How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

Overview

A Practical, Hands-on Guide to Lean Manufacturing

This real-world resource offers proven solutions for implementing lean manufacturing in an enterprise environment, covering the engineering and production aspects as well as the business culture concerns. Filled with detailed examples, the book focuses on the rapid application of lean principles so that large, early financial gains can be made.

How to Implement Lean Manufacturing explains Toyota Production System (TPS) practices and specifies the distinct order in which lean techniques should be applied to achieve maximum gains. Global case studies illustrate successes and pitfalls of lean manufacturing initiatives. Discover how to:

• Rigorously test and retest the state of your "leanness" with unique evaluators
• Develop and deploy plant-wide strategies and goals
• Improve speed and quality and dramatically reduce costs
• Reduce variation in the manufacturing system in order to reduce inventory
• Reduce lead times to enable improved responsiveness and flexibility
• Synchronize production and supply to the customer
• Create flow and establish pull-demand systems
• Perform system-wide and specific value-stream evaluations
• Generate a comprehensive list of highly focused Kaizen activities
• Sustain process gains
• Manage constraints and reduce bottlenecks
• Implement cellular manufacturing

Table of contents

Chapter 1. What Is the Perspective of This Book
Chapter 2. Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Production System
Chapter 3. Inventory and Variation
Chapter 4. Lean Manufacturing Simplified
Chapter 5. The Significance of Lead Time
Chapter 6. How to Do Lean--Cultural Change Fundamentals
Chapter 7. How to Do Lean--The Four Strategies to Becoming Lean
Chapter 8. How to Implement Lean--The Prescription for the Lean Project
Chapter 9. Planning and Goals
Chapter 10. Sustaining the Gains
Chapter 11. Cultures
Chapter 12. Constraint Management
Chapter 13. Cellular Manufacturing
Chapter 14. The Story of the Alpha Line
Chapter 15. The Story of the Bravo Line: A Tale of Reduced Lead Times and Lots of Early Gains
Chapter 16. Using the Prescription--Three Case Studies
Chapter 17. The Precursors to Lean Not Handled Well
Chapter 18. An Experiment in Variation, Dependent Events, and Inventory
Chapter 19. Assessment Tools
Chapter 20. A House of Lean
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Biographical note

Lonnie Wilson has been teaching and implementing Lean techniques for over 39 years. His experience spans 20 years with an international oil company where he held a number of management positions. Then in 1990 he founded Quality Consultants which teaches and applies Lean techniques to not only small entrepreneurs but also Fortune 500 firms, principally in the United States, Mexico and Canada.