Lean manufacturing / Lean product development

I recently visited the Tuthill plant (pumps) in Fort Wayne, IN with the APICS (Association for Operations Management) local chapter.  The plant has implemented lean production and lean product development systems a couple of years ago.  This was one of the best plants I have visited because how they implemented lean manufacturing, and also that what they did with lean product development (TPS).
The manufacturing floor was clean, organized, and high visibility end to end. They implemented a kanban card-pull system, returnable containers without cardboard boxes or skids, and other systems such as Heijunka and simple scheduling aids to visually and dynamically track progress throughout the day. One of their accomplishments (in addition to considerable reduction in inventories) is not using computers to drive the daily production schedule on the floor.

Part of lean production is reducing incoming inventories. Tuthill selects and trains its suppliers to deliver JIT as much as possible. They even offer free training and help in implementing lean at their suppliers to keep those inventories low and eliminate incoming inspections.

Now to the lean product development. This was the first time I have seen that part of product development (the work plan management) implemented to that level.  It consisted of large felt boards with days running vertical (like a Gantt) and tasks (on sticky notes) pinned in the different days, with color codes for each function and green dots representing completed tasks.  Very simple in planning/tracking, and effective in enabling collaboration.  We were told the teams gather on daily basis around these boards to study the plan and make adjustments.

This was truly an inspiring experience!

Nanotechnology and the US government

Here are some acronyms that were used during a Nanotechnology conference I attended this morning titled “What the Federal Government is doing that may affect nanotechnology commercialization”.

EHS, SBIR, EDGE, HBITC, SEF, FDA, EPA, Class I/II/III, NIH, ICTA, FFDCA, OTC Drugs, NIOSH, ABA, TSCA, NMSP, CNT, OECA, GAO, OSHA, USPTO, USPC,

Guess what countries filed the most “nanotechnology” patents in the US (2008)?
Japan 47%, Germany 11%, S. Korea 7%, and France 5%, then the US.

Patents granted (in descending order): IBM, Canon, UC-Cal, Seiko Instruments, Hitachi, Olympus, Stanford, Advanced Micro Devices, HP, and Rice University.

The Size of Things, showing how small nano materials are

Speech by Steven Chu @ IPFW

Yesterday (6/2/09), I attended a short speech by Dr. Steven Chu, the U.S. Energy Secretary, at Indiana University Purdue University at Fort Wayne. In his speech, Dr. Chu announced the grovernment’s plan for “stimulating” alternative energy industries.

He stressed the need to develop alternative energy sources such as Wind Energy and Geothermal Energy, and announced nearly $50 million in stimulus funding to advance commercial deployment of geothermal heating pumps (GHPs). Secretary Chu says expanded use of GHPs will create jobs for engineers, manufacturers and technicians while reducing the use of fossil fuels. He also shared his dream one day of wide use of electric “plug-in” vehicles.

Preparing for Windinana Conference/Expo

ESC has partnered with TQS (Auburn, IN) to provide a supplier development program to help suppliers from other industries be qualified and certified to work in the Wind Energy industry. We are preparing for the Windiana Conference and Expo which will be held in Indianapolis July 21 & 22.

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