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Lean manufacturing resource guide

Our listing of these resources here implies no endorsement of products or services.

Sources of devices used in lean manufacturing

Industry associations

Retrieve by industry category

You see a list of categories and click on one to access the list of matching associations.

Factory tours

The superfactory site offers a list of factories in various industries that offer either actual or online tours of their facilities.

Commercial sites related to lean manufacturing

Why do we point you to the sites of other consulting organizations? Are we nuts? Even the firms that are listed here do not do reciprocate, so why do them a favor? Actually, we are concerned about helping you, not them. The companies we list have information on their sites that we have found useful, but we do not otherwise endorse them in any way.

Lean Supermarket

The Lean Supermarket offers the supplies needed for Lean Manufacturing implementations - 5S, kaizen, kanban, SMED, and more, from clipboard and forms to erasable paint and powerpoint slides.

New Product Dynamics

New Product Dynamics is Preston Smith's consulting firm specializing on new product development and a complementor to MMTI. New Product Dynamics and MMTI have collaborated on projects from the Midwest to China.

Universal Training - Hong Kong

Universal Training is a professional organization with the objective of serving Hong Kong based manufacturers by offering specialized manufacturing technology training programs conducted by overseas industrial experts, many of whom are provided by MMTI.

Adams & Associates Executive Search Consultants

This firm specializes in recruiting executives with a lean manufacturing experience. If you need a plant manager or a vice president of manufacturing with this kind of background, they may be able to help you.

Productivity Press

Productivity Press was the first and is still the largest publisher of English translations of Japanese books about JIT/lean production, as well as of Michel Baudin's "Lean Assembly" and "Lean Logistics." We sell many of their books in our bookstore.

S.M.I.L.E. homepage

This site could use a more descriptive name! It belongs to consultant John Henry, whose specialty is changeover time reduction on packaging lines. While we haven't seen John Henry's work, we like his web site. It contains useful information on a well defined special topic.

Lean Enterprise Institute

James Womack has left MIT and started the "Lean Enterprise Institute." Are the two events related? Possibly. The lean enterprise institute web site advertises seminars, conferences, and benchmarking studies.

Good Manufacturing Practices

E-Tutorials for Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Balanced Scorecard, ISO 9001, Strategic Planning, and Supply Chain
Management.

Academic sites related to lean production

Utah State University: the Shingo Prize
The Shingo prize is awarded yearly to North American companies for excellence in lean production.