Lantech Blog

Lantech CEO Jim Lancaster’s book, The Work of Management: A Daily Path to Sustainable Improvement, is earning national attention for its detailed and honest account of Lantech’s shift to a lean management model. In June, Industry Week featured an article about the book, which chronicles how the company infused lean methodology into every facet of its operation.

Lantech CEO Jim Lancaster, author of the new Lean Enterprise Institute book "The Work of Management", explains on the latest Lean Blog podcast why and how he revitalized improvement tactics and strategy.

In a recent interview with Planet Lean, Jim Lancaster, Lantech CEO and owner, sat down with Roberto Priolo to discuss his new book The Work of Management.

If you are a manufacturing company or distributor, you most likely are using a warehouse or distribution center to make sure you are able to store inventory, replenish store fronts, and easily send goods to customers or receive goods for manufacture or distribution.

One of the driving motivations behind lean manufacturing is the elimination of waste. By eliminating waste, getting to the root of problems, lean manufacturing helps manufacturers reduce costs and increase productivity. These core concepts have led businesses from all industries to adopt lean techniques, and one of the key players in the world of lean manufacturing is Jim Womack.

Turning to the Forklift Boss....

Marshall Cromer writes a periodic blog on forklift topics. It's a good source for some insights into forklift operations and budgeting. In a recent series he covered:

• How to Buy a Forklift - seven planning guidelines
• What does your forklift cost to run/hour - with an explanation of why $4/hour in maintenance may be the key factor in gauging when it's time for replacement
• How electric forklifts save money on fuel & maintenance - a deep dive into the cost implications of different power options

Spec'ing a stretch wrapper for your requirements

You're thinking about buying, replacing or upgrading a stretch wrapper. One of the first and most fundamental questions you always ask is, "how will it be loaded - with a forklift or a pallet jack?"

Note: This blog post has generated so much attention that we've decided to run it one more time.

The foundational philosophy behind lean manufacturing is to eliminate waste. It's not to work faster or better, it's to eliminate waste of any kind that's not adding value.

We're baseball fans here in Louisville. Not only do we have our own Triple-A ball club, the Louisville Bats, we're an hour away from the Bats' home team, the Cincinnati Reds. So we get a lot of baseball here in the city.