Goodrich Lean Supply Chain Optimizes Material Flow

Airgas supports Goodrich supply chain optimization strategy with strategic supply arrangement. ...

... "Goodrich is committed to lean manufacturing principles, and looks for supplier relationships that help us optimize the flow of materials to the operation in the most efficient manner. Airgas’ products and services are helping us move closer to this goal, said Dan Pleshko, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Goodrich Corporation ... " ...

http://bit.ly/aCOiEy

Substance Tracking Six Sigma Initiatives

Actio's new version of Regulator improves capabilities for manufacturers to automate screening of raw materials at the product and substance level, enabling disciplined chemical inventory management. ...

... "Actio Regulator allows manufacturers to reduce harmful emissions by tracking and monitoring precise, standardized measurements of all hazardous or suspicious ingredients in mixtures, parts or components – down to the substance level. Actio solutions help companies towards Corporate Social Responsibility by inciting best practices resulting from visible, collaborative, rational chemical handling, managing supply chain materials data, and streamlining material disclosure processes. These and other Six Sigma initiatives mitigate risk and drive companies toward leaner operations as well as corporate sustainability objectives. " ...

Via Actio Corp: Actio Regulator

Photovoltaic Manufacturing Techniques Lower Costs

Costs are decreasing and efficiency is increasing in the solar photovoltaic space. ...

... "he’s impressed that the price of photovoltaics is dropping while their efficiency is rising, thanks to new materials and manufacturing techniques. " ...

Via The Energy Collective: Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis

Lean Maintenance Process

Maintenance business processes are an opportunity to apply lean techniques to drive efficiency gains. Material receipt and handling from MRO suppliers can be made more efficient. In addition, proactive and reactive maintenance work flows can be streamlined to increase asset utilization rates. ...

... "To help streamline your maintenance department, group related actions into steps to help make the process as efficient as possible. This helps managers identify inefficiencies more clearly ... " ...

Via Plant Services: Maintenance processes

FlexNet Lean Material Flow Software Deploys Best Practice Integration

Apriso and Accenture collaborate to deliver a best practice lean software solution that enables material flow and business processes, such as operations synchronization, visibility and controls, quality management and traceability, error proofing, and ERP system integration. ...

... "This new FlexNet solution fills some of the white spaces or gaps around Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications in Lean manufacturing environments, benefiting manufacturers who seek to reduce waste and cut cycle times while improving quality in logistics operations, production and customer responsiveness. Valeo, a $12B industry leading global automotive supplier, played an important role in the design of this solution by identifying key Tier 1 automotive supplier requirements while ensuring the solution adhered to Lean principles. " ...

Via Apriso: Lean Solution

Operational Excellence at Energy Conversion Devices

Leaders of Energy Conversion Devices discuss the company's quarterly results and the impacts that its operational excellence initiatives are having on the financial performance. Lean manufacturing is being focused on working capital improvements and asset utilization rates. And, other quality improvement actions are targeting material waste and cycle time optimization. ...

... "For example, we reduced our deposition cycle by 10% on our ramping machines in Greenville and our lamination cycle times by 9% in Auburn Hills and Mexico. We also introduced lean manufacturing processes in our Auburn Hills 2 facility that will reduce work-in-progress inventory and improve throughput in our production process. We will be initiating several material utilization improvement initiatives in step three of our manufacturing process. These projects are targeting 10% to 20% reduction in material utilization with several of our polymer suppliers. " ...

Via Seeking Alpha: Energy Conversion Devices Earnings Call

Lear Lean Manufacturing Implementation Drives Operational Efficiency Gains

Lear Corporation's lean manufacturing processes have driven productivity and operational efficiency for the company. Lear's lean implementation concentrates on the work environment, quality, the layout, and the flow of materials. ...

... "Tony Coomer, the company's vice president of Advanced Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement-Seating Systems, said lean manufacturing techniques have been deployed throughout the company's global manufacturing network.

Lear employees are trained on LMS during a three-week workshop. The training is conducted at all Lear plants by a lean manufacturing leader and employees receive LMS certification upon successful understanding of LMS principles and validation of model line projects which deploy LMS.

Product design is another key element in Lear's Lean Manufacturing System. Product design teams rely on LMS principles to ensure products can be manufactured in a lean environment. Approximately two thirds of product costs are locked into the initial design of the product, Coomer noted, so any effort to reduce cost after the initial design stage can only influence the remaining one third of the product's overall cost. At one facility, for example, product design teams incorporating design for lean principles in a model year change realigned workstations, changed production flows and made other assembly line changes to boost productivity.

Plant layout also plays an important role in Lear's approach to lean manufacturing. Lear uses Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to understand work flow and identify waste. In addition, extended VSM allows Lear to eliminate waste from the entire value stream -- from supplier to customer. VSM encompasses items such as freight costs, inventory controls and production changes. " ...

Via Lear Corp: Lean Manufacturing System Hikes Productivity and Reduces Costs

Kaizen Gradual Change in Formula One Materials

Formula One teams use kaizen improvement philosophy to create successful designs. ...

... "Such major changes in materials are unusual in modern Formula 1 but gradual changes are regularly implemented as the team pursues its kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement. " ...

Via Motorsport: Formula One