Manufacturing is alive and well in Traverse City. In fact, did you know that nearly 17% of the jobs in Grand Traverse County are with companies that produce or assemble products?

 

Many of those manufacturers and other local companies have adopted “lean” practices. “Lean manufacturing” is a system that companies can put in place to minimize waste and to continuously improve their processes.

 

The basic idea is this: Look for ways you can save even just a few seconds on any given process that you repeat over time. Then, apply and document that process. Over time, those incremental time savings could add up to huge money savings over the long run. It makes people and companies more efficient.

 

Getting “lean” has helped Bay Motor Products get its products to customers faster, improve the overall quality of those products, and improve staff energy and excitement when at work, according to Andy Robitshek. He said lean is really a win-win because customers are happier because they have better products fast and the staff is happier because they’re become empowered to make improvements to how work gets done.

 

Andy recommends the book, 2 Second Lean, by Pau Akers. He said it’s a good way to understand the basic concepts of lean and inspires you to get started right way.

 

If you want to dig a little deeper into lean practices, Northwestern Michigan College has a program that helps individuals and companies learn how to apply the principles in

 

Lean is not just for work--you can apply lean’s principles to your personal life. Andy said you can apply lean principles at home, too. For example, you could clearly categorize areas in the dishwater where spoons, forks and knives should go--saving seconds for each load over and over again.

 

Thanks for the very interesting and informative presentation, Andy!