This week’s selection is “Smart Manufacturing: The Lean Six Sigma Way” by Anthony Tarantino.
This book explores the collision of two management phenomena in the manufacturing sector: lean manufacturing and industry 4.0.
“Lean Manufacturing” has been around for a long while and is quite mature. It’s a practice undertaken by many manufacturers, as it provides a predictable means to gradually slim down the effort required to operate production lines. It relies on communication and change, and has over the past few decades, helped reduce the cost of goods substantially.
Industry 4.0 is a transformation in industry that’s taking place right now, and is also billed as the “fourth Industrial Revolution”. The prior industrial revolutions were:
- First: The harnessing of coal and development of the first mechanical devices to produce goods
- Second: The harnessing of gas, oil and electricity to enable the development of vehicles, lighting, appliances and many industrial and consumer products
- Third: The harnessing of nuclear energy and the development of electronics, which has enabled our world today.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is all about “smart”, where machines, devices and participants leverage communication technologies to optimize methods of production. We see this today in 3D printing where devices are filled to the brim with sensors to collect operational data. This data is then analyzed after the fact, or in real time to better tune processes and outputs.
This book looks at the conjunction of these two phenomena: how can Industry 4.0 be made lean? What does that even mean?
While providing an introduction to the concept of lean and Six Sigma, the book then applies those principles to several manufacturing disciplines, including continuous improvement tools, supply chains, security, logistics, big data, sensors, AI, networking, edge computing, 3D printing, robotics, factory floors, and the increasingly important role of women in manufacturing.
If you’re looking to help build the factories of the future, the material in this book could be essential.
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