LMJ’s editor Andrew Putwain heads out to National Instrument’s manufacturing facility in Hungary to see how the firm has taken lean to a scientific level of precision.
Consultant Jean Cunningham explores the benefits of applying lean principles to a company’s finance.
Manufacturing has suffered a lot of bad press over the years, and here in the UK our politicians in all their infinite wisdom decided making things was too cost0inefficenitn to have any place in a modern economy, and instead looked to banking and service sectors to supply our GDP.
Bowmore whisky has been produced on the Scottish island of Islay since 1779, and is one of the world’s most recognisable alcohol brands.
Apprenticeships are big news at the moment.
This brief history of quality, would not be complete without sharing a passage from Prophets in the dark, by David Kearns, the former CEO of Xerox:
In the late 1960s, Frank Pipp, an assembly plant manager for a Ford Motor Company factory, instructed his staff to purchase competitor’s cars.
The theme of the conference was how to start or re-inspire lean in the workforce and re-engage with lean.
The current economic climate with tighter controls on cash flow and credit limits puts even greater emphasis on supply chains to reduce costs, inventory and throughput times.
Variation is inherent in engineering.