Companies adopting a Lean philosophy strive to remove or shorten time spent on activities that the customer doesn’t value. For example, although steps like estimating and makeready are thought of as ...

LEAN started in the automobile manufacturing industry and has spread to nearly every industry in every country. LEAN is how companies bring continuous improvement to life. It’s much simpler to ...

In the 1990s while first learning about Japanese manufacturing and Toyota, I was also studying organizational development. A retired University of Michigan researcher, Lawrence Lippitt, ran a monthly ...

Waiting is a great profit-robber for contractors of all sizes. Contractors are not overreacting or micro-managing because they want to ensure clarity and see that things get done the right way the ...

“They need a conveyor,” said the guy on my left as we observed the assembly process. Operators walked back and forth from the assembly station to bring finished parts to the shelf and to get ...

Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma principals are used to improve processes and create efficiencies in the overall manufacturing process. Lean manufacturing is used to minimize waste, while saving costs ...

Because lean manufacturing reduces waste and increases the efficiency of your production line, it has an impact on other parts of the business. Converting to the new system requires adjustments within ...

One of the most common misconceptions about lean manufacturing techniques is that they only apply to large-scale operations. Lean is the continuous improvement of operations to cut down wastes. “What ...

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Lean construction is the application of lean thinking, principles and tools to the lifecycle of capital construction. Although the International Group for Lean Construction (ILGC) coined the term at ...