Lean Manufacturing in Build to Order, Complex and Variable Environments (Lean Transformation) - Hardcover

Jorge L. Larco; Elena Bortolan; Michael H. Studley

9781892538413: Lean Manufacturing in Build to Order, Complex and Variable Environments (Lean Transformation)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1892538415 ISBN 13: 9781892538413

Publisher: Oaklea Press, 2007

Today's customers want products configured just the way they want, delivered as quickly as possible, and only in the quantity needed. In the past, many different configurations would have been built and held in inventory in order to meet these requirements. Today, that isn't practical. Inventory ties up capital, takes up space, and in today's rapidly changing environment, can quickly become outdated. The solution is Lean manufacturing - making just what the customer wants once he has already placed an order for it. This isn't difficult in repetitive environments. But can it be done in environments that are build-to-order, complex and variable?Complex products present many challenges. For example, scheduling them through assembly can be an extremely complicated task. But the authors of this book have found it can be done using the right production techniques coupled with assistance from sophisticated scheduling software. What they have to say is not just theory. They explain how the techniques they have devised are being used today in factories in the United States, Italy, Rumania and several other countries.

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About the Author:

The authors are leaders of J. L. Larco & Associates, a firm specializing in Lean manufacturing, serving clients in the US, Europe, South America and Far East. This is their third book. One, Lean Transformation, translated into half a dozen languages with more than 75,000 in print, is required reading for Lean certification by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Review:

To meet the constantly changing demands of customers in a dynamic marketplace, the authors have combined the principles of Lean with computerized algorithms in a way not done before, creating a new Lean paradigm for businesses operating in highly variable, complex manufacturing environments. The impact on companies in such categories is almost certain to be huge. One can expect a reshuffling to occur and winners and losers to emerge not imagined or anticipated today. --Bruce A. Henderson, Former Chairman & CEO of Imation Corporation

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