Lean Manufacturing
10 Lean Manufacturing Ideas for Machine Shops
In addition to the right mix of traditional strategies, a lean manufacturing toolkit can make high-mix, low-volume machining faster, more predictable and less expensive.
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What Are the Limits to Make-to-Order Manufacturing?
Automated storage and retrieval system maker Modula produces a product with 2,000 parts and hundreds of variations that has to be completed within a customer’s site. Here is a picture of what is possible in making a product tailored to the customer.
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Standardization Leans the Way to High-Mix Automation
An increasingly digitalized, lean manufacturing process begins with a common selection of cutting tools and five-axis machining fixtures.
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Air Casters Keep Shop Floors Damage-Free
Using air casters from AeroGo helps machine tool manufacturer AgieCharmilles, a division of GF Machining Solutions, move equipment around its showroom without denting or scratching its new epoxy floor.
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Lean Manufacturing Means Taking Nothing for Granted
As foreign competition undercut Valtech Corp.'s business throughout the aughts, the company had a choice to make: Switch production to CNC machining for one of its products, or abandon the product line. Starting from scratch with older machine tools has helped the company scrutinize each step of its processes.
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In a Machine Shop, the Labor of Lean is Data-Driven
Approximating single-piece flow in a job shop environment requires an ongoing commitment to analyzing and acting on evidence.
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How To Audit Your Machine Shop Improvements
Here are a few practical approaches for auditing your manufacturing initiatives.
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Continuous Improvement Must Be Continuous
It’s easy to do the work to improve your facility and then want to sit back to see how things go. Unfortunately, this leads to complacency, which is hard to overcome.
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The Three Pillars of Reliable Machine Shop Productivity
This shop looks for a systematic convergence of three disciplines in production management.
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Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Lean Manufacturing
For as long as lean manufacturing concepts have been around, there are some who still do not understand what lean is and why it’s an important part of a continuous-improvement strategy.
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