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Slim down that waste.

Publication: OEM Off-Highway
Publication Date: 01-JAN-09 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: Slim down that waste.(Department)

Article Excerpt
Slim down that waste

by Michelle EauClaire

Implementing lean manufacturing increases efficiency and ultimately improves the bottom line while remaining competitive in a global market.

Everyone wants more efficiency, whether it's better gas mileage or just getting more tasks accomplished in a day. Lean manufacturing is a production system that dates back to the early 1900s with Henry Ford's automotive assembly line and Frederick Taylor's concept of Scientific Management which stated that every task could be distilled down to one best method by performing time studies and standardizing.

Taiichi Ohno, founder of the Toyota Production System, says that the purpose of lean is to "produce what is requested by the customer." Seems simple, but there's more to it. Producing what a customer requests means producing nothing more and nothing less than what is asked for, and delivering no sooner or later than scheduled.

Toyota began instilling lean practices in the late 1940s and continues to develop its lean manufacturing processes because, as says Jerry Jackson, president, APEX Precision Technologies, "Lean is a journey, not a destination." You will never reach ultimate leanness, because there...

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