Why Should U.S. Companies Invest in Lean Manufacturing? In today’s global market there is an increased need for companies to be able to compete with one another more proficiently. United States manufacturing companies have learned the hard way that it is difficult to compete with manufacturing firms from other countries. Overseas manufacturing firms have traditionally lacked the capital to compete with their United States counterparts in terms of scale, but have nonetheless been capable of thinking outside of the box to excel in manufacturing. Over the last several decades, the increased competition and loss of market share has driven many United States manufacturing firms to reassess their traditional manufacturing practices and conform
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Ford believed that there was a way to produce the extremely expensive automobile, a luxury only the rich could afford, and make it affordable to the middle class. Ford understood that if he was able to produce enough cars and control his processes he could drive down the cost of building automobiles, and yet still profit from their sales. Some of the ways Ford was able to accomplish this came from ideas that were not his own, such as utilizing Eli Whitney and Nicolas LeBlance’s ground breaking manufacturing technique of interchangeable parts, as well as utilizing standardization of gauging systems. Ford also was adept at implementing practices from other businesses, and was able to create a moving assembly line in his plants from inspiration he garnered visiting a slaughter house and seeing the method for moving product to specialist who did only one task in a series of many jobs. With his new mass production system, Ford was now able to completely assemble an automobile in only an hour and half, whereas it has previously taken over thirteen (Nicholas, pg 6). Ford’s system spread to other automobile manufacturers, notably General Motors, and by the time of World War II, United States’ manufacturing was unequalled …show more content…
More companies than ever are using Lean Manufacturing to help reduce operating expenses and concentrate on offering value to their customers which has allowed them to be successful despite the increased competition that exists in the modern global economy. However, smaller companies have been less willing to adopt Lean thinking than larger companies, largely due to implementation costs (Bhamu pg. 5.1). This brings about the titular question, why should United States companies invest in Lean Manufacturing? As an example of the success that Lean Manufacturing creates, there is one company that should be examined above all others, Toyota. Today Toyota is the world’s largest manufacturer of automobiles, and has achieved levels of success that are unprecedented in manufacturing. As a small company with little capital, Toyota was still able to compete with the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, and today it is the world’s largest. As a testament to the value of Lean Manufacturing, all of the active automobile manufacturers in business today utilize the method established at
Ford believed that there was a way to produce the extremely expensive automobile, a luxury only the rich could afford, and make it affordable to the middle class. Ford understood that if he was able to produce enough cars and control his processes he could drive down the cost of building automobiles, and yet still profit from their sales. Some of the ways Ford was able to accomplish this came from ideas that were not his own, such as utilizing Eli Whitney and Nicolas LeBlance’s ground breaking manufacturing technique of interchangeable parts, as well as utilizing standardization of gauging systems. Ford also was adept at implementing practices from other businesses, and was able to create a moving assembly line in his plants from inspiration he garnered visiting a slaughter house and seeing the method for moving product to specialist who did only one task in a series of many jobs. With his new mass production system, Ford was now able to completely assemble an automobile in only an hour and half, whereas it has previously taken over thirteen (Nicholas, pg 6). Ford’s system spread to other automobile manufacturers, notably General Motors, and by the time of World War II, United States’ manufacturing was unequalled …show more content…
More companies than ever are using Lean Manufacturing to help reduce operating expenses and concentrate on offering value to their customers which has allowed them to be successful despite the increased competition that exists in the modern global economy. However, smaller companies have been less willing to adopt Lean thinking than larger companies, largely due to implementation costs (Bhamu pg. 5.1). This brings about the titular question, why should United States companies invest in Lean Manufacturing? As an example of the success that Lean Manufacturing creates, there is one company that should be examined above all others, Toyota. Today Toyota is the world’s largest manufacturer of automobiles, and has achieved levels of success that are unprecedented in manufacturing. As a small company with little capital, Toyota was still able to compete with the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, and today it is the world’s largest. As a testament to the value of Lean Manufacturing, all of the active automobile manufacturers in business today utilize the method established at