Developing A Lean Workforce

Changing an organization from a mass manufacturing environment to a lean environment is significant and affects all levels of the company if the implementation is done correctly. Many times, however, lean implementers become so involved with the nuts and bolts of lean implementation that the "people" side of the business is neglected. Transform your HR Department into an Agent of Change during Lean Implementation. With an HR perspective, veteran consultants Chris Harris and Rick Harris walk readers through a simple, step-by-step proven method for transforming a mass production workforce into a lean thinking one that possesses the necessary skills, training, and attitude to march in a new direction. They explain the role of human resources in a lean-oriented facility, emphasizing systematic training that continues for all employees. They also discuss the value of promoting employees from within a facility to team leader and group leader positions, and the importance of flexibility. This critically acclaimed book includes sample training sessions with explanations. Most of us are now far enough down the path in lean production to realize that the results lie in the details. This short volume presents all of the details you will need to create a frontline workforce and system of direct supervision that can effectively plan, do, reflect, and adjust, as you move your own operations steadily ahead. --James Womack, Chairman, Lean Enterprise Institute

In the global marketplace, no business is a self-contained island. No matter how effective your internal material movement, to be a future-thinking business, you must go to the next step and develop long-term supplier partnerships built on a dedication to continuous improvement and the basic concepts of Lean implementation. Lean Supplier Development: Establishing Partnerships and True Costs Throughout the Supply Chain provides step-by-step instruction on how to build partnerships of mutual improvement and success through supplier development. Offering the same advice that they have successfully applied to corporations across the globe, award-winning consultants Chris Harris, Rick Harris, and Chuck Streeter — Provide criteria on how to choose suppliers that will make good long-term partnerships Demonstrate proven methods for employing Plan for Every Part (PFEP) to link your facility to the supply base Present a true cost model that eliminates guesswork when choosing suppliers to develop Show how to develop and maintain efficient information flow all along your supply chain Use real-world examples to cover likely contingencies Provide a sample quarterly supplier review that you can adapt for your own use Lean is a journey, not a destination. It requires flexible leaders at the helm who can readily adjust to ever-changing conditions and it requires like-minded partners all along the supply chain. Finding and developing these partners is not about good fortune, it is all about an uncompromising approach to continuous improvement and the application of systematic methods that will build working partnerships that broaden your definition of what is possible

Although there are many organizations that have implemented Lean production systems and become more profitable as a result, there can be a gap between what those organizations currently do and how they should plan for and profit from new business. Capitalizing on Lean Production Systems to Win New Business: Creating a Lean and Profitable New Product Portfolio explains how to create a Lean product portfolio to fill that gap so you can become more profitable from that new business. Providing a fundamental understanding of the Lean enterprise production system, this book can help an organization take its current Lean knowledge and translate that knowledge into a step-by-step methodology to win and launch new business. Lean topics covered include: Value Stream Mapping Plan for Every Part Process Design and Standard Work Scheduling and Material Flow Machine Changeover Quality and Continuous Improvement By developing the New Product Acquisition and Launch Portfolio presented in this book, you can dramatically improve your ability to produce the products customers desire and deliver them on time. Focusing on the concepts that are critical to the longevity of your Lean enterprise system, this book will help you understand how to deliver a product that meets the quality and delivery standards of your customer. It will also help you understand how this new product fits into your Lean enterprise system. Detailing how to achieve a successful new product launch through upfront planning, this book provides you with the tools to enhance efficiencies throughout your supply chain.

Given that the greatest risk factor on any project is manpower costs, problems resulting in delays, rework, or overtime will lower profits through increased labor costs. Most of these process-generated costs are fully preventable. An in-depth exploration of the application of Lean initiatives in the construction industry, Lean Culture for the Const

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication AwardThe new edition of this Shingo Prize-winning bestseller provides critical insights and approaches to make any Lean transformation an ongoing success. It shows you how to implement a sustainable, successful transformation by developing a culture that has your stakeholders throughout the o

While worker safety is often touted as a companys first priority, more often than not, safety activity is driven by compliance to legislation rather than any safety improvement initiative. Lean takes a proactive approach it is not contingent on legislation. A serious Lean effort will tear apart an old inefficient entitlement-riddled culture and

As organizations strive to meet stringent budgets, the mandate to produce greater results with fewer resources is no longer sufficient. Rather than accepting less, managers and executives must strive for better--evaluating every process and every role and doing away with assumptions about how work gets done and who does it in order to streamline processes and maximize efficiency. William Rothwell, who was honored with the ASTD Distinguished Contribution Award in Workplace Learning and Peformance, presents a system for analyzing work and selecting the ideal combination of cost-effective resources--employees, consultants, contractors, temporary workers, and vendors--to accomplish it. Lean but Agile does this by teaching readers to focus on outcomes and work backwards--exploring the introduction, implementation, and management of lean work and agile staffing methods that will produce those outcomes. You’ll also learn about advantageous changes in hiring, goal-setting, learning and development, and performance management, and the fundamental role technology can play in transforming your processes. Packed with practical advice, examples, guides, worksheets, diagrams, and metrics, Lean but Agile will help leaders, managers, and human resource professionals optimize their workforces while still achieving superior results.

While Lean practices have been successfully implemented into the process industry with excellent results for over 20 years (including the author‘s own award winning example at Exxon Chemical), that industry has been especially slow in adopting Lean. Part of the problem is that the process industry needs its own version of Lean. The larger part of t