Lean Manufacturing

Discover the tools and techniques that manufacturers use to create profitability and delight their customers. Learn how the principles of lean manufacturing create value for the customer; among partners in the supply chain; and for any enterprise who would like increased visibility and velocity for their production processes.

Our experts also show how lean manufacturing works within a technologically-enabled, synchronized environment. They explain how supply chain experts are using Lean, the theory of constraints (TOC) and Six Sigma to effect real-world improvements — opening up capacity and enabling manufacturers to react to changes in customer needs.

Lean Manufacturing Resources

Understand the metrics that drive lean manufacturing growth. Learn about actual companies who have made the lean manufacturing changes needed to experience growth, profit and control costs. Download now.

Kaizen vs. Kaikaku

Kaizen vs. Kaikaku: 2 Approaches to Lean Manufacturing That Can Transform Your Factory The Lean Manufacturing world is littered with new terminology, and given the discipline’s origins, it’s not surprising that some of these words and phrases are Japanese. Being “fluent” with these words to the point that you can bring them up in casual conversations with coworkers is half the fun. Even better, these words have the power

Why Data-Driven Manufacturing is Not Enough

Occasionally, someone will mix up DDM (Demand-Driven Manufacturing) with another DDM acronym in our industry: Data-Driven Manufacturing. There are similarities. For example, executing demand-driven principles relies heavily on data and shop floor visibility. However, it doesn’t stop there. In this post, we’ll take a look at Data-Driven Manufacturing and why it’s useful but not enough to help you reach your goals. Data: It Is What It Is One of

Going Lean: Should You Replace Your ERP System?

By Trey Jordan, Senior Software Consultant Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been around for decades. You’d think, by now, the industry would have it figured out. Yet, every year, we hear news about ERP implementations that fail. For every one of these high-profile flops, there are many, many more implementations that simply fail to live up to expectations. At some point in their Lean journey, nearly every manufacturer faces the

The Pros and Cons of Consolidating Manufacturing ERP Systems

Managing operations through multiple manufacturing systems can be challenging, but it’s a daily reality for many manufacturers. In this post, we’ll look at the pros and cons of consolidating ERP systems – and propose an alternative. When Two Worlds Collide Whenever two or more organizations merge, they are almost always using different ERP systems. As anyone who’s ever tried to consolidate an ERP systems knows, it’s not easy. Each

John Maher, Synchrono Manufacturing Software

Three Ways Leaders Create Lean

Three Ways Leaders Create Lean “Relentless” leadership and team empowerment drive lean change For those of you who have heard this before, it bears repeating. For those of you who have not, this is important – leadership is the single most important component to lean success. It is exciting to talk about bottom-up change and expect that a ground swell of individuals in virtually every level of the organizational chart

Fast Results Using TOC for Demand-Driven Manufacturing – Part Two

Manufacturers use constraints management first to gain the most demand-driven change Last time, we talked about focusing on enterprise improvements rather than local efficiencies using constraints management (TOC). We discussed that continuous improvement tools such as TOC, Lean and Six Sigma work like “sandpaper” on an organization’s processes, smoothing various stages of their demand-driven journey. I likened TOC to the “coarse” grit of sandpaper—the one to use first to get