In the Trenches
Read stories of real people and their experiences in the manufacturing field.
A Lesson Learned: You Get What You Measure
By Jeff Monaghan, Climax Portable Machine Tools
As Climax Portable Machine Tools strives to increase a powerful metric—profit margin—it learns in the planning for a new product that the calculations determining profit margin don’t necessarily drive improvements in Lean terms—reducing non-value added activities—proving once gain the adage, that “what gets measured, gets done.”
Learning Tours: The Benefits of Outside Eyes
By Charlie Lake, President, Warne Scope Mounts
Several months ago we invited a dozen folks to visit Warne Scope Mounts for a tour of our plant and a chance to see how we’re implementing lean manufacturing. These “learning tours” are a strategy employed by high performance consortia to share best practices. When you host a learning tour, you and your staff might be tempted to say, “We’re sharing what we’re doing.” It certainly feels like it's you who are giving others a chance to learn.
In fact, it may be the other way around.