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

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.

Lean manufacturing is a powerful formula for eliminating waste, controlling quality and inventory, and improving overall performance with the promise of huge early gains. This prescriptive guide offers real-world solutions for implementing lean manufacturing in the enterprise, covering the technical, engineering, and production aspects as well as the business culture concerns.

How To Implement Lean Manufacturing specifies the distinct order in which a company should implement lean, and discusses common reasons why certain companies have failed in their implementations. Global case studies help readers easily apply these situations to their own companies.