the three elements of Lean: 5S, TPM, and Standard Work Apex emphasizes. “Those were the three things that were most logical for the machining equipment he was putting in,” explained Rice. While some elements make intuitive sense—such as the
fact that a good 5S program will start the company with good habits in clean, well-organized workspaces—others might seem a bit incongruous for a contract manufacturer. Take Standard Work. The contract engineering business model requires a wide variety of parts and jobs, from low-volume complex parts to high-volume simple designs. “Standard Work makes sense if you take the approach of defining those tasks you always do, regardless of the project you are working on,” explained Rice. “You will have practices, such as organizing tasks from CAD drawings, each time you receive an order. It is those practices that we emphasized in the Standard Work instructions.” What advice would Rice and Coast from MMTC offer for a start-up establishing a ground-up lean system? “You should
have your basic business model, equipment selected, and lay- out so that you can establish a one-piece flow,” offered Coast. “At the same time, you need to set it up so that it is flexible and establish Standard Work that is simple—and keep it simple—until you start to grow. Then your quality system can grow with you.” ME