Lean Machines: Learning From the Leaders of the Next Industrial Revolution - Softcover

McCormack, Richard A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0972240705 ISBN 13: 9780972240703

Publisher: Publishers & Producers, 2002

Synopsis

Lean Machines: Learning From The Leaders Of The Next Industrial Revolution provides readers with a unique compilation of interviews with some of the country's most respected executives who have deep intellectual and emotional experience in implementing lean.

CEOs, vice presidents, consultants, Wall Street analysts and accountants provide readers with their perspectives on how to implement a lean business system. They are the architects of such successful implementations as Pratt & Whitney's Achieving Competitive Excellence program, the Danaher Business System, the Alcoa Production System and Freudenberg NOK's hugely successful six-step lean process.

Each of the 15 offers advice on how to overcome the barriers from the shop floor, to mid-level management, to the board room. They provide their personal experiences, insights and recommendations on the most important aspects of embedding lean systems within a corporate culture. All have successfully implemented a fundamentally different and often counter-intuitive system of running their business based on the lean principles of build to order, continuous improvement and the elimination of waste.

The interviews were conducted by Manufacturing News Editor & Publisher Richard McCormack and include the following individuals:

o George Koenigsaecker, Former CEO, HON Industries and Principal, Simpler Consulting;

o Michael Joyce, Corporate Vice President of Operating Excellence at Lockheed Martin;

o Robert Weiner, Senior Vice President of Global Manufacturing, Exide Technologies;

o Mark DeLuzio, Architect, Danaher Business System & President of Lean Horizons;

o James Womack, President, Lean Enterprise Institute and author of Lean Thinking and The Machine That Changed The World;

o Dave Logozzo, Director of Manufacturing Operations, Delphi Corp.;

o Cliff Ransom, Director of Research, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC;

o Ken Kreafle, Vice President of Quality at Toyota, Georgetown, Ky.;

o Keith Turnbull, Executive Vice President, Alcoa Business System;

o Allen Haggerty, General Manager of Engineering, Boeing;

o Brian Maskell, President, BMA Inc., Lean Accounting;

o Art Byrne, President and CEO of Wiremold Co.;

o Major Gen. Dennis Haines, Warner Robins AFB;

o Joseph Day, CEO, Freudenberg-NOK; and

o Dan Yurovich, CEO, Barry Controls

o Lt. Col. Fred Hart, Commander, U.S. Army Red River Depot

About this title

From the Publisher

Lean production and management systems are transforming the industrial complex. Companies and organizations that adopt lean are out performing their rivals in virtually every measure. Lean is quickly proving to be a superior system over mass production techniques that have not changed since Henry Ford introduced them to the world almost 100 years ago.

Lean tools and techniques work, but they require adroit management and buy-in from all levels of an organization, especially the leadership.

Manufacturing News Editor Richard McCormack's probing, insightful questions of the leading lean luminaries provide first-hand accounts of what it takes to transform an organization using the common lean tools of building to order and not to a forecast, continuous improvement and the total elimination of waste and inventory.

The subjects in "Lean Machines" discuss the journey, the barriers, leadership persistence, skills and knowledge necessary for the long-term success and survival of their organizations.

From the Author

Having been a technology journalist for the past 20 years who has been bombarded by publicists touting the next 'revolutionary' product or process, I am loath to use the term 'revolutionary' to describe anything. But lean is a revolution that will invariably impact every company in the country. Just look at the phenomenal success Dell Computer and Toyota are having and you'll understand the power and necessity of lean principles.

It's a shame the word "lean" has been attached to an entirely new method of production and business management. People hear "lean" and they think, "Oh, no, not another fad."

Lean is not a fad. Lean is the only business system that has legs. But it is a counter-intuitive system that can be difficult to understand and even more difficult to implement. When a company starts making a product only after it has received an order, every aspect of its operation begins to change, from the shop floor, to human relations, accounting, marketing and sales.

Companies like Toyota and Dell are constantly eliminating waste so they can be more responsive to fast-changing market demand. Such a system requires adept management well beyond the plant manager and shop supervisor level.

For this book, I tried to interview the most respected people in the country from a variety of companies and organizations. Their varied perspectives can provide anyone interested in the subject with a comprehensive and easy-to-read account of the real issues that must be addressed in implementing a lean business model.

Edition details

• Publisher: Publishers & Producers
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0972240705
• ISBN 13: 9780972240703
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 147