Each month new articles, book reviews, and other content are added to the Superfactory website. The new content is featured in the monthly e-newsletter which goes out to 50,000 subscribers worldwide, and we will also post a monthly heads-up on this blog.
The featured article is by Bob Emiliani and is titled Woollard's Eighteen Principles of Flow Production. The following is a brief excerpt, and you can read the entire article here.
Frank G. Woollard, the long-forgotten 1920s British pioneer of flow production, made many unique contributions including the establishment of 18 principles of flow production. Woollard recognized that flow necessarily drives everyone to the same principles and eventually to the same practices as well. Knowing this can help us avoid the perennial problem in Lean management of periodically re-discovering that which was previously done so well but has been forgotten.
In his book Principles of Mass and Flow Production, published in 1954, Frank G. Woollard said: “When setting up a flow production plant there are certain basic principles that must be obeyed. They are all simple and virtually axiomatic…” Mr. Woollard identified 18 principles, listed below, all of which relate directly to our current day understanding of Lean production.
The featured book this month is Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream by Robert Martichenko. The following is a brief summary, click here for more information.
Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream will change the way you think about your supply chain and logistics networks giving you a way to act using lean principles to transform and continuously improve. In this pioneering workbook, lean logistics veterans Robert Martichenko and Kevin von Grabe explain step-by-step a comprehensive, real-life implementation process for optimizing your entire fulfillment stream from raw materials to customers, including two critical concepts: calculating the total cost of fulfillment and collaborating with across all functions and firms along the stream.
In other news we have recently launched two new companion websites:
- Superfactory TV: A categorized listing of hundreds of lean-oriented videos.
- Lean Pics: a photo blog showing examples of lean manufacturing concepts and ideas
Our partner Gemba Academy released the first module of a new course titled The Seven Quality Control Tools. Modules have also been added to the Transforming Your Value Streams and Practical Problem Solving courses. Gemba Academy now offers over 85 HD-quality video modules on lean manufacturing topics.
We continually update the other major sections of the website, including:
- PowerPoint Presentations: Over 115 downloadable PowerPoint presentations on lean manufacturing, lean leadership, lean industries, quality, lean enterprise, and safety concepts. Special promotion: purchase a Package or Bundle of presentations and receive the Gemba Academy Lean Starter Package DVD ($97 value) at no cost.
- Factory Toolbox: Almost 300 downloadable forms, procedure templates, assessments, and tools to help you not reinvent the wheel.
- Events Calendar: a listing of lean excellence seminars, workshops, training, and conferences worldwide
- Topic Information: Summaries and resources on over 40 enterprise excellence topics.
- Virtual Factory Tours: Web and streaming video tours of over 100 factories.
For all you LinkedIn junkies, we have created a LinkedIn group for Superfactory, which now has over 5,000 members. Join the group to
network with other Superfactory enthusiasts and to show our logo on your profile. If you haven't explored LinkedIn, check it out to see why over 17 million professionals use it for networking.
We are always looking for new articles and other content. Contact us via the Superfactory website if you would like to contribute to our knowledge base.