精益生产英文资料，继Lean Operations 之后的Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing is not a new management “fad” that has to be implemented and eventually discarded when the next management initiative arrives on an unsuspecting company work force. It is a manufacturing system just as “Craft Production”, “The Factory System” and “Mass Production” have been, and are, manufacturing systems. A company can choose to use the Lean System or can continue to use their current system, whatever that may be.
Many people have sought to clearly define the “Lean Manufacturing” system. To me, it is a system that attempts to flow product through a factory at an even pace with the minimum of non-value-added wastes of enforced idle time and high in-process inventory commonly associated with “Mass Production”. Multi-skilled people work flexible machines in the system to manufacture a wide variety of high quality products with short order lead times and low product cost. The system took Toyota 35 years to develop and put in place so the transformation from “Mass Production” to “Lean Manufacturing” will not be done over night.
Today a great number of large companies are establishing their own “Company Manufacturing Systems” that incorporate the basis of Lean production. Sooner or later these companies will turn their attention toward their 1st and 2nd tier suppliers and expect evidence of lean techniques just as they have done in the past with quality systems. Some suppliers may not have the resource or knowledge to respond.