" In those manufacturers who are attaining lean enterprise-level performance, the cultures of their companies have become incredibly focused on metrics, and in fact the organizations themselves have become so metrically driven that the culture itself embraces the concept of measuring performance and improvement (Nash, Poling 2007). Lean positioned for cost cutting vs. customer-driven change. This is also a critical mistake many manufacturers make, and often becomes the main focus these

Manufacturing Seven Key Elements for Successful Implementation Norman Binette, Jr. Biddeford, Maine Manufacturing organizations are built on the premise that they possess the ability to provide a wide variety of quality products for their customers. This reputation is dependent upon the constant review of existing processes and the identification of new and innovative methods of production that will enhance and increase the diversification of product lines. One such process that has proven itself

This allows for greater levels of planning and cooperation, and fills in the information gap that currently exists between the factory floor and the rest of the supply chain. Lexmark provides an example of waste. Recently, the company found itself with more than $1 million in scrap from one lot. Engineers had insufficient information to isolate and fix the problem, so were instead relegated to crisis control. With more accurate

falling into a functional rut. This is exemplified in the approach Kuiper Leda also takes with regard to optimizing lead times throughout the productions scheduling and fulfillment processes as well. In summary, Kuiper Leda has many of the foundational processes, systems and roles in place to enable an efficient demand-driven supply chain network (Barrett, 2007), including the ability to synchronize suppliers, inbound quality management and inspection, production scheduling, manufacturing, and

Use of single version of the truth and single information Balanced set of strategic metrics (Financial and non-financial). New methods of cost accounting (ABC, Target Costing). Internal vs. External Focus (Benchmarking and Self-Assessment). Process Management and Measures (value delivery). Stakeholder value measures Uniform set of measures Causal relationships between measures across all levels. Source: Lieberman; (1994; et.al.). Automotive Industry Analysis Entering 2007 it is clear that Japanese firms, lead by Toyota, will be at parity with and potentially surpass the

Second, greater education about the values and benefit of this approach to managing projects needs to be completed (Brady, Maylor, 2010). Third, the inertia and lack of motivation to change needs to be quantified and shown to managers to see how their lack of commitment and urgency are hurting their businesses. All of these factors center on the value of time and its precious nature as a resource (Brady,