Eaton Shares Experience With Lean Manufacturing

ByDoug Bartholomew Cleveland-based Eaton Corp. this month began sharing its experience with lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System through a package of interactive CDs offered by Productivity Press. The seven-CD package covers muda, standardized work, continuous flow, pull systems, kaizen, heijunka, and 5S. Each contains a brief lesson in the topic, followed by examples and interactive tasks. Video clips demonstrate work being performed either wastefully or the lean way. Graphs, clocks, and diagrams are used to show time wasted or dollars lost. "I based the content on my experience at Toyota, training suppliers in Toyota Production System tools," says Tony Zalucki, manager of lean manufacturing systems at Eaton. "This led to the goal of training as many people as possible, and the CDs enable us to do this." Productivity Press is the publishing arm of Productivity Inc., based in Portland, Oreg., a consulting firm that operates workshops and publishes books and training materials dealing with lean manufacturing.