Lean Manufacturing
Lean Manufacturing is what I do. That’s what puts the food on my table, and that’s what everyone at work looks to me for. I also happen to find it very interesting and fulfilling, so it’s a great job for me. Funny thing is that most people have no idea what I’m talking about when I say that I’m into Lean Manufacturing. The semi-technical definition I use for Lean Manufacturing is “a continuous improvement philosophy that focuses on the relentless identification and elimination of waste.” No, I’m not talking about garbage disposal, what I’m talking about is waste in a process: “Thoughtless or unnecessary expenditure, consumption, etc.” according to my little desktop dictionary. “So what’s so fancy about that?” you might ask. Nothing much, really, except that most people have difficulty actually seeing the waste in a system. About half of the work of someone doing lean is actually seeing waste for what it is, and the Lean way without waste can almost seem counterproductive; for example, ...