Manufacturing's Singular Revolution

摘要

It's a basic tenet of mass production: Making things in batches is the most efficient way to manufacture anything. So why, then, is lean manufacturing evangelist Ted Duclos arguing that America can revitalize its manufacturing base by making things one at a time? "It's counterintuitive in the minds of many," admits Duclos, president of Michigan-based Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies (a joint venture between Germany's Freudenberg and Japan's NOK). Having obsessively thought for years about how to improve manufacturing processes, he's convinced he's on to something big.