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The rise of autonomous operator maintenance and work redesign
My blog entry on the “White Glove Story” got close to the idea of operator maintenance. My study on the coal gasification generating plant was about the ultimate vision of the one employee who has the skills and ability to do whatever is necessary to keep the process operating effectively. What
If at first you succeed … try, try again
Training Within Industry (TWI) is a micro version of “creative destruction”, a term used by some economists to describe a free-market capitalistic economy. Creative destruction means that new businesses, services or products enter and create the new markets, while destroying existing ones
Now more than ever, your plant needs to implement 5S
One of the basic tenets of manufacturing is there is never a shortage of challenges. When times are good, the challenge is how to make more on-time deliveries with the least cost possible. In this current economic environment, the challenge is how to make on-time deliveries with the resources available.
If you want to be successful with standard work, read on
Many companies say that they use standard work, but actually, very few do - at least, in the manner which leverages lean fully at the operational level. Instead, most firms actually use some form of work standards or work instructions. Frequently, plants trying to implement standard work within their
Standard work: The basis for continuous improvement
If you were to ask an operator or even some leaders what standard work meant to them, you may get responses such as “standard operating procedures”, “work Instructions” or “check sheets”
The U.S. should focus on lean before bailouts!
How many factories have you walked into and thought, “Wow, these guys could use some lean manufacturing processes in order to improve their services and reduce costs?” How many times have you had a supplier that produced a good product but had cost problems, quality issues or service issues? Before
