
Lean Manufacturing and Flexibility Presently, Lean Manufacturing has gained tremendous momentum as the answer to inefficient processes throughout all functions and industries. Ultimately, the goal is to eliminate as much waste as possible so customers can get quality product as quickly and inexpensively as possible. At D&R, there are several basic lean manufacturing principles to which we adhere in order to achieve the quality and productivity standard necessary to perform as a world class manufacturer: Quality in the shop requires a constant effort to reduce variation. All employees must be empowered to act as inspectors. Workers are responsible for every part that they produce and by immediately inspecting their work, they build quality into the part instead of retroactively detecting its success or failure in later stages. The sooner an operator recognizes an error, the less waste produced. Product defects found in late stage production waste tremendous amounts of time and money. The causes of wasteful activities are not unpredictable or random factors; the causes are inefficient processes. Continuous improvement of all facets of our business is the most important factor to our long term success. The external customer is the ultimate customer. Internal customers must manage their needs within the context of the company’s need to satisfy the external customer. The needs of an internal customer should not conflict with those of the external customer. There is another simple tenant that D&R adheres to in order to support customer needs: Flexibility. At times, the industries we support can have erratic and unpredictable demand patterns. Even in times of predictable demand, our customers each have unique methods of operating. In order to support these distinctive needs, D&R has modeled its systems and processes to allow for change. Whether the change relates to production pull-ins or a quick turn PO, we have the built-in flexibility that allows us to accommodate change.

Lean Manufacturing and Flexibility

Presently, Lean Manufacturing has gained tremendous momentum as the answer to inefficient processes throughout all functions and industries. Ultimately, the goal is to eliminate as much waste as possible so customers can get quality product as quickly and inexpensively as possible. At D&R, there are several basic lean manufacturing principles to which we adhere in order to achieve the quality and productivity standard necessary to perform as a world class manufacturer:

Quality in the shop requires a constant effort to reduce variation.
All employees must be empowered to act as inspectors. Workers are responsible for every part that they produce and by immediately inspecting their work, they build quality into the part instead of retroactively detecting its success or failure in later stages.
The sooner an operator recognizes an error, the less waste produced. Product defects found in late stage production waste tremendous amounts of time and money.
The causes of wasteful activities are not unpredictable or random factors; the causes are inefficient processes.
Continuous improvement of all facets of our business is the most important factor to our long term success.
The external customer is the ultimate customer. Internal customers must manage their needs within the context of the company’s need to satisfy the external customer. The needs of an internal customer should not conflict with those of the external customer.

There is another simple tenant that D&R adheres to in order to support customer needs: Flexibility. At times, the industries we support can have erratic and unpredictable demand patterns. Even in times of predictable demand, our customers each have unique methods of operating. In order to support these distinctive needs, D&R has modeled its systems and processes to allow for change. Whether the change relates to production pull-ins or a quick turn PO, we have the built-in flexibility that allows us to accommodate change.