3 New Workshops on Lean Manufacturing Debut in Midwest

BROOKLINE, Mass., Sept. 27 -- New workshops on problem solving and warehousing for lean production are among eight workshops being presented Oct. 25, 2005-27 in St. Louis, MO, by the nonprofit Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) as part of its Midwest regional training on lean production.

Workshops run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the St. Louis Airport Marriott. LEI runs workshops in a different region every month on how to implement the principles of lean manufacturing. The workshop schedule day-by-day is:

  Oct 25
  -- Value-Stream Mapping (1 day ): Learn a fundamental initial step that
     creates the blueprint for applying other lean tools and running kaizen
     events most effectively.
  -- NEW! Problem Solving (1 day): Harness the DNA of successful,
     sustainable lean implementations. You'll learn and practice the plan-
     do-check-act (PDCA) problem solving method in this interactive
     workshop.
  -- NEW! Lean Warehousing: Introduction (1 day): Learn how to create the
     right preconditions for implementing lean in a warehouse by analyzing
     current volumes, performance, capacity, and workforce allocation at a
     detailed level.

  Oct 26
  -- Creating Continuous Flow (1 day): Get the complete benefits of cellular
     production by focusing on the critical pacemaker process, the people
     factors of the operation, and how to balance the work to takt time.
  -- Policy Management (2 days): A major problem in a lean transformation is
     taking on too many initiatives at once. Policy Deployment guides you
     in "de-selecting" initiatives down to the ones the organization can
     really achieve while aligning them with company strategic objectives.
  -- Business Process Value-Stream Mapping (1 day): Learn how to apply
     value-stream mapping to administrative, professional, and
     transactional activities. You'll learn how to identify existing waste
     in nonproduction value streams by drawing a current-state map and how
     to design a leaner, more efficient process by mapping the future
     state.
  -- NEW! Lean Warehousing: Implementation (2 days): Learn how to begin
     implementing lean principles step-by-step into a warehouse, using
     techniques such as lean storage, operational diagramming, standardized
     work, workload planning, and visual management.

  Oct 27
  -- Making Materials Flow (1 day): How to implement, sustain, and improve
     a dependable material-handling system for purchased parts using pull,
     timed delivery routes, a central supermarket, and a Plan for Every
     Part.

For complete content descriptions and to register, go to the Training page of the LEI web site at: http://www.lean.org/Events/ or call (617) 713-2900. Space is limited.

Lean manufacturing cuts costs and inventories rapidly to free cash and resources, which is critical in a competitive world economy. Lean supports profitable growth by improving productivity and quality, reducing lead times, and freeing resources. For example, it frees office and plant space and increases capacity so companies can add product lines, in-source component production, and increase output of existing products. Companies implementing lean can take advantage of economic growth by increasing sales while controlling costs.

The Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit training, publishing, and research center founded by James P. Womack PhD, in August 1997 to give people simple but powerful tools that enable them to apply a set of ideas known as lean production and lean thinking, based initially on the Toyota Production System. For more information visit the LEI News page at http://www.lean.org/WhoWeAre/LEINews.cfm.