David Berger and Leo Scire Part three of our six-part series on integrating your information technology to harness the power of lean manufacturing shows you why you must grab control of the information as it flows through your plant.
Lean companies develop their competitive advantage by sharing more knowledge more efficiently.
To manage knowledge in a lean enterprise, you must implement effective processes, apply the appropriate technology, and develop a strategy to ensure that more knowledge is created and is easily available when it is needed to anyone who might need it. To some users, e-mail is about as sophisticated as it gets when describing their knowledge management tools. A more advanced tool used by some companies is workflow, which can automate a process by routing data through a series of business rules. Most design engineers are familiar with document management systems that help track engineering change orders, design changes, and so on. Regardless of what tools companies use to manage knowledge, lean companies have one thing in common they all have a long-term commitment to continually create knowledge and share it efficiently throughout their organizations.