Lean Enterprise: A Synergistic Approach to Minimizing Waste

Lean Enterprise: A Synergistic Approach to Minimizing Waste shows how modern companies can use lean techniques to achieve the kind of success that Ford, Toyota, and Dell have enjoyed. This book presents lean enterprise as a set of mutually supporting techniques and programs, all of which focus on the elimination of ‘friction,’ or non-value-adding activities, from the enterprise. The concept of friction (Japan’s muda, or waste) is very simple, but everyone in the organization must realize that it is easy to overlook. The ability to identify friction on sight is vital to creating a lean enterprise, and through the examples of Henry Ford, this book will equip the reader with the skills to achieve optimal results.

William A. Levinson, P.E. is a senior member of ASQ and an ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, ASQ Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), ASQ Certified Quality Manager, and ASQ Certified Quality Auditor (CQA). He is also a senior member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and am SME Certified Manufacturing Engineer (CmfgE) and Enterprise Integrator (CEI). Levinson also holds the title of Certified Manager (CM) from the Institute of Certified Professional Managers (ICPM). Levinson is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and American Chemical Society. He holds a BS in chemistry from Pennsylvania State University, an MS in Operations Research & Applied Statistics and an MBA from Union College, and an MS in Chemical Engineering and Chemistry from Cornell University.

Raymond A. Rerick assumed the role of Manufacturing Leader for the 8 inch wafer Fab, at the Fairchild Semiconductor facility in MountainTop, Pennsylvania, in January of 1999. Since that time, Ray has been coordinating efforts in the Fab 8 wafer facility, through synchronous flow manufacturing techniques and self-managed work teams. Ray now oversees the entire manufacturing facility as the Engineer Manager of Fabrication. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering Technology from Purdue University and a Masters degree in Organizational Management from College Misericordia.