Organize the work area:

Visual feedback system for the plant floor that indicates production status, alerts when assistance is needed, and empowers operators to stop the production process.

A method from TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) for engaging operators to carry out basic maintenance activity (such as cleaning, lubrication, and inspection activity).

Identify which part of the manufacturing process limits the overall throughput and improve the performance of that part of the process.

Manufacturing where work-in-process smoothly flows through production with minimal (or no) buffers between steps of the manufacturing process.

A method from the Theory of Constraints for synchronizing production to the constraint while minimizing inventory and work-in-process. The “Drum” is the constraint. The “Buffer” is the inventory neede [..]

A philosophy that reminds us to get out of our offices and spend time on the plant floor – the place where real action occurs.

A form of production scheduling that purposely manufactures in much smaller batches by sequencing (mixing) product variants within the same process.

Align the goals of the company (Strategy), with the plans of middle management (Tactics) and the work performed on the plant floor (Action).

Design equipment to partially automate the manufacturing process (partial automation is typically much less expensive than full automation) and to automatically stop when defects are detected.