From the Editor

Welcome to the Superfactory Newsletter!

You'll probably notice that it looks a little different, and that's because we just completed our regular bi-annual website redesign. The new design improves font and readability, makes information access more intuitive, and generally updates layout and graphics to the latest best practices. Check out the new Superfactory!.

We have also added some new content to the website, including:

• Over 300 videos showing virtual factory tours
• Over 300 videos on lean manufacturing topics

I'd also encourage you to read a short article titled The Rebirth of Manufacturing Jobs by AME's Glenn Marshall. Some interesting insight.

We are running a promotion with our partner Gemba Academy where we'll send you the Gemba Academy Lean Starter Package DVD, a $97 value, for no cost with the purchase of any Superfactory PowerPoint presentation package or bundle.

- Kevin Meyer

Manufacturing Excellence News

Stories of interest to the lean community.

• Company getting lean
  Odessa American - Geoff Folsom - Apr 21, 2010
• Windsor hospitals learn from Toyota
  Ottawa Citizen - Brian Cross - Apr 29, 2010
• Can you get too Lean?
  The 21st Century Supply Chain - Perspectives on Innovative - Apr 30, 2010
• The Five Whys for Start-Ups
  Ethiopian Review - Eric Ries - Apr 30, 2010
• The High Cost of Preventable Errors
  Print CEO - David Dodd - May 3, 2010
• Look forward to lean times
  ProPrint - Henry Mendelson - May 3, 2010
• Manufacturer succeeds by embracing new ideas
  TheDay.com - Anthony Cronin - May 9, 2010
• GE tries to simplify manufacturing of appliances
  Lexington Herald Leader - May 10, 2010
• Lean and green
  Business Mirror - Marvin L. Noroña - May 11, 2010
• Roper Corp. bounces back
  Chattanooga Times Free Press - Ellis Smith - May 15, 2010
• Information Technology: Taming the Data Mess
  IndustryWeek - Peter Alpern - 10 hours ago

In the Evolving Excellence Blog

Join over 5,000 readers who get their daily dose of blunt manufacturing and business reality by subscribing to the Evolving Excellence blog!

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Recent posts in the Evolving Excellence blog include:

• You Go Girl! - Should we really encourage everyone to go to college when we need people in basic skills jobs?
• Bring on the Debate. Please. - We seem to have forgotten that effective debate also means listening to and considering other opinions.
• Deja Vu All Over Again - GE, Delphi, and the Shingo Prize - again.
• Fiddling While Manufacturing Burns - Large companies like GE and J&J may talk about manufacturing, but is it really a major focus?
• Lean as the Last Resort - GE finally discovers lean - really?
• Finding Your Place in the Stream - Try the three minute rule to see where you fit in the value stream.
• Rationalizing Mediocrity - Some companies still believe they are unique and lean principles don't apply to them.
• The Ripple Impact of a Small Change - Only a day after health reform passed, the mistakes in the 2000 page bill are becoming apparent.
• It's About Time, Not Inventory - A focus on inventory reduction distorts real lean.
• We're Going Linear - Will drive-thru shopping expand to major appliances?

Visit the Evolving Excellence blog...

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Featured Book

Kaizen is a system of continuous improvement: an industrial philosophy that embraces absolutely everyone within the company culture. The goal is in maintaining constant improvement towards productivity, quality, safety, waste reduction, and leadership. A vast continuous flow of tiny constructive ideas will invariably make a huge differences in aggregate. And the process never stops...

More Information | Previous featured books

Featured Article

Better to Improve Than Be Offended
By Bob Emiliani

Since 1998 I have authored or co-authored eight books and over two dozen journal papers on Lean management. My focus from the outset was critical aspects of Lean management that others had neglected or made only limited progress. Specifically, I expanded our understanding of Lean leadership and the many specific ways in which the beliefs, behaviors, and competencies of Lean leaders differ from the leaders of conventionally managed businesses.

Along the way, I provided historical context that showed how progressive Lean management was the product of a 100+ year evolution in thinking and practice among innovate management practitioners. I also clarified the social, political, and economic impact of progressive management on organizations far beyond what had been done previously, and how these relate to sustainability. And I further contextualized the importance of daily practice among executives, showed how to avoid repeating history's unfavorable outcomes, and articulated effective strategies for Lean management success.

My focus on these less studied yet very important aspects of Lean management turned out to be a wise decision because my work has given people around the world (thanks to the Internet) important new insights in how to correctly practice and sustain Lean management.

I am thankful that many people - executives, consultants, trainers, educators, and workers - find my work to be very innovative, practical, and highly informative (for example, the way I re-purposed value stream maps). I am truly honored when people commit their precious time to reading my books and papers, and even more honored when my work is used by others in their Lean consulting and training work.

But my modest success is not without problems.

A main tenet of Lean management is to see reality as it actually is, no matter how ugly it is. This tenet, which I learned on day one of my Lean training starting in August of 1994, has always guided my writing. The result is that I bluntly call out bad management, which can make some executives and others feel uncomfortable or even personally offended. I write what many executives do not want to hear. I know this because I get feedback that says I could “attract more bees with honey.” In other words, more people would read my books if I sugar coated reality.

Read the entire article | Previous featured articles

Featured Evolving Excellence Blog Post

Lean as the Last Resort
by Bill Waddell

In a story that is nothing short of flabbergasting, GE has discovered kaizen.

After meteorically rising and falling as the best managed company in the world driven by Jack Welch's 'maximizing shareholder value NOW' philosophy - to one requiring billions of tax payers' bailout money - the champions of using Six Sigma to rationalize outsourcing everything including over 100,000 American jobs - from "outsourcing 70% of everything and 70% of that outside the USA and 70% of that to India" - to recommitting to manufacturing while trying to sell off many of their manufacturing assets but finding no interested buyers - to this.

Thirty years after everyone else, GE has discovered lean and is taking the first baby steps toward lean manufacturing 101.

“ 'Toyota is 50 years ahead of us,' said GE's Rich Calvaruso, whose title is now 'Lean Leader.' 'It is a new approach,' for GE, he said. 'We are on a long journey.' ”

Not only is Toyota '30 years ahead of you, Rich, the average mom and pop machine shop around the corner from you in Louisville is 25 years ahead of you.

The boys running GE have been so tunnel visioned on Wall Street for the last 40 years they still call it "Japanese efficiency".

" 'The business is shifting … to one that starts with the most efficient way to manufacture the product as possible,' GE spokeswoman Kim Freeman said." What did it start with before Kim? But then we know the answer to that - the one with the lowest labor cost - quality, waste, cycle times and value creation be damned ... the cornerstones of 'maximize shareholder' value thinking.

Don't get me wrong. I am glad to see that GE is thinking about joining the party. A couple of kaizen events is a pretty lame start, but at least they have finally figured out what everyone in manufacturing has known for decades. They sound like a bunch of teenagers who have learned about sex for the first time - and think they invented it.

"It will be interesting to see where GE is going with this and what it will do for them," said a Detroit consultant by the name of Aaron Bragman. I agree. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if in ten years or so they find themselves on the leading edge of lean and invent ideas like kanbans and value streams.

Read the rest and comment... (13 comments so far)