Each month new articles, book reviews, and other content are added to the Superfactory website. The new content is featured in the free monthly e-newsletter which goes out to 50,000 subscribers worldwide, and we will also post a monthly heads-up on this blog.
New content in June includes:
The featured article is from Drew Locher and is titled The Lean Job Shop. The following is a brief excerpt, and you can read the entire article here.
There is a misconception that Lean Thinking only applies to highly repetitive production environments. This misconception is perpetuated by the fact that most examples provided in books on the subject typically involve such companies. However, this is not the case. Manufacturers involved in high mixed model production can realize greater benefits from the application of Lean concepts than their repetitive counterparts. The very nature of Job Shops makes this statement true. It is a Job Shop that can reap the maximum benefits from the flexibility that is characteristic of a truly Lean Enterprise.
The Other Perspectives section has an article by John Seddon titled Watch Out for the Toolheads. The following is a brief excerpt, and you can read the entire article here.
Many management fads appeal to managers because of the means of intervention; managers like to think of change as something you do with training and projects. I gained an antipathy to change by tools training and projects in the early 1980s while studying TQM programmes that failed. Of course, people do get improvements with tools, but they are insignificant when compared to the benefits from changing the system. I took the view that it is better to teach perspective — how to think — and if tools help, people will ‘beat a path’ to the cupboard door. For example, it is more important to teach the value, importance and issues associated with managing flow than teaching how to map a flow. I am still of that view. What’s more, teaching tools very rarely results in a change to the system.
The featured book this month is Breaking Through to Flow by Ian Glenday. The following is a brief summary, and you can learn more or order the book by clicking here.
If you want to become truly lean but cannot imagine how to get beyond the fire-fighting associated with constantly changing plans, then this workbook is for you. A growing number of people are recognising that there is a lot more to lean than simply eliminating waste from current processes. But they struggle to see how to redesign their operations and abandon old ways of working. This workbook introduces a new pathway that is helping many organisations to overcome this hurdle and to launch them on the next phase of their lean journey - breaking through to flow.
We continually update the other major sections of the website, including:
- Events Calendar: a listing of lean excellence seminars, workshops, training, and conferences worldwide
- Topic Information: Summaries and resources on over 40 enterprise excellence topics.
- History of Excellence: A growing timeline of notable events that helped shape current-day enterprise excellence
- Online E-Learning Center: Fourteen interactive online presentations on the core concepts of lean manufacturing.
- PowerPoint Presentations: Over 50 downloadable PowerPoint presentations on lean manufacturing, quality, enterprise, and safety concepts.
- Factory Toolbox: Almost 300 downloadable forms, procedure templates, assessments, and tools to help you not reinvent the wheel.
- Tools and Assessments: Downloadable assessment tools.
- Virtual Factory Tours: Web and streaming video tours of over 100 factories.
We are always looking for new articles and other content. Contact us via the Superfactory website if you would like to contribute to our knowledge base.