Category Archives: LEAN Manufacturing

LEAN Manufacturing case study

Lean manufacturing by definition is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. This case study deals [...]

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Integration of SCOR with Lean & Six Sigma

Companies experienced in the application of Lean and Six Sigma techniques have for some time recognized the compatibility and power of combining these approaches under the umbrella of a single business improvement program. There is a natural linkage between Lean and [...]

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Filed under Articles, Featured Cases, LEAN Manufacturing, Operations, Six Sigma

Lean production at Portakabin

Portakabin is an international company. It produces some of the most advanced building systems available. The company is part of the £700 million turnover Shepherd Group. The Shepherd Group is one of the largest family-owned companies in the European building [...]

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Create a Lean, Mean Machine!

This article highlights the benefits of adopting a Lean strategy, and why it is so important in today's business world. 1) Today's competitive, rapidly changing and customer focused global economy has led to renewed interest in lean. 2) Lean's elimination of [...]

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Lean Six Sigma for the services industry

We have seen banks use Lean Six Sigma to support their growth strategy; financial services companies to put mergers back on track; energy companies to lower costs; telecommunications companies to improve customer service; and retailers to increase efficiency while boosting [...]

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When Value Stream Mapping Doesn’t Work

An excellent article that describes some business processes where value stream mapping should not be the tool of choice. Unfortunately, the article does not point out the right tool for the job. For office environments, consider Office Mapping, a value [...]

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UNDERSTANDING VALUE STREAM MAPPING

Value stream mapping is a lean manufacturing technique used to analyze the flow of materials and information currently required to bring a product or service to a consumer. At Toyota, where the technique originated, it is known as "material and [...]

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Lean and Six Sigma A One-Two Punch

• Lean brings action and intuition to the table, quickly attacking low hanging fruit with kaizen events. • Six Sigma uses statistical tools to uncover root causes and provide metrics as mile markers. • A combination of both provides the tools to [...]

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Read A Plant.... Fast

Lean Manufacturing (also called TPS) is a production system inspired by the Japanese concept of kaizen (the strategy of continuous improvement). Unlike Kaizen, Lean (TPS) has a focus not only on quality control but also on quantity control to eliminate waste [...]

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Do More with Less: The Five Strategies Used by Successful SMB Manufacturers

A common issue for small to medium business (SMB) manufacturers is how to increase revenue and grow their businesses without significantly adding staff. Unfortunately, these companies often emerge from the startup phase saddled with inefficient, manual processes that require extra [...]

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Filed under Free Cases, LEAN Manufacturing, Operations, White Papers