Lean Assembly: The Nuts and Bolts of Making Assembly Operations Flow [Hardcover]

Michel Baudin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1563272636 | ISBN-13: 978-1563272639 | Publication Date: October 2, 2002 | Edition: 1

With examples drawn from aerospace, electronics, household appliance, personal products, and automotive industries, Lean Assembly covers the engineering of assembly operations through:

• Characterizing the demand in terms of volume by product and product family, component consumption, seasonal variability and life cycle.
• Matching the physical structure of the shop floor to the demand with the goal of approaching takt-driven production as closely as possible.
• Working out the details of assembly tasks station by station, including station sizing, tooling, fixturing, operator instructions, part presentation, conveyance between stations, and the geometry of assembly lines as a whole.
• Incorporating mistake-proofing, successive inspection, and test operations for quality assurance.

  Lean Assembly differs from most other books on lean manufacturing in that it focuses on technical content as a driver for implementation methods. The emphasis is on exactly what should be done. This book should be the "dog-eared" and "penciled-in" resource on every assembly engineer's desk.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It differs from other lean manufacturing books in that it focuses on technical content as a driver for implementation. -- Industrial Engineer, December 2003

Takt time, line balancing and assembly cells are presented in great detail... Virtually every page contains clear drawings or photographs. -- Quality Progress, November 2003

This book is a welcome and much needed study of many cases and techniques for assembly line design. -- Target (the journal of the AME). 3rd Quarter 2003

From the Inside Flap

"Lean Assembly will be a vital resource to those at the forefront of Lean implementation. It shows the reader how to properly analyze and design assembly systems, while working out all the details such as incorporating mistake-proofing concepts. Lean Assembly will find itself on the desk of the Lean implementer rather than on a bookshelf collecting dust."
Dale Bayley, Lean Champion, Racor Division, Parker Hannifin

"Designing and implementing lean production systems presents a never-ending host of curious puzzles. Experienced practitioners as well as novices will find Michel Baudin's Lean Assembly full of creative solutions."
Tom Berghan, Lean Specialist, Korry Electronics

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Productivity Press; 1 edition (October 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563272636
• ISBN-13: 978-1563272639
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #998,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a consultant, trainer, and author. Since 1987, I have consulted for such clients as Honda of America, Dell Computer, Canon Virginia, Boeing, Raytheon, Unilever, MetalEurop, the CIADEA automotive group, Hoechst, and others on lean manufacturing implementation, and for high-technology companies like Hewlett Packard, Intel, Motorola. Winbond, and National Semiconductor on production scheduling, process transfer from R&D to production, and computer system architecture for manufacturing applications. I have also designed the MS/X OnTime production scheduler and led the EU-funded INRECA research project.

Since 1995, I have taught short courses on the details of lean manufacturing, the management of lean manufacturing implementation, the lean approach to quality, and lean manufacturing for small and medium-size companies, as well as customized in-house seminars for consulting clients. These courses have been offered to the public through UC Berkeley extension, the University of Dayton's Center for Competitive Change, and the Hong Kong Productivity Center, and have been used in house by Honda, Boeing, Canon, Raytheon, Applied Materials, VDO, Siemens, and others.

My prior experience includes managing a division of Teknekron Corporation, leading a group at Schlumberger/Fairchild that designed, tested, and supported maintenance management, production scheduling, and quality control software that is in use in semiconductor factories; giving technical support for CIM installations in Japan on behalf of Consilium corporation; and implementing the OPT scheduling system in two General Motors factories.

Besides my three books, I have written about 25 articles and papers in various journals since 1977. I have a Master's Degree in Engineering from the Ecole des Mines, Paris, and have done research at the Hahn-Meitner Institute of Berlin and the University of Tokyo. I am a senior fellow of the University of Dayton's Center for Competitive Change, and a member of the IMSE External Advisory Board of Ohio University. I am a native French speaker, but also work in Japanese, German, and Spanish.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lean Assembly, May 25, 2003

By 

Charles Parks "Chaz Glass" (Athens, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lean Assembly: The Nuts and Bolts of Making Assembly Operations Flow (Hardcover)

This excellent book should be read by all who are involved in lean systems. It is written with the practitioner in mind and is full of the type of information that you would expect from an experienced consultant such as M. Baudin. This well developed book shows practical tools and techniques that are not found in other lean books. For example, chapter 2 shows how to use Product-Quantity analysis for production layout. This important tool is virtually ignored in the current popular lean literature. Another one of the strengths of this book is that the author discusses how the different lean tools should be applied in different manufacturing settings. For example, he recognizes the differences between automotive assembly and electronic assembly and shows what will and will not work in these different settings. So, no matter what your product is or your production volume, you will find this book to be invaluable. If you only read one book on lean manufacturing, this should be it. So many of the current books on lean manufacturing are written at such a high level that they are virtually useless to those who must actually design and operate a lean manufacturing system. Baudin's book will help you implement lean, not just talk about it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very detailed guide to Lean Assembly, March 24, 2005

By 

Mark Graban "Blogger, author, consultant, spe... (Keller TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lean Assembly: The Nuts and Bolts of Making Assembly Operations Flow (Hardcover)

Michel Baudin is a very credible and experienced lean consultant. This book is a very detailed and precise guide for setting up lean assembly lines, with topics covered ranging from line layout and setting, labor staffing, and materials/part presentation. I use this guidebook very often when working in a factory going through lean transformation efforts. In this book, you get very specific ideas and approaches, not high-level lean generalizations. Highly recommended and I look forward to the next book, "Lean Logistics."

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clear examples of lean applications, November 13, 2006

By 

Francisco Sancho (Savannah, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Lean Assembly: The Nuts and Bolts of Making Assembly Operations Flow (Hardcover)

Before reading this book I would recommend reading something to help you understand the lean philosophy (Lean Thinking or the Toyota Way for example). Once the philosophy is understood, this book will give you good examples on how to apply some of the ideas and tools from Lean into a real world situation and will help you get your imagination going on how to apply it to your specific situation. The book covers a broad range of industries, from small high volume assemblies to aircraft assembly.