New at Superfactory - April 2007

Each month new articles, book reviews, and other content are added to the

.  The new content is featured in the free

which goes out to 50,000 subscribers worldwide, and we will also post a monthly heads-up on this blog.

New content in April includes:

The featured article is from regular contributor and Shingo Prize winner Bob Emiliani, and is titled The Persistance of the Current State.  The following is a brief excerpt, and you can read the entire article here.

Between 80 and 90 years ago, the leaders of the then-popular Scientific Management movement, a precursor to Lean management, began revealing their views about why most managers resisted improvement efforts. What they learned then can provide insights into how we can more effectively advance Lean management.  The development of Toyota’s production and overall management system bears a small gratitude to the ideas of early management thinkers and pioneers of Scientific Management, an offshoot of mechanical engineering, which would later become known as industrial engineering.

The Other Perspectives section has the fourth in a four part series by Don Kivell titled Sustaining Lean: The Steering Committee.  The following is a brief excerpt, and you can read the entire article here.

You always hear vendors say that in order for customers to successfully implement new products users must first secure management buy-in. In other words, management must wholeheartedly support the change that is being made. When it comes to putting lean manufacturing in place, management cannot simply provide buy-in. Instead they must commit to doing everything they can to help employees to set up new procedures and keep them running smoothly. Management must be intimately involved in the continuous improvement process, as part of a steering committee.

The featured book for this month is Value Stream and Process Mapping by Quarterman Lee.  A short synopsis is below, and you can learn more about the book or order it

.

This book acquaints the reader with Value Stream Mapping as well as Process Mapping, and thereby provides a dual set of tools. This dual set is far more effective than either technique alone. The Strategos Guide to Value Stream and Process Mapping has helpful tips on facilitating group VSM exercises and helps put VSM in the greater Lean context. With photos and examples of related Lean practices the book focuses on implementing VSM, not just drawing diagrams and graphs. This is the most comprehensive and practical book on the subject to date.

We continually update the other major sections of the website, including:

• Online Learning Center: Self-paced online learning modules on the core concepts of lean manufacturing.
• Events Calendar: a listing of lean excellence seminars, workshops, training, and conferences worldwide
• Topic Information: Summaries and resources on over 40 enterprise excellence topics.
• History of Excellence: A growing timeline of notable events that helped shape current-day enterprise excellence
• PowerPoint Presentations: Over 50 downloadable PowerPoint presentations on lean manufacturing, quality, enterprise, and safety concepts.
• Factory Toolbox: Almost 300 downloadable forms, procedure templates, assessments, and tools to help you not reinvent the wheel.
• Tools and Assessments: Downloadable assessment tools.
• Virtual Factory Tours: Web and streaming video tours of over 100 factories.

We are always looking for new articles and other content.  Contact us via the

if you would like to contribute to our knowledge base.