It is easy to learn the philosophy and the concepts of kaizen. It is quite another challenge to translate the philosophy into action. While most books expound on the underlying principles and theory, Kaizen Assembly: Designing, Constructing, and Managing a Lean Assembly Line takes you step-by-step through an actual kaizen event. This approach demonstrates in detail the mindset, the processes, and the practical insight needed to transform your current assembly line into a world-class lean operation.
Chris Ortiz brings the experience of over 150 successful kaizen events to the pages of this unique guide. Using clear, succinct, and unambiguous language rather than more general and esoteric terms found in other books, he explains how to implement waste reduction, 5S, time and motion studies, line balancing, quality-at-the-source, visual management, and workstation and assembly line design. Taking a unique approach, the book follows an example of the assembly process for an electric bike including illustrations of nearly every step along the way. Ortiz even includes the most valuable teaching tool of all: past mistakes, how they were overcome, and how to identify and avoid them.
Providing expert guidance that will last long after the consultants have left, Kaizen Assembly supplies the tools you need to make kaizen and lean assembly a permanent fixture at the heart of the shop floor. |
Review
I have read plenty of books on kaizen and how it can be used in a lean manufacturing enviroment, and this one is by far the best I have come across. Kaizen Assembly provides so much information on assembly line design, I was first surprised Ortiz had unlocked his consulting vault. The chapter on conducting time studies has really helped me get a better understanding of how to do them. We struggled for a long time on this and I feel his system is the best. Ortiz clearly has been doing kaizen and kaizen events. The information in this book on how to conduct a kaizen event could have only been written by somone who has been in the kaizen trenches for some time. He brings together kaizen and lean assembly in a language I can understand by showing real life examples of 5S, workstation design, visual management, and the 7 wastes. His outline for planning and execution is again so perfectly mapped out, I am looking forward to trying out his implementation techniques. By Catherine L.
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