This week’s selection is “Job Shop Lean: An Industrial Engineering Approach to Implementing Lean in High-Mix Low-Volume Production Systems” by Shahrukh A. Irani.
Lean Manufacturing
Lean Manufacturing has been around a while, but it is still quite relevant. Wikipedia defines it as:
“Lean manufacturing, or lean production, is a production method derived from Toyota’s 1930 operating model “The Toyota Way” (Toyota Production System, TPS). The term “Lean” was coined in 1988 by John Krafcik, and defined in 1996 by James Womack and Daniel Jones to consist of five key principles; ‘Precisely specify value by specific product, identify the value stream for each product, make value flow without interruptions, let customer pull value from the producer, and pursue perfection.’”
Lean is a set of methods that allow one to streamline a manufacturing process, like taking the fat away, hence the “Lean” name. It’s a process that should be mandatory in every manufacturing operation, and is in many cases.
Job Shop Lean
This book explores the entire phenomenon of Lean Manufacturing. The author, who has spent considerable time in the industry, explains the concepts behind lean, including process, tools, implementation and more.
Examples are shown of how waste was removed from specific manufacturing scenarios, which can be adapted to your own situation.
The book explains a few new twists in Lean Manufacturing, including “Value Network Mapping” which highly complex manufacturing scenarios now may benefit from.
3D Printing and Lean Manufacturing
I believe this book could be of interest to the 3D printing community due to the increased interest in manufacturing, particularly lately with several 3D printer manufacturers adding end-use production as a new line of business.
In many cases it’s possible these manufacturers and others in the 3D print space are not yet familiar with the concepts of Lean Manufacturing. If one is not familiar with them, then it’s probable the resulting manufacturing operation is not as efficient as it could become.
The best course of action would be to learn more about Lean Manufacturing and attempt to implement at least portions of it within the 3D printing manufacturing systems that are now evolving.
And where better to start than by learning the basics from a book dedicated to Lean Manufacturing?
Via Amazon
