Lean On Me

Certainly you’ve heard the song, “Lean on Me.” Well we are singing a similar tune here at Mills&Nebraska about “Lean.” It is the concept of Lean. We are becoming Lean for our customers to add value to the products and services you need and dependability from a company that’s been trusted since 1933.

Rob, who is our Lean Production Manager here at Mills & Nebraska, has over fifteen years’ experience working with Lean philosophies in several industries and companies. These concepts and tools have been applied in plastics thermoforming, aluminum die casting, and now architectural doors and hardware.

James Womak defined Lean Manufacturing in his book The Machine that Changed the World in 1990. His book argued that lean thinking would greatly succeed in “every value-creating activity from health care to retail to distribution.” At Mills&Nebraska we are taking him seriously and doing just that – adding value for the customer which creates additional benefits.

Lean Thinking is a journey toward becoming a world class company. Understanding a few basic concepts of thinking in a way to reduce waste and increase profitability is key to this journey.

What do this look like at M&N?

• Value - Specify value from the standpoint of the end customer
• Quality Performance – fewer defects and rework
• Higher Efficiencies - eliminate steps that do not create value
• Faster Development - value-creating steps occur in tight sequence so product flows smoothly toward the customer
• Greater Customer Satisfaction - customers pull value from the next upstream activity
• Improved Supplier Relations - wasted steps removed so perfect value is created with no waste
• Satisfied Customers = Satisfied Employees

When your next project needs architectural doors and hardware, just think of the song and “call on me.”