It’s easy to think of quality as a niche responsibility, requiring only the involvement of those working in quality-based roles.

The manufacturing world, across industry sectors, has witnessed significant improvements in productivity and competitiveness during the past couple of decades as a result of continuous improvement (CI) methodologies.

In the first article of this series, we saw that Lean and

‘Little things make big things happen.” In just a few words, this cliché sums up MRO and its benefits. But what are these “little things,” and what effects do they have on your company’s bigger picture?

We focus on the work, we focus on the teams, but we rarely focus on the individuals. What does an individual professional need to be fully engaged, enthusiastic, and ready to take on new challenges?

Think of five of those needs.

To many, the world of production and manufacturing is a mystery.

A manufacturing facility can’t operate without a maintenance team. Frankly, most businesses can’t.

The strength of lean thinking and an agile mindset is that, at heart, they are both about continuous improvement. People want to, need to, improve. We need to get better at what we do, see increasing impact, and know we are making a difference.

Norman Bodek, who sadly left us on Dec.

Industrial robots have been in existence and commercially available for more than 65 years.