Quality people are now looking at Lean manufacturing as one of the strategies that can help manufacturers ride the current storm.
An article on Charleston Business Journal says that American manufacturers can compete with cheaper and sometimes faster foreign companies.
Dan McDonnell, manager of GE’s lean initiative in the company’s transportation division, says, ““We absolutely can compete. It doesn’t matter that they have an unfair advantage. I really believe that lean is North America’s bridge to the future.
As an example of the value of lean manufacturing, McDonnell showed a piston pin created for locomotives built by GE’s transportation division.
Producing the pin before lean manufacturing costs the company $107 per pin. The best quote for the same pin from China was $59. After implementing “kaizen†— a waste-reduction, continuous improvement philosophy that’s the foundation for lean manufacturing — GE produced the pin for $69.
