Lean manufacturing in a nutshell is a philosophy of eliminating waste (7
general types) in your business and manufacturing processes. Seven types of
waste are: Inventory, Transportation, Over processing, Waiting, Excess
motion, Defects, & Overproduction. The change starts with the culture
change (that's the way we've always done it) in the way you do business.

Some LEAN lingo: Value added vs. nonvalue added, Pull don't push, Single
piece flow, TAKT time, Cycle time,  Kaizen or accelerated improvement
workshops, 5S, & Value stream mapping.

Their are many tools that can be used when performing a Lean Project, but
always keep in mind they are only tools, they are not the heart and soul.

The keys to successful LEAN implementation are:

   Upper management support
   Train and motivate people
   Employee involvement and ownership
   Measured performance
   Sharing information
   Rewards for involvement
   Continual Improvement

These concepts are certainly not new but their importance over the years
has not diminished.

For a wealth of information on the subject of LEAN Manufacturing go to the
following websites.
www.nwlean.net         Similar to this tech-net with shared information.
www.lean.org              Jim Womack's website.


Best wishes to anyone in the technet community who is about to start or is
on the LEAN journey. It really is a journey with many rewards and
satisfaction. Send me emails off-line if you would like to discuss further.

Richard Carruth
Quality Eng.
LaBarge Inc.
Ph# 918-459-2346

---------------------------------------------------
Technet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet
To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL)
To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest
Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm for additional
information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
-----------------------------------------------------