Winner of the 2003 Shingo Prize! Reorganizing work processes into cells has helped many organizations streamline operations, shorten lead times, increase quality, and lower costs. Cellular manufacturing is a powerful concept that is simple to understand; however, its ultimate success depends on deciding where cells fit into your organization, and then applying the know-how to design, implement and operate them. Reorganizing the Factory presents a thoroughly researched and comprehensive "life cycle" approach to competing through cellular work organizations. It takes you from the basic cell concept and its benefits through the process of justifying, designing, implementing, operating, and improving this new type of work organization in offices and on the factory floor. The book discusses many important technical dimensions, such as factory analysis, cell design, planning and control systems, and principles for lead time and inventory reduction. However, unique to the literature, it also covers in depth the numerous managerial issues that accompany organizing work into cells. In most implementations, performance measurement, compensation, education and training, employee involvement, and change management are critically important. These issues are often overlooked in the planning process, yet they can occupy more of the implementation time than do the technical aspects of cells. Includes: Why do cells improve lead time, quality, and cost? Planning for cell implementation Justifying the move to cells, strategically and economically Designing efficient manufacturing and office cells Selecting and training cell employees Compensation system for cell employees Performance and cost measurement Planning and control of materials and capacity Managing the change to cells Problems in designing, implementing, and operating cells Improving and adapting existing cells Structured frameworks and checklists to help analysis and decision-making Numerous examples of cells in various industries

Vols. 24, no. 3-v. 34, no. 3 include: International industrial digest.

This book covers the subject of digital manufacturing. It provides a practical guide for readers on using computer aided design (CAD), computer aided engineering (CAE) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) and other computer assistive tools for the design of products, machines, processes and system integrations through the case studies of engineering projects. The book introduces a thorough theoretical foundation and discussion of the historical development, and enabling technologies of digital manufacturing. It also covers a broad range of computer aided tools for a variety of applications including: geometric modelling; assembly modelling; motion simulation; finite element analysis; manufacturing process simulation; machining programming; product data management; and, product lifecycle management. Practical Guide to Digital Manufacturing uses many real-world case studies to illustrate the discussed applications, making it easily readable for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as engineers with the needs of computer-aided design and manufacturing knowledge and skills.

Japanese manufacturers have made concepts like kaizen (continuous improvement), poka-yoke (error-proofing), and just-in-time famous. When the Japanese began to adopt these techniques from the Ford Motor Company during the early twentieth century, they knew exactly what they were getting: proven methods for mass-producing any product or delivering any service cheaply but well. Henry Ford's methods, however, went well beyond the synergistic and mutually supporting techniques that constitute what we now call lean manufacturing. They included the "soft sciences," the organizational psychology that makes every employee a partner in the drive for success. In Henry Ford's Lean Vision, William A. Levinson draws from Henry Ford's writings, the procedures in his factories, and historical anecdotes about the birth of lean in Japan to show that the philosophy that revolutionized Japanese manufacturing was the same philosophy that grew the Ford Motor Company into a global powerhouse -- and made the United States the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth. Levinson reveals how Ford was ahead of other modern visionaries and discusses why the very ideas that made his company such a success were abandoned in his own country, and why they finally found acceptance in Japan. Henry Ford's Lean Vision is a hands-on reference that provides the reader with proven principles and methods that can be applied in any business or service enterprise. It covers all aspects of building and running a successful enterprise, including Ford's principles for human relationships and the management of physical resources.