Describes an efficient and safe work method Provides a workable training tool that eliminates guesswork and identifies abnormalities and waste Defines a detailed routine that supports building consistent quality products at reduced costs Establishes the baseline for continuous improvement by immediately identifying problems Fosters teamwork and knowledge sharing to helps ensure the workload is balanced between multiple operators

This is the true story of how, armed with only Lean improvement methodologies, a specially trained Toyota Lean expert purchased a business he knew nothing about, applied Lean techniques, and succeeded in doubling sales and increasing profitability, before he finally sold the thriving business.

With humility and humor, the author recounts his successes and failures, introduces his key employees and their struggles with change, and provides motivation and simple ideas for all readers looking to improve their businesses. He captures key points highlighted in text boxes and includes illustrative photos and examples of Lean tools at work.

This story dispels the fallacy that Lean management does not achieve excellent results in high variation companies and job shops. Toyota s OSKKK methodology is introduced to understand processes and guide a Lean transformation on the shop floor and in the office.

While there are those who say manufacturing is dying, it is not and will not. Without a universal vow of poverty, growing economies will only increase demand. Manufacturing in the 21st century is not a question of if -- Rather, it is a function of why, what, who, where, and how. The nature and pace of change in those factors are overwhelming many. Fear, futile resistance, and uncertainty are common. While manufacturing will not die, individual manufacturing companies will if they do not learn to thrive in this new world. This book is a dynamic guide for manufacturing leaders who want to reduce the ambiguity and overwhelming changes and develop a realistic, progressive, and responsive thinking process that enables success. It provides a business operating system framework that is the foundation for connecting the many pieces of a manufacturing business into an effective, profitable operation. The author walks through the elements, relationships, capabilities, and mutability 21st-century manufacturing requires. Executives of manufacturing companies will be better able to think about and execute viable strategies leveraging the changing economy. Essentially, manufacturing is becoming increasingly complex, as are business and socioeconomic and political realities. Rapidly evolving technology adds to the confusing environment that precludes "more of the same, better, faster and cheaper" as a workable business strategy. The tsunami of information hitting owners and leaders is overwhelming many, and it is easy to become frozen in place. Economic growth and improving standards of living require that all of this change be broken into bite-size understandable pieces that thaw the minds of executives, allowing them to assess what is best right now, and move forward. This book does not overwhelm with details and models; rather it provides thinking and examples in small chunks that enable manufacturers to develop and master skills for high-level strategic leadership in ambiguity.

There is a growing need for manufacturing optimization all over the world. The immense market of Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies dictates a need for a book that will provide knowledge of the various aspects of AM for anyone interested in learning about this fast-growing topic. This book disseminates knowledge of AM amongst scholars at graduate level, post graduate level, doctoral level, as well as industry personnel. The objective is to offer a state-of-the-art book which covers all aspects of AM and incorporates all information regarding trends, historical developments, classifications, materials, tooling, software issues, dynamic design, principles, limitations, and communication interfaces in a one-stop resource. Features: Breaks down systematic coverage of various aspects of AM within four distinct sections Contains details of various AM techniques based on ASTM guidelines Discusses many AM applications with suitable illustrations Includes recent trends in the field of AM Covers engineering materials utilized as raw materials in AM Compares AM techniques with different traditional manufacturing methods

This book helps business leaders see how employees, companies, and missions all interact with each other, as well as with society at large, in systems and subsystems at various levels. It helps leaders learn how to connect the dots, becoming customer-centric in everything they do and then spreading the same goals down to their supply chains. The book discusses what is, and what is not, leadership, covering such topics as statistics-based management, process-improvement, and human resources. The author accomplishes this through a blend of Lean culture and managerial theory, as well as his military experience. In addition, the author contrasts many opposing subjects, such as efficiencies of scale versus efficiencies of build, automation versus process improvement, process innovation versus product innovation, technical versus tactical proficiency, and pull versus push production. With most books focused on Lean initiatives, there is a tremendous amount of benefit involved in creating customer value while reducing waste, but this book takes a holistic approach, blending in modern managerial theory, team leadership skills, and economics. The result is a book that changes how the reader approaches business. Essentially, the purpose of this book is to blend modern management theories with the culture of Lean (and perhaps a sprinkling of economics) to show current business leaders how to create organizations that are as customer-oriented and highly efficient in delivering value as possible. If one thinks of each role in an organization as a spot on an assembly line, where everything each person does creates output someone else uses, the question becomes whether or not each person's activities maximize the effectiveness of others. Do we, as organizations, set ourselves up for success or for failure? Most companies, if they answer honestly, would say, "A little bit of both." This book is about helping those companies improve.

Transform your HR Department into an "Agent of Change" during Lean Implementation.

Changing an organization from a mass manufacturing environment to a lean environment is significant and affects all levels of the company if the implementation is done correctly. Many times, however, lean implementers become so involved with the nuts and bolts of lean implementation that the "people" side of the business is neglected.

With an HR perspective, veteran consultants Chris Harris and Rick Harris walk readers through a simple, step-by-step proven method for transforming a mass production workforce into a lean thinking one that possesses the necessary skills, training, and attitude to march in a new direction. They explain the role of human resources in a lean-oriented facility, emphasizing systematic training that continues for all employees. They also discuss the value of promoting employees from within a facility to team leader and group leader positions, andthe importance of flexibility. This critically acclaimed book includes sample training sessions with explanations.

""Most of us are now far enough down the path in lean production to realize that the results lie in the details. This short volume presents all of the details you will need to create a frontline workforce and system of direct supervision that can effectively plan, do, reflect, and adjust, as you move your own operations steadily ahead.""

--From the Foreword by James Womack, Chairman, Lean Enterprise Institute

Improve the "Health" of Your Organization by Using the Right Metrics!

The vast majority of companies use some form of balanced scorecard to measure performance measu, yet recent research suggests that most scorecards are based on singular, unsophisticated measurements, providing flawed data on the state of the organization.

"Beyond the Balanced Scorecard: Improving Business Intelligence with Analytics," by Mark Graham Brown, provides managers with the right metrics for evaluating important aspects of performance that are not accurately tracked by most companies and government organizations.

Leaders will learn how to objectively measure: Relationships with Customers Employee Satisfaction External Business Environment Supplier/Vendor performance Strategy and Financials

This book will show you how to construct a performance index, as well as provide you with example metrics of various aspects of performance that are difficult to measure.

Toyota Production System methods have rendered remarkable results in high-volume manufacturing plants, but they have not been fully understood and correctly applied in high-mix, low-volume environments. While lean principles do apply, the implementation methods and tools must be adapted and alternate methods embraced in a low-volume environment. This volume is specifically geared for manufacturers that have hundreds to thousands of active part numbers with few or no ongoing forecasted volumes, and for job shops that build only to order. The primary focus is eliminating non-value-added activities and instituting improvements on the most repetitive jobs, a strategy that gives you more time to produce your low-volume work or one-offs. About the author: Greg Lane is a faculty member of the Lean Enterprise Institute and an advisor to the Instituto de Lean Management in Spain. During his time with Toyota, he was one of a handful of candidates selected for a one-year training program conducted by the company's masters. He became certified as a Toyota Production System (TPS) Key Person and continued his work with Toyota, training others in TPS. He has been highly active in working on implementing lean around the world, supporting large and small companies alike. In 1998, he began to focus his lean endeavors on meeting the specific needs of high-mix, low-volume enterprises. During his time as an independent consultant, Greg purchased and operated his own manufacturing company, which specialized in fast turnaround on high-mix, low-volume parts. Greg used TPS to grow the business and nearly double its sales. Greg and his associates have experience not only at adapting the methods contained in this book, but also in applying other tools that are too numerous to detail here. They can be reached for further support with your lean transformation via email: [email protected]

Shingo, whose work at Toyota provided the foundation for JIT, teaches how to implement non-stock production in your JIT manufacturing operations. The culmination of his extensive writings on efficient production management and continuous improvement, this book is an essential companion volume to his other landmark books on key elements of JIT, including SMED and poka-yoke.

It covers-- Fundamental flaws in European and American production philosophies. Basic concepts for improving production systems. The "scientific thinking mechanism" -- a new approach to improvement. Implementing a production method in an age of authorized stock production. Development of production functions in the age of non-stock production. Significance of the different production systems.

Dr. Shingo pulls together all the pieces of the production puzzle and thoroughly destroys the myth of the inevitability of waste and inventory.

Flow is a fundamental concept of lean manufacturing, and its improvement is a challenge to many organizations. After mastering basic visual tools, managers must concentrate on increasing flow. This work provides shopfloor and other lean professionals with what they need to know about how other companies are implementing and sustaining continuous flow improvement.

Improving Flow: Collected Practices and Cases provides a variety of case studies taken from articles previously published in the newsletter "Lean Manufacturer Advisor." The book demonstrates how to move products and services to the customer quicker while eliminating waste and improving profits.

With business and organisations moving at an ever-faster pace and facing evermore demanding challenges, the need for efficient, succinct and productive interaction between individuals of those businesses and organisations is more important than ever. With the bounds of communication restrictions abandoned through technological advances (we can now see and hear anyone across any manner of virtual platforms anywhere around the globe) and with a greater understanding of the underlying dynamics of human interaction, unprecedented pressure has been thrust upon the individual or individuals who, often, enable these dynamic interactions: the facilitator. Many of us have, at one time or other, been responsible for a meeting - whether between a small number of individuals or an entire organisation of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of businessmen and women. Or, perhaps, we've had to be the mediator in a family dispute closer to home or managed a discussion between two feuding friends or colleagues. One way or another, chances are, all of us have been a facilitator at some point in our lives. With the ever-growing demands placed on facilitators, this book delivers a methodical and structured approach to facilitation. This book is the definitive guide to instruct and assist facilitators - both new and experienced - with a set of guidelines and underlying theory that will benefit any facilitator, whether as a mediator between two individuals, single-handedly facilitating a group of 100 or working as part of a facilitation team in a multinational corporation. The first part of the book develops the core basic skills of those new to the art of facilitating. There are many examples and exercises to show the reader how to apply them in different situations. The second part of the book is for more experienced facilitators as it focuses on more advanced skills and tackling difficult situations. Specific tools and techniques are illustrated for the reader. Essentially, this book is aimed at developing and mastering the art of facilitation. Facilitation is the art of getting the best out of groups of people to brainstorm, solve problems and gain consensus. Based on 30 years' experience of the author and running multiple facilitation training courses across the globe, this book is aimed at upskilling people, managers and leaders to drive change and consensus with groups through running workshops and meetings.

With business and organisations moving at an ever-faster pace and facing evermore demanding challenges, the need for efficient, succinct and productive interaction between individuals of those businesses and organisations is more important than ever. With the bounds of communication restrictions abandoned through technological advances (we can now see and hear anyone across any manner of virtual platforms anywhere around the globe) and with a greater understanding of the underlying dynamics of human interaction, unprecedented pressure has been thrust upon the individual or individuals who, often, enable these dynamic interactions: the facilitator. Many of us have, at one time or other, been responsible for a meeting - whether between a small number of individuals or an entire organisation of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of businessmen and women. Or, perhaps, we've had to be the mediator in a family dispute closer to home or managed a discussion between two feuding friends or colleagues. One way or another, chances are, all of us have been a facilitator at some point in our lives. With the ever-growing demands placed on facilitators, this book delivers a methodical and structured approach to facilitation. This book is the definitive guide to instruct and assist facilitators - both new and experienced - with a set of guidelines and underlying theory that will benefit any facilitator, whether as a mediator between two individuals, single-handedly facilitating a group of 100 or working as part of a facilitation team in a multinational corporation. The first part of the book develops the core basic skills of those new to the art of facilitating. There are many examples and exercises to show the reader how to apply them in different situations. The second part of the book is for more experienced facilitators as it focuses on more advanced skills and tackling difficult situations. Specific tools and techniques are illustrated for the reader. Essentially, this book is aimed at developing and mastering the art of facilitation. Facilitation is the art of getting the best out of groups of people to brainstorm, solve problems and gain consensus. Based on 30 years' experience of the author and running multiple facilitation training courses across the globe, this book is aimed at upskilling people, managers and leaders to drive change and consensus with groups through running workshops and meetings.

The Portal to Lean Production: Principles and Practices for Doing More with Less describes the steps, difficulties, and rewards of implementing lean production. The book moves beyond concepts to address practical matters. The authors provide enough information for you to begin implementing lean production within your organization.
This book applies a model-the Portal to Lean Production-to illustrate principles and practices. The model reappears at the start of every chapter and serves to connect the concepts of each chapter with those in other chapters, and with basic lean production principles.
This volume contains short vignettes that appear in every chapter of actual lean production implementations. Following these real-world examples, the text provides expanded coverage of topics to enable you to learn and apply concepts and principles. The authors enable you to see the context, application, and practical issues associated with lean production concepts and methods before learning details. The vignettes, based upon the work experience of co-author Avi Soni, help connect the concepts and tie them to practical examples.

Operational Excellence is achieved when all employees in your organization can see the flow of value to your customers and can make adjustments to that flow before it breaks down. Operational Excellence in Your Office: A Guide to Achieving Autonomous Value Stream Flow with Lean Techniques presents nine time-tested guidelines for designing business process flow that enable Operational Excellence in the office. Each chapter describes one guideline by using text, illustrations, and practical examples to provide a comprehensive understanding of why creating flow in the office is essential and how to achieve it.Accounting for the reality that most office employees are required to work on many different projects throughout the day, this book details a step-by-step methodology for leveraging traditional value stream flow to establish Operational Excellence in an office environment. In addition, it describes a more advanced form of flow called "self-healing" flow in which employees are capable of identifying and fixing problems with the flow without requiring management intervention.Explaining how to achieve Operational Excellence and self-healing flow with the nine guidelines, the book also introduces new concepts such as part-time continuous flow processing cells, workflow cycles, takt capability, integration events, pitch in the office, and ways to tell whether your office is on time.With this book, you will be able to take the knowledge provided and immediately apply it by following the step-by-step checklists included at the end of each chapter. In addition to the lists of action items for implementing each guideline, the book includes "acid tests" you can use to determine if you have implemented each guideline correctly.When finished, you will have designed an end-to-end flow for the services in your office as well as visual systems to help employees distinguish normal flow from abnormal flow s

Measuring Capacity to Care Using Nursing Data presents evidence-based solutions regarding the adoption of safe staffing principles and the optimum use of operational data to enable health service delivery strategies that result in improved patient and organizational outcomes. Readers will learn how to make better use of informatics to collect, share, link and process data collected operationally for the purpose of providing real-time information to decision- makers. The book discusses topics such as dynamic health care environments, health care operational inefficiencies and costly events, how to measure nursing care demand, nursing models of care, data quality and governance, and big data. The content of the book is a valuable source for graduate students in informatics, nurses, nursing managers and several members involved in health care who are interested in learning more about the beneficial use of informatics for improving their services.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a method for satisfying customers by translating their demands into design targets and quality assurance points. For a thorough "how-to" on the implementation of QFD, we went directly to the source -- Yoji Akao, the creator of QFD and one of the foremost leaders of the Japanese Total Quality Control movement.

In this unprecedented book he explains the concepts and methods of this remarkable systems engineering approach. Filled with case studies, detailed charts, and over 100 diagrams, this book is a complete reference tool for QFD implementation.

It includesa " Use of the demanded quality deployment chart. Using and promoting quality charts. Using quality control process charts: QFD at the pre-production. Quality deployment and reliability deployment. Quality development in the construction industry. QFD for the service industry. QFD for software development.

As society rapidly increases in complexity, we are in great need of sustainable leadership in accord with beliefs and values as we experience continuous changes. The Courage to Lead through Values: How Management by Values Supports Transformational Leadership, Culture, and Success is about having the courage to lead through the implementation of agreed-upon values. In addition, it's about the courage it takes to never cease doing this. However, it's not enough to simply be aware of the importance of constantly working with values and ethics - effective leadership based on values and ethics means taking the time to actually do it. This book tackles this issue by providing you with clear examples of how to implement incorporating values and ethics in your everyday leadership. In business, you face challenges when you must choose between efficiency, analysis of results, and goals versus actively working on values and ethics. This book will argue that one doesn't need to compete with the other and it posits that one supports the other. As the world is rapidly growing in complexity and we are facing new challenges and expectations, we must find ways to achieve sustainable lives, businesses, and societies. The author strongly believes that values are the key. By using the methodology Management by Values (MBV), under the mentorship of its founder, Professor Simon L. Dolan, the book is well-anchored in research. Ten years ago, a new school was founded in a medium-sized town in Sweden -- Internationella Engelska Skolan Sundsvall. It started with a staff of 20 and 250 students. Today the staff has grown to 120 members with nearly 1100 students attending. In 2019, it was considered one of the best schools in Sweden. The principal, Pascal Brisson, in many ways epitomizes the school and its success. Through in-depth interviews with the principal and colleagues, previous staff, executives within the organization and students, the author amassed information to provide a factual and engaging story of the school's journey from a leadership perspective. It becomes clear how implementing shared values and the principal's courage to never stop actively working with values as a management tool is a recipe for the success of an organization. The book invites you into a conversation about leadership. It includes the author's personal reflections on historical management methodology and on challenges of today. As you follow the ten-year journey of a successful leader in one of our society's most complex organizations, a school, you do this in the light of Management by Values. Essentially, this book gives the reader concrete tools and examples of how to use values as a management tool. This is told through several different themes relevant to all organizations -- organizational culture, creating teams, inspiring motivation, and handling stress.

Selected As One of ""The Year's Best Reference and Reading Material"," Industrial Engineer Magazine, December 2004

If you seek to produce measurable results in your organization, this book is for you. It provides practical and useful methods that you can use immediately and points out habits you should avoid. "Get It, Set It, Move It, Prove It" is about getting real results and being able to prove them.

The distinct feature of this book is the four-phased model: "Get It" focuses on your leadership's vision and values; "Set It" improves your goals and strategies and their deployment in regard to ethics and regulatory requirements and performance measurement; "Move It" strengthens your relationships with important customers and the management of employees and key work processes; and "Prove It" helps you supply the evidence that your systems are producing high-performance results.

In early America, most children had only a few toys and parents receivedadvice from family and friends on the best ways to make and use toys. By the early 1900s the Industrial Revolution was producing a new world of toys and giving more parents the wealth to buy them. Mass media also sang the praises of these new factory-made, store-bought toys, but that began to change as early as the mid1900s when the mass media was used to inform parents of the many dangers of childrens toys. Many encourage violence, sexism, racism, and some are actually unsafe and unhealthy.

The development of childrens toys from early America to the present time and the shifting opinions of them expressed by parents and the mass media throughout this time are the main subjects of this book. The first sectiondiscusses the many problems with toys, while the second puts these problems in historical perspective. How have these problems changed, and are still changing today? Might todays toys be about to enter a time when they will be better than ever? The third section argues that many media toy watchers are biased toward the negative, giving toys more of a black eye than they deserve, and considers the the challenges that face todays parents as they try to choose the best toys for their children.

Modern Machining Technology: Advanced, Hybrid, Micro Machining and Super Finishing Technology explores complex and precise components with challenging shapes that are increasing in demand in industry. As the first book to cover all major technologies in this field, readers will find the latest technical developments and research in one place, allowing for easy comparison of specifications. Technologies covered include mechanical, thermal, chemical, micro and hybrid machining processes, as well as the latest advanced finishing technologies. Each topic is accompanied by a basic overview, examples of typical applications and studies of performance criteria. In addition, readers will find comparative advantages, model questions and solutions.

Service industries have traditionally lagged manufacturing in adoption of quality management strategies and Six Sigma is no exception. While there are a growing number of books on applying the hot topics of Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing concepts in a manufacturing environment, there has not been a mainstream book that applies these techniques in a service environment, until now.

Transactional Six Sigma and Lean Servicing™: Leveraging Manufacturing Concepts to Achieve World Class Service is a ground breaking "how-to" book that serves as a practical guide for implementing Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing methods in a transactional service oriented environment. It uses real case studies and examples to show how Six Sigma and Lean Servicing™ techniques have been implemented and proven effective in achieving substantial documented results. Lean Servicing™ is the author's own term used to describe the application of Lean Manufacturing concepts to transactional and service processes.

Liberal use of examples, graphics, and tables will assist you in grasping the difficult concepts. Transactional Six Sigma and Lean Servicing™ covers both theory and practical application of Lean Servicing™, Six Sigma DMAIC and Six Sigma DFSS concepts and methods so you can implement them effectively in your service organization and achieve reduced costs and a new level of service excellence.

This book presents what the training within industry (TWI) program is and how its presence affects the understanding of work standardization, focusing on the practical aspects of the implementation of work standardization in the elimination of human errors in manufacturing and service processes.

This book is classified and organised into three major headings: personal effectiveness, leadership, and communication. It focuses on interpersonal management skills and explains what it takes to improve how frontline managers and supervisors communicate and relate to their employees and customers.

This book provides expert guidance on using feedback as a performance improvement tool. It includes many simple tools readers can use to improve feedback in their work unit. The book suggests that feedback works best when the giver and receiver realize that they are in a dance together.

This book is intented for Lean practitioners and facilitators looking for a training tool and guideline that can be used in the work area while improvements are being made. It provides the most visible and detailed approach to Kanban implementation, so that they can see results in a short period.