Over the last decade and a half, many U.S. manufacturers have learned how to use the various tools, concepts, and techniques of JIT (lean) manufacturing with some obvious improvements in their facilities. Yet, although they've been learning how to apply kanban, poka-yoke, SMED, takt time, one-piece flow, and kaizen, they are unable to sustain a truly waste-free enterprise. In fact many factories, once they are left to their own devices to implement lean manufacturing, lose their way and abandon their efforts or implement half-measures that fall short of tapping into the true benefits of lean manufacturing.

In Fast Track to Waste-Free Manufacturing: Straight Talk from a Plant Manager, John Davis takes the position that over the last decade and a half U.S. manufacturers have been working with JIT concepts that have been almost totally inadequate for their particular needs. Why? According to Mr. Davis, for many batch manufacturers these tools move far too slowly to change the most important element in their factory: the existing system of production. He believes part of the problem of why lean manufacturing is taking so long to take hold in the United States has been the piecemeal fashion in which manufacturers have adopted the tools and methods. Mr. Davis says, "What has occurred, as more and more companies are trying to adapt JIT in their plants, is that they realize it is far more complicated to implement than ever anticipated. This is because the process has both a physical and physiological...