Guide helps process industries apply lean principles

Lean improvement efforts lag within the process industries, and most of the pioneering lean efforts in those industries were never recorded to guide the improvement efforts of others.

With “Lean for the Process Industries: Dealing with Complexity”, Peter King corrects this void by providing the first comprehensive resource written explicitly for change agents within the process industries. Drawing on 40 years of application experience at one of the world’s largest chemical and materials manufacturers, King focuses on areas where the improvement needs of the process industry differ from parts assembly manufacturing.

Lean for the Process Industries: Dealing with Complexity …

·        Covers each of the eight wastes commonly described in lean literature, looking at how they manifest themselves in process operations

·        Explains how to adapt value stream mapping for process operations

·        Shows how to identify the root causes of bottlenecks and systemically eliminate them

·        Provides process-oriented modifications that will enhance the usefulness of cellular manufacturing, heijunka production leveling, and pull replenishment systems

·        Discusses the role of process operations management in a Lean strategy

Whether a company manufactures consumer products such as foods, paints and pharmaceuticals, or materials such as bulk chemicals, sheet goods and synthetic fibers, this book explains how to achieve that enviable level of performance where continual improvement becomes inherent to all processes.

About the author

Peter L. King is the president of Lean Dynamics LLC, a manufacturing improvement consulting firm located in Newark, Del. Prior to founding Lean Dynamics, Pete spent 42 years with the DuPont Company, in a variety of control systems, manufacturing systems engineering, continuous flow manufacturing, and lean manufacturing assignments. The past 18 years have been spent applying world class manufacturing techniques to a wide variety of products, including sheet goods like DuPont Tyvek, Sontara and Mylar; fibers such as nylon, Dacron, Lycra and Kevlar; automotive paints; performance lubricants; bulk chemicals; adhesives; electronic circuit board substrates; and biological materials used in human surgery. On behalf of DuPont, Pete has consulted with key customers in the processed food and carpet industries. Pete retired from DuPont in 2007, leaving a position as principal consultant in the Lean Center of Competency.