[AT] OT Lean

[James Peck]

Many companies want the benefits of Lean. Few are interested in production employee continuous improvement teams.  I like the term LINO (Lean In Name Only). 

Several years ago Agco announced the APS (Agco Production System). https://www.agcocorp.com/about/operating-principles.html  I wonder which it is? Lean or LINO?

Steve Offiler AT List member Mechanical Engineer (soffiler at gmail.com); Roots of the Toyota Production System have nothing to do with racing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiichi_Ohno

Dennis Johnson AT List Member (moscowengnr at outlook.com); I have had various experiences with “Lean”. It worked well on oilfield units that had a production rate over 36 units per year. With smaller volumes like 3 or 4 units per year it mainly caused management frustration.  Toyota uses this for their auto production, but probably not for their race car program.

Steve Offiler AT List member Mechanical Engineer (soffiler at gmail.com);  Absolutely. The Toyota Production System (TPS) is studied around the world and applied in every imaginable industry as "Lean Manufacturing" and in service industries like hospitals as simply "Lean". 

I have a couple decades of experience with Lean Mfg. and I would count myself as a proponent although I've also seen some of the Achilles' Heels.  It is a very collaborative system at its core, and won't work well unless the entire workforce is engaged.  In short what I'm saying is that I cannot imagine a UAW shop embracing Lean.