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Lean Production Simplified

Oct. 15, 2007
A Plain-Language Guide to the World's Most Powerful Production System, 2nd edition
By Pascal Dennis, Productivity Press, 2007, 176 pages, $35

Still looking for a comprehensive yet simplified treatment of lean production that can serve everyone from C-level executives to machine operators? Meeting those objectives helped the first edition of this book receive the Shingo Prize for excellence in manufacturing research, and now the second edition offers a look at the following topics:

  • "Production Physics" and Little's Law -- the fundamental equation for both manufacturing and service industries (cycle time = work in process / throughput).
  • Lean Improvement Process -- stabilize, flow, pull, improve the systems.
  • Value Stream Thinking -- combining processes required to bring the product or service to the customer.
  • Hoshin Planning -- using the "Planning and Execution Tree" diagram.

  • A3 Thinking -- how to convey information or "tell stories" using A3.
  • Strategy Development.
  • Problem Solving -- including the "Five Whys" methodology of isolating root causes.
  • The author's lean background derives from Toyota's lean masters in Japan and North America, including experience on the shop floors of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada.

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