Showing posts with label lean manufacturing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lean manufacturing. Show all posts

The Lean Pocket Handbook for Kaizen Events - Any Industry - Any Time Review

The Lean Pocket Handbook for Kaizen Events - Any Industry - Any Time
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The Lean Pocket Handbook for Kaizen Events is a superb collection of Lean tools, simply illustrated to convey the most basic Lean tools of 5S, Data Collection, Fishbones, Continuous Flow, Mapping (Value Stream and Process),Mistake Proofing, Takt Time, etc. This book was designed specifically for the Kaizen Event participant...allowing for them to more fully engage in a Kaizen Event, as well as grasp the simplicity of the Lean tools. (I cannot believe someone has not done this before.) The author, Don Tapping, has outdone himself in this cost-effective handbook. Mr. Tapping very clearly states at the beginning of this book that its purpose is soley to supplement other Lean training materials. This book is a quick-reference guide, personal Lean planner, Kaizen planner, and a learning tool - all for about $8.00 - the best value in the market. We have nearly 2000 employees going through Kaizen Events every year, and now, each one of them will have one of these books. Our contiuous improvement team has met and reviewed this book and whole-heartedly gives it a 5-star rating!

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A successful Kaizen Event can only occur if team members feel and have ownership of what is being improved.Even though the outcome of the event may improve their daily work activities, just by them being on the team does not guarantee ownership.However, the writing by each team member in this book will help to contribute a newsense of ownership - that necessary ingredient in any successful Kaizen Event.They will feel more part of the team.The Lean Pocket Handbook for Kaizen Events is your personal (i.e., individual) Lean planner for the 21st century.We have found individuals that use this pocket handbook feel more part of the Kaizen team.They also continue to contribute improvement ideas well past the formal team Kaizen Event.That is what Lean is all about - making those small, incremental, improvements daily (i.e., hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute) by those closest to the process. This handbook is designed to be:1.A quick-reference guide.2.Your individual (i.e., personal) log.3.Your personal Kaizen planner. 4.A tool to self-initiate Idea Kaizens.5.A learning tool.Each topic will have 4 pages.The first page will define the tool and provide a brief description.The second page will provide a simple flowchart of how that tool can be used effectively.This flowchart is meant to serve as a catalyst (and guideline) to stimulate ideas for the possible use of that tool in the Kaizen Event.The third page will provide illustrations demonstrating the tool as it is being used.This page will also contain an area for any notes that may be taken.The fourth page will be your personal Lean log and planner.This page is meant for you to write anything and everything down that you must do in support of the Kaizen Event.Idea Kaizen references can be noted here for investigation and implementation at a later date.

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Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota's System is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It Review

Product Development for the Lean Enterprise: Why Toyota's System is Four Times More Productive and How You Can Implement It
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Michael Kennedy's book, Product Development for the Lean Enterprise, gives an experienced insight into the dilemma faced by some of North America's largest organizations, those who have embraced management science in all of its complexity to win national awards, only to find they are unable to compete successfully at the customer level. Using an engaging fictional narrative, Kennedy provides a fresh insight into product development; this book will challenge your beliefs and understanding and likely intrigue you sufficiently to investigate how aspects of the process can be made applicable in your enterprise. It is a treasure trove of information on, not just its principal topic, Toyota's unique product development process, but details on establishing and operating "a process renewal team" and "large group interventions for organizational change".
In Michael Kennedy's very readable book, one is introduced to Toyota's design concepts, unconventional to the majority of us in corporate North America. Imagine your product development process stipulating:
*explore not one, but multiple design solutions at the same time;
*delay the design's narrowing process to as late as possible in the process;
*demand the building and testing of multiple design models and prototypes for performance conformity;
*have the development, retention and reuse of engineering knowledge and skills a top priority for the company;
*eliminate the use of complex integrated task based program and plans by delegating each program designer to prepare his/her own time-lines to meet fixed review dates and performance levels; and
*have functional engineering managers focus on teaching and mentoring engineering talent, not administration.
In addition to product development, Kennedy's book gives the reader an overview of change management issues from strategy, to personal and political conflict, to presentation and implementation tactics. The book stimulates thought; it proposes possibilities; it gives a glimpse into the future of an enlightened company's product development process. It is beyond a wake-up-call; it is mental nourishment to everyone whose enterprise relies on engineered products.

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Just-In-Time for Today and Tomorrow (Japanese Management Series) Review

Just-In-Time for Today and Tomorrow (Japanese Management Series)
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Just-in-time for today and tomorrow is Taiichi Ohno's least known book. His Toyota Production System is still in print and Workplace Management was retranslated, while this one is out of print and not too common. I'd say that JIT for today and tomorrow is also the least good of the three books.
The book is written in a rather weird format. Every chapter (there is just three of them) starts of with a theme. Then a dialog between Taiichi Ohno and Setsuo Mito. After the dialog there are some notes which seem to be written by Setsuo Mito (which makes him the main author and Ohno just verbally involved).
The first chapter mainly talks about JIT. The second chapter focuses on being driven by the customer. The customer should pull the products. The third chapter talks about gemba management. One of the more interesting things of the book is the talk and comparison between TPS and the Japanese seven eleven stores. It explains how both of them have the same purpose and came to the same conclusions. This is interesting since it seems to mirror somewhat the discussions in Lean Solutions book from Womack and Jones, published 20 years later. In that sense, the book was ahead of its time.
This book is a must read for lean experts or TPS experts, though I would not recommend it for most other people. It's better to read the other two Ohno books; they have more valuable content than JIT for today and tomorrow.

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