|
|
|
|
|
More CategoriesMore CategoriesMore Categories
 |
Lean Manufacturing |
Developed by Motorola Inc. (www.motorola.com) in the 1980s as a problem-solving, defect-reduction methodology, Six Sigma changes business cultures.
Lean Manufacturing, a process-management system created by Toyota Production Systems in the 1950s and 1960s, “supports profitable growth by improving productivity and quality, reducing lead times and freeing resources,” says Chet Marchwinski, communications director for the Cambridge, Mass.-based Lean Enterprise Institute Inc. (www.lean.org).
Smooth transfer of data from information technology (IT) to manufacturing and back can be key not just to production control, but also to customer success.
No matter how fast, efficient, technologically advanced or well staffed any production process is, nothing matters much unless you acquire reliable operating data, preferably in real time, to understand how to maintain competitive manufacturing.
“The general rule-of-thumb I’m seeing is this: ‘Capital spending is bad,’ ” says Neil Cooper, general manager of manufacturing and business operations for controls vendor Invensys Process Systems (www.ips.invensys.com), Plano, Texas.
“OEE is one of the most recognized KPIs (key performance indicators), if not the most recognized,” observes Craig Resnick, a research director at ARC Advisory Group Inc., in Dedham, Mass.
What is most important about key performance indicators (KPIs)?
“Six Sigma is absolutely about changing a company’s culture,” declares Mark Sessumes, of the Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (www.tmac.org), Fort Worth, Texas. “[And] that’s all the way from top leadership down to the workforce—to make decisions based on data, not intuition.”
Jeff Lytle has some unique bragging rights. He entered manufacturing-excellence record books by recently receiving the first-ever Lean Gold Certification. 
indicates a sponsored article that was submitted directly to this Web site by the supplier, and was not handled by the AW editorial staff.
RSS FEEDS