Created by Lean practitioners with real-world, results-proven track records, this book is designed to help struggling managers and leaders, interested in the benefits of Lean but bereft of budgets to hire full-time consultants, start substantial change in their enterprises and begin to reap the benefits of Lean.At once a how-to manual and a strategic management guide, the book lays out, in simple English, all the steps for implementing Lean, from formulating a strategy and managing...

3D Robotics co-founder and bestselling author Chris Anderson takes you to the front lines of a new industrial revolution as today’s entrepreneurs, using open source design and 3-D printing, bring manufacturing to the desktop.In an age of custom-fabricated, do-it-yourself product design and creation, the collective potential of a million garage tinkerers and enthusiasts is about to be unleashed, driving a resurgence of American manufacturing. A generation of “Makers...

Master the Statistical Techniques for Six Sigma Operations, While Boosting Your Excel and Minitab Skills!Now with the help of this “one-stop” resource, operations and production managers can learn all the powerful statistical techniques for Six Sigma operations, while becoming proficient at Excel and Minitab at the same time.Six Sigma Statistics with Excel and Minitab offers a complete guide to Six Sigma statistical methods, plus expert coverage of...

Four E-Books in OneThe Toyota WayTOYOTA. The name signifies greatness—world-class cars and game-changing business thinking In factories around the world, Toyota consistently makes the highest-quality cars with the fewest defects of any competing manufacturer, while using fewer man-hours, less on-hand inventory, and half the floor space of its competitors. The international bestsellerThe Toyota Way written by Jeffrey Liker, is the...

Your organizational transformation begins here!Comprehensive, detailed, and easy to read and understand, How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement takes you through a real-life case study of one organization’s journey to a world-class continuous improvement process.Joakim Ahlstrom—one of the world’s most respected continuous improvement experts—serves as your coach. He first helps you decide whether you want to embark on the continuous improvement journey and ta...

Kaizen principles have been viewed as one of the key factors to Japanese competitiveness.Kaizen techniques became famous when Toyota used them to rise to world's automotive leadership. The company is credited as pioneer to formalize Kaizen technique and implement it as part of a global business plan. Rather than undertake large projects, Toyota's staff was encouraged to identify problems, no matter how small, trace their root causes and implement all necessary solutions.Kai...

There are many books available covering the Training Within Industry (TWI) programs, but few include any unique material on adaptation or modification – This dearth of new has caused practitioners to alter the programs without understanding the underlying principles. These changes have made the programs less effective.One must, however, maintain the principles used in the programs when changing the delivery of the programs to suit the culture.The purpose of ***The TWI Facilitator's...

The parameters of competition in business today are changing -- big does not necessarily beat small anymore; fast is beating slow. Agility, speed, and flexibility are the key elements of a successful strategy and execution in the corporate world as wells as in government agencies, health care, and education..How well will your firm execute its strategy? What barriers exist that inhibit your execution? Are you keeping one eye on tomorrow’s customers, while you manage those of today?...

Continual improvement is not optional. It is a condition of survival. Every organization must have systematic methods for making smart decisions, attacking problems, improving its products and services, and repelling competitors. Anything less than a systematic, disciplined approach is leaving your future in the hands of chance.This book presents a range of practical methods for driving continual improvement throughout the organization. The starting point is leadership, with a clear d...

"On Time-In Full" is an important work. Tim McLean provides an easy to follow practical approach to building a highly performing supply chain"-Drew Locher, Shingo Prize Winning Author and Lean ThinkerThe most fundamental requirement for a manufacturing or distribution business is to deliver to customers what they want, in the quantity they want, when they want it. It doesn’t matter how good your product is, how much the customer likes your salesper...

A facility-wide improvement initiative is expensive in terms of both time and money. Perhaps the most disappointing thing about them is that they often end up as temporary measures that may produce early results but are unsustainable in the long run. The unseen cost is that after they see such initiatives come and go, employees begin to see them as futile, temporary annoyances rather than the permanent improvements they are meant to be.The Shingo Model™ begins with culture...

A hands-on guide to adapting Lean principles and the Toyota Production System to high-mix/low-volume environments, Lean Production for the Small Company uses charts, pictures, and easy-to-understand language to describe the methods needed to improve processes and eliminate waste. It walks readers through the correct order of implementation and desc