According to the authors, while most product development companies have adopted ‘Lean Manufacturing’ practices, embracing the opportunities afforded by ‘Mixed Model’ production can dramatically decrease lead times and exponentially increase profits. In ‘The Complete Guide to Mixed Model Line Design’, manufacturing professionals are given the proven practical method to build their products according to this game-changing model.
Boulder, CO -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/08/2014 -- As the world of manufacturing becomes increasingly competitive, those leading the industry must be open to both exploring and adopting new best practices. Toyota is often considered a benchmark example of this culture, especially for their successful utilization of the ‘Toyota Production System’ (also known as ‘Lean Manufacturing’). While thousands of companies have followed suit, a powerful new book by a team of Lean Manufacturing veterans is finally exposing many of the ‘secrets’ of Toyota’s methods.
Everything is laid out in ‘The Complete Guide to Mixed Model Line Design’, which introduces the subject, and gives engineers and Lean professionals a concrete step-by-step plan that directly models that of Toyota and other leading manufacturers.
Synopsis:
Manufacturing in the 21st Century, whether in the United States or anywhere in the world, needs to be able to produce a variety of different products with the same production resources, without defects, on time, and with high productivity. The world of large batches and infrequent line changeovers, resulting in huge inventories, quality risks, and long lead-times, is a thing of the past. Many of the people tasked with designing production lines, like manufacturing engineers and Lean professionals, are not trained or certified in the Lean industrial engineering methodology of mixed model line design. This in-depth guide was written to help fill that knowledge gap.
Included are the following topics:
- The step-by-step data gathering, validation, calculation, and physical design methodology for mixed model line design.
- The use of simulation modeling tools for designing and testing, a critical and often neglected part of the mixed model strategy.
- Necessary worksheets and supporting documents included on a CD.
- A sample implementation example, which follows the development of a mixed model line from chapter to chapter.
“Mixed Model design entails a company building a family of different products under the same roof, with the ability to switch from one product to another quickly and with ease,” says Richard D. Rahn, who wrote the book in collaboration with Gerard Leone. “Companies adopting this model can expect up to a 90% reduction in the amount of elapsed time it takes to build a product, huge improvements in labor productivity, and a smaller factory footprint.”
Continuing, “Everyone can learn something from this system and our new book presents the entire method in a step-by-step fashion that any engineer or manager can understand and apply.”
The book is available in two binding types; perfect binding (standard paperback) and metal comb – which can be opened fully without breaking the spine.
‘The Complete Guide to Mixed Model Line Design’, published by Flow Publishing, is available now: http://bit.ly/1lRnXER.
About the Authors
The authors are 20-year Lean veterans of dozens of line design projects, and bring their deep knowledge of the subject to hundreds of companies and industries. They have taught and implemented the mixed model methodology with many of the world's leading companies, including GE, John Deere and Boeing.