 7 Types of Muda
If there is one enemy of business success, it is this: Wastefulness, inefficiency, and uselessness. This is the definition of the japanese word muda, a household name in lean manufacturing circles but an infinitely valuable one for every business professional who learns to root out and destroy this sprouting cancer....
Takt Time: The Rhythm of Manufacturing
Takt time is a lean manufacturing concept which represents the exact rate at which a plant must produce its product to satisfy demand. It is measured in time per production step (minutes, hours, etc.). Although order levels fluctuate for many products and factories, the underlying demand tends to be constant. ....
How to Implement Kaizen
Kaizen is a component of Lean Manufacturing which involves the steady, systematic removal of waste from the production line. In a lean facility, the components of the manufacturing process that produce value (the "value stream") are identified, and everything that is not absolutely necessary to produce that value is considered....
How to Perform Poka Yoke
Poka Yoke is a component of lean manufacturing which involves error proofing of the production process. Like the square peg that doesn't fit into a round hole, it involves designing processes to eliminate the ability to produce poor quality products. Each task in a production process is inspected for defects. ....
How to Use Kanban to Improve Projects
Kanban is a task scheduling method originally developed by the Toyota Production System in the 1960's to track inventory levels. Although it is being still used in some manufacturing plants, today kanban has obtained greater use in the software industry to manage work in progress. It is one of those simple,....
How Does Just-In-Time Manufacturing Work?
Many people have heard of Just-in-time manufacturing. But how does it really work, and how can you use it to improve your operations? Most importantly, what are the risks when there is a hiccup in the supply of parts? Just-in-time manufacturing originated in post-war Japan, where there were neither raw....
What to Learn from the Toyota Production System
Starting from a point of almost complete ruin after World War II, the Toyota Motor Company rose to become the largest car maker in the world in the mid-2000's. This resulted in many inquiries into the source of their success. Starting in 1988, the engineers and architects of Toyota's success....
How to Perform Lean Project Management
Lean Project Management is the application of lean concepts to project management methodologies. Lean is a method used in the manufacturing industry which results in significant increases in product quality and production efficiency. Project management, on the other hand, seeks to produce one single product or service (or just a....
The 5 Principles of Lean Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing transformed the manufacturing world during the 2000's. Invented in Japan, where there are neither natural resources nor excess space for production, manufacturing needed to be lean, mean, and efficient to provide value. In turn, the success of japanese manufacturing resulted in an explosion of interest from around the....
