Providing a framework that highlights waste and its negative effects on process performance, value stream maps (VSMs) are essential components for successful Lean initiatives. While the conventional VSM format has the basic structure to effectively describe process operations, it must be adapted and expanded to serve its purpose in the process indu

Product Wheel is a scheduling strategy that has practical, well-proven methods for enabling operations managers to find the optimum balance between inventory, operating cost, and customer service, particularly useful in high-mix process operations. They do so in a way that increases throughput to either increase revenue or reduce operating cost while providing a structured, repeatable manufacturing platform that reduces plant floor chaos. DuPont, Exxon Mobil, Dow Chemical, and Litehouse Fo...

Compared to its widespread implementation across almost all areas of production, Lean improvement efforts lag within the process industries. While many innovators have successfully applied Lean principles to these industries during the past three decades, most of those pioneering efforts were never recorded to guide the improvement efforts of others.Drawing on more than 40 years of application experience at one of the world’s largest chemical and materials manufacturers, coupled wi...

The Product Wheel (PW) design process has practical methods for finding the optimum sequence, minimizing changeover costs, and freeing up useful capacity. So much so, that the DuPont Company and Exxon Mobil are just a few companies that have used the product wheel concept to achieve and sustain a competitive advantage.Breaking down a fairly comple

This book is aimed at manufacturing and planning managers who struggle to bring a greater degree of stability and more effective use of assets to their operations, not realizing the degree to which production scheduling affects those objectives. It has been reported that 75% of the problems on the manufacturing floor are caused by activities outside the plant floor. Poor production scheduling strategies and systems are often the biggest contributors to the 75%.The book explains in ...

In a sensational follow-up to Echoes of Sherlock Holmes and In the Company of Sherlock Holmes, a brand-new anthology of stories inspired by the Arthur Conan Doyle canonFor the Sake of the Game is the latest volume in the award-winning series from New York Times bestselling editors Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger, with stories of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and friends in a variety of eras and forms. King and Klinger have a simple formula: a...

This volume is fourth in the series of annuals created under the auspices of The Association for Feminist Ethics and Social Theory (FEAST). It includes papers by philosophers offering cutting-edge feminist perspectives on ethical issues of global and transnational significance. Feminist approaches to global issues address a great many questions that grip people who are not philosophers, nor even necessarily feminists. These questions include: What are the obligations of global citizenship?...

From sourcing rare ingredients to solving crimes, "this appealing detective serves up nuggets of culinary trivia and wry food humor" ( People).They call him the gourmet detective; the only thing sharper than his mind is his palate. When chefs need a rare ingredient, an ancient wine, or simply a new idea to gain that extra Michelin-star boost, they come to the detective's cozy London office and plead for his help. For top-notch cooking, he is always happy t...

"This appealing detective serves up nuggets of culinary trivia and wry food humor" ( People).In the days of Marco Polo, men risked their lives for spices. And in an age when black pepper was so valuable that it was sold one peppercorn at a time, there was no spice more valuable than the legendary Ko Feng. Known as the Celestial Spice, it supposedly vanished five centuries ago, and its name lives on only as culinary myth. But now a sack of it has turned up ...

When a jousting match at a medieval fair turns into old-fashioned murder, the Gourmet Detective sets out to unmask the killer.At Sir Gerald's medieval festival, the castle is authentic, the jousting is rousing, and the wenches are the sauciest in the land. The only thing missing is decent food. And so Sir Gerald calls in London's gourmet detective, an expert food finder, whose specialties include locating rare ingredients, designing historically accurate menus, and...

"Frolic through the vineyards and fine restaurants of Provence" in this delectable mystery set in French wine country, where the time is ripe for murder ( Publishers Weekly).The vineyards of the Willesford Wine Group occupy a particularly choice section of French wine country. From the grapes of Provence, the owners of this impeccably managed syndicate have squeezed international fame and fortune. Next to their spectacular estate lies the petite Peregrine W...

In this "feast of a food mystery" the Gourmet Detective visits a Swiss health spa where the treatments can be deadly ( Publishers Weekly).The gourmet detective realizes that the Alpine Springs health resort is not a typical spa somewhere in the middle of his first cocktail. Where other retreats promote abstinence, exercise, and bland food, this quiet little Swiss chalet preaches indulgence. Guests are allowed to eat, drink, and smoke as much as they want, a...