Posted 1:43 PM by Mark Graban
1. Mark Graban

2. Professional Services Senior Consultant, Factory Logic Inc. Founded in Austin, Texas in 1998, Factory Logic is the first company to team lean manufacturing specialists with experienced software professionals to develop a standard software product built around the principles of lean production. The result is Streamline - a comprehensive off the shelf Lean Factory Management System. Through the deployment of Streamline software and the guidance of experienced consultants, Factory Logic is helping a growing number of leading companies in the automotive, electronics, industrial equipment and aerospace industries move to the next level of performance on the Journey to Lean. In my role, I help implement Factory Logic's Streamline software and provide lean manufacturing and supply chain consulting services.

3. LFM Class of 1999.

4. In my first job out of college, I worked as an Industrial Engineer in a General Motors plant that was in early stages of a lean manufacturing transformation. I had shopfloor responsibility for a number of "lean fundamentals", including 5S and standardized work initatives. In my current role, I have worked with and visited factories in various stages of the lean journey, seeing products ranging from aerospace parts, $500,000 yachts, and fish sticks. I have learned that there are certain over-riding lean principles that are universal (value, flow, pull, perfection) and that certain tools are applicable in certain environments and at certain stages. 5S, alone, does not "equal lean" any more than "kanban equals lean." 5S is an important foundational step, but is only one piece of the lean puzzle.

5. I am hoping to learn more about the lean perspectives of different industries, union vs. non-union, etc. I am hoping to hear about how 5S has fit or not fit into the larger-scale lean initiatives. One topic I hope will be discussed is "Office 5S" -- does it create value to force your engineers into having clean desks? (I would argue that it does NOT add value the same way that 5S reduces waste on the shopfloor, where a common workspace and tool area might be shared by multiple shifts and multiple operators).