Big 3 needs to apply lean lessons beyond factory floor.(Insight)(Big 3 Precision Products Inc.)

Automotive News, August, 2004 by Jewett, Dale

Byline: Dale Jewett

The Big 3 have spent more than a decade studying the lean manufacturing methods of Toyota and Honda and trying to make their assembly lines more efficient.

But it is only within the past few years that the U.S. automakers made big gains in closing the gap with their Japanese competitors.

The difference is that the Big 3 have gone beyond just copying individual techniques, such as andon cords, says Ron Harbour, president of Harbour Consulting in Troy, Mich. The automakers are adopting manufacturing systems that attack waste.

The key to success, Harbour says, is to get to a common system for making decisions and improvements throughout the organization. But for companies as large as the Big 3, that will take years....

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