Lean on Me

Value streaming and customer pull are fundamental pillars in lean manufacturing. Based largely on the Toyota Production System and often confused with Motorola's Six Sigma principles, today's lean initiatives are designed to replace batch-and-queue mentality with flow production, but what impact does that have on designing machine controls and automation? Do controls engineers at industrial machine builders need to approach the technology differently? Does it change the way they receive the critical information that allows them to design the automation? How is lean different? Read our April 2008 cover story, "Lean Lets Value Swim Upstream."