Free Lean Manufacturing Guides

Several lean manufacturing guides are available free for the asking. The cover areas such as 5S, kaizen and kanban. Here are some links:

A free guide to standard 5s colors shows the color coding system that has developed for use with 5S. There is no organization that establishes standards for 5S, but this color coding system has come about as a result of common usage.

There is also a free guide to implementing 5S available. It provides a quick overview of 5S, describing what it is, the benefits of 5S, and how to start your own 5S program.

If you'd like to learn about kaizen, a kaizen quick start guide is available from a poster printer web site. Poster printers are used to enlarge 8-1/2" x 11" originals to poster-sized. They provide a quick and convenient way to create visuals to support all of your lean manufacturing efforts.

Kanban is a method for reducing costs and waste, and improving quality and productivity by improving your logistics. It is often assocated with JIT (Just In Time) delivery, which is a key component of lean manufacturing. A free introductory guide to kanban is available from the Facility Signs web site.