Lessons from a Lean Consultant

4. Early Stumbling Blocks

So you have sent your engineers and middle managers to the best lean manufacturing training money can buy. Now what? It is a lot of information to absorb, and there is a tremendous amount of work that must be done. Chapter 3 explained the importance of having a comprehensive company kaizen program to help you plan and execute kaizen events to implement lean manufacturing. In this chapter, I explain the fundamental building blocks of lean manufacturing as they apply to 5S, data collection, quality, and workstation design.

Attention to detail ensures the success of a lean journey. Not all the tools and techniques in the lean philosophy are applicable to all processes, so it is important to learn about the tools and apply ...