In production plants across the globe, lean manufacturing techniques are being used to meet increasing demands placed on manufacturers. Originally developed as a methodology to make production processes highly efficient, lean techniques have been adopted by more than 72 percent of machine shops across the country. For many of these, the techniques have helped them to dramatically increase their competitive edge, while continuing to remove wasteful practices and contribute to the bottom line.

What is lean manufacturing?

Although the basic lean model was introduced more than 100 years ago, it has continued to evolve over time, from Henry Ford’s continuous assembly lines for the Ford Model T, to the concept of interchangeable parts used by Eli Whitney and Samuel Colt, to the Toyota Production System. These concepts, in addition to a multitude of others, have come together to formulate what we know today as lean manufacturing.

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