Lean Manufacturing

Temporary Consequences of Making the Change to Lean Manufacturing

The concept of lean manufacturing is no longer a new one. It’s been around, tried and tested, for several decades now, improving production output and minimizing waste, as its principles were designed to do. It’s odd, then, that there are still so many businesses who have yet to streamline their workspaces and policies to reflect lean principles. In addition to the time required to make a change…

Tony Ferraro | October 22, 2013 | Lean | Lean Manufacturing

Changeover: Streamlining Your Business

When it comes to streamlining your business and following the principles of lean manufacturing, it’s important to think about changeover. In most assembly-line type work floors there are significant amounts of changeover that occur on a daily, weekly, monthly, or as-demanded basis. Changeover itself is the process of taking a machine or series of equipment producing one thing to another. Depending on the product being made and…

Tony Ferraro | October 10, 2013 | Lean | Lean Manufacturing

Re-Inventing the Wheel – Do It Just This Once

Safety incentive programs have been around for quite some time, and for most companies, they’ve changed very little since their inception. However, like everything these days, what’s considered “best practice” may change very rapidly, and safety programs have certainly seen several revisions in their time. What you’re doing right now could seem like a trusty, time-proven system with stellar results, but the safety incentive issue is usually…

Tony Ferraro | September 26, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing

Improving Workplace Efficiency: One Lean Step at a Time

I like to think of a working environment as one body of movement, a system of metaphorical cells, organs, and subsystems working together to create life. In business, this “life” usually comes in the form of customer value and/or product output, depending on the industry in which you reside. Just as we think about healthy eating and exercise as ways to keep our bodies and minds active…

Tony Ferraro | September 13, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Lean, Lean Manufacturing

Lean Takes Time

Have you ever heard the phrase “everything good in life takes time?” If so, you may understand that under common circumstances things do take time. It would be pretty unrealistic to develop and build a whole company from the ground up in less than a week or even month for that matter. Rome wasn’t built in a day. The plain and simple truth is that it takes…

Tony Ferraro | September 5, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Healthcare, Lean Manufacturing

PDCA: How Can this Tool Help You?

You may have heard of PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act), but how much do your really know and understand about it? Have you tried using this method in the past? Was it successful? If it wasn’t successful, what may have contributed towards its ineffectiveness? These are some questions you should ask yourself before making a true, valiant effort towards a newly crafted pilot program or process improvement. The PDCA cycle…

Tony Ferraro | September 3, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Gemba, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing

Employee Involvement: It can Make or Break LEAN

Those familiar with lean may know that the key objective with lean is to eliminate all types of waste. Waste can be just about anything, and there are many different types of wastes in the work environment. When thinking about waste, it is important to remember that waste in the workplace has absolutely no value. In fact, it often costs both the business and the customers’ money.…

Tony Ferraro | August 30, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing

Lean Eliminates Waste, Not People

When the concept of lean is implemented within a work facility there may be a variety of different responses. For instance, some people may be excited and respond by saying “we should have started lean even sooner, what a great concept.” However, there are also people at the opposite end of spectrum who simply cringe when they hear the term lean and associate it with pay cuts,…

Tony Ferraro | August 29, 2013 | Lean | Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing

What is Poka Yoke?

When you hear the term “Poka Yoke” you may be thinking “Poka what?” While the practices known as Poka Yoke may be more prevalent in Japan, Poka Yoke is also gaining in popularity in the U.S. The term known as Poka Yoke was coined back in the 1960’s in Japan by a man known as Shigeo Shingo. Shingo was an industrial engineer working for the Toyota Company…

Tony Ferraro | August 27, 2013 | Lean | Lean Manufacturing, Poka Yoke

Talking Kaizen and Lean with Mark Hamel

Mark Hamel In this week’s interview, we are highlighting the expertise of Mark Hamel, a leader in lean and six sigma implementation, as well as an established author and blogger. He authored a book entitled, “Kaizen Event Fieldbook” and is an avid blogger for kaizenfieldbook.com. In this interview he answers questions related to Kaizen and Lean in the field of Healthcare. In addition, he also discusses the key…

Tony Ferraro | August 12, 2013 | Kaizen | Continuous Improvement, Healthcare, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma

Going Lean: Five Common Misunderstandings

The practice of implementing lean is becoming increasingly popular and it looks like lean might be here to stay. However, it is important to remember that lean isn’t just a quick fix or “extra” program. Instead, implementing a true lean mindset takes time. When lean is done correctly, it will help your business to grow and flourish exponentially. The keyword here is “correctly.” The primary goal of…

Tony Ferraro | July 29, 2013 | Lean | 5S, Continuous Improvement, Healthcare, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma

Made in the USA – Reshoring with the Help of Lean

Many items these days are manufactured overseas. Take a walk around your house, pick up some items like a decoration or a random article of clothing and see where each was made, were they made in USA? The sad truth is that they probably were not. One of the most common markings to see is “Made in China” on items. Why is this? One of the biggest…

Tony Ferraro | July 10, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean Manufacturing

10 Continuous Improvement Strategies that Work!

Continuous improvement is the task of frequently seeking out ways to improve processes, products, or services. However, it is important to remember that persistence and perseverance are vital when it comes to the ongoing and ever-changing task of continuous improvement. For instance, when cell phones first came out they were oversized, bulky, offered less than desirable service, and neglected any sense of style. However, through continuous improvement…

Mike Wilson | April 17, 2013 | Safety Solutions | 5S, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Kanban, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace, Six Sigma, Tool Organization

The Benefits of Lean Management

When people make changes on the floor of a manufacturing facility the benefits are often immediate and obvious. Whether this is a reduction in wasted time or a streamlined method of moving a part through the production process, it is a clear improvement almost right from the beginning. When looking at the benefits of lean management, however, it may be more difficult to identify what is working…

Mike Wilson | April 9, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean Manufacturing

How Does Flow Minimize Waste in Production

When you’re producing goods or services in a business the worst thing you can have is waste. Waste is anything that does not provide value to the company and specifically to the end customer. It could be anything from the time someone wastes at work because they have nothing to do to extra parts for a project which need to be discarded. It can even involve inefficiencies…

Mike Wilson | April 8, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean Manufacturing