What is Lean Manufacturing?

Changes
that are being implemented 
at Cole Hersee
Cole Hersee management realized a few years ago that their reputation for on-time delivery showed room for improvement.

With the salutary realization that they were missing vital business opportunities, things began to happen quickly. The implementation of cell manufacturing became the focus.

Defined as a one piece flow production process,
cell manufacturing provides a quantum leap
to greater efficiencies and an enhanced flexibility,
a versatility that is all-important in a high-quality short-run manufacturing facility like Cole Hersee.

Where did Cole Hersee start ?
Because of the enormity of the task facing them,
and the urgent need to make changes at a rapid and controlled pace, Cole Hersee engage an international consulting firm.
Working together, a program was developed in short order to meet the specific needs of the company. They developed five modules: team-building,
TAKT time, flow of product, problem solving
and 5S (a method of eliminating wasted time and resources).

But that wasn't the only benefit that Cole Hersee saw. There was an immediate boost in quality
of the product, work-in-progress levels plummeted and product rejections fell dramatically.
Additionally the introduction of a kanban system allowed Cole Hersee to drastically reduce inventory levels from 4 months to 4 weeks.

Visitors are impressed
Because of the radical changes that Cole Hersee
has made, and the palpable enthusiasm for change that comes from both management and the individual workers in the cells, the facility has become a 'benchmarking' location.

Managers from other companies, both local and national, have visited Cole Hersee to see how to implement comparable improvements.
"We also use their suggestions and input
to see where we can make added refinements,"
says Kuzmitski, ever-ready to take every advantage of a self-help opportunity,
"As a matter of fact, we recently hosted
a complete three-day university seminar,
a real hands-on course in Lean Production,
led by Prof. David Cochran of MIT. He won
the 1990 Shingo Prize, and he's quite a star,
you know."

What is Lean Manufacturing?
It's a philosophy of manufacturing efficiency.

Lean manufacturing uses less of everything
compared with mass production:
half the human effort in the factory,
half the manufacturing floor space,
half the investment in tools,
half the engineering hours to develop a product
in half the time.

Also, it requires keeping far less than half
the needed inventory on site,
and results in fewer defects.

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