Author Archive: Don Kivell
Don Kivell is President of Lean Manufacturing Solutions Inc. With over thirty years of industry experience, he has gained the reputation as a catalyst to effect positive change in any manufacturing environment. From the shop floor to plant management, Don has extensive experience in a variety of industries, and he has successfully implemented lean manufacturing solutions with a proven track record for creating profitable, flexible, customer-focused manufacturing environments with highly motivated employees. His diverse background includes experience in operations management, lean manufacturing, plant layout, cellular manufacturing, quick changeover, training & development, Kaizen/rapid improvement, manufacturing strategies and cultural change. His work was also the focus of the Canadian Government's video on Advanced Manufacturing Technologies.
Sustaining Lean: The Steering Committee
You always hear vendors say that in order for customers to successfully implement new products users must first secure management buy-in. In other words, management must wholeheartedly support the change that is being made. When it comes to putting lean manufacturing in place, management cannot simply provide buy-in. Instead they must commit to doing everything [...]
Sustaining Lean: Effective Audits
In my last column I discussed the benefits of Kaizen blitzes in sustaining lean. In particular, we saw how valuable these events are in teaching employees to constantly think about how they might make their work areas more efficient. This time I want to talk to you about audits. Audits also help manufacturers sustain lean, [...]
Sustaining Lean: Empowerment
In part one of this three-part series, we established that lean manufacturing can only help you over the long term if you have committed to making it a company wide standard operating policy. If, instead, you make a raft of positive changes during your lean transition and then expect the program to be self sustaining, [...]
Sustaining Lean: Multiply Your Successes
For more than 40 years, “Lean Manufacturing” techniques have been achieving outstanding success rates. First, in Japanese plants and now in advanced factories throughout North America, it has proven to be a cost effective and flexible approach to achieving superior customer satisfaction. Many shop floors, however, still look and perform as they did years ago, [...]
