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Going
lean
Boeing
group learns about lean at Center for Manufacturing
Gift
to support research
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Sandra
Postel, vice
president and general manager of Boeing Production
System,
presented a check for $200,000 to
UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr.
Boeing's gift to UK will support research on
lean manufacturing by
graduate students in engineering.
Engineering Dean
Thomas
W. Lester
is
at
left.
|
A
team from Boeing, the world's largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners
and military aircraft combined, visited the University of Kentucky Center
for Manufacturing Thursday to learn more about lean manufacturing and
the Toyota Production System (TPS).
The
visit by the team from Seattle was a reward for a contest at Boeing
in which employees submitted ideas for improvements. Boeing is interested
in adopting the Toyota Production System, so the winning team spent
a day with Toyota in Georgetown Wednesday before coming to UK. With
a gift of $200,000, Boeing
will support research by UK engineering graduate students that will
focus on the challenges and requirements for a successful transition
to lean (TPS-like) manufacturing.
Boeing
team members, headed by Sandra Postel, vice
president and general manager of Boeing Production System, were greeted
by UK President Lee T. Todd, Jr. and College of Engineering Dean Thomas
W. Lester. The group heard a presentation on principles of lean manufacturing
by Rich Alloo, Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America
Inc. (TEMA) Executive in Residence at UK, and had a brief training
session in the Center's lean manufacturing laboratory before taking
part in lean simulations. In the simulations, each team member took
a role in manufacturing operations, which are measured on quality and
productivity.
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Eugene
Burton of Boeing took charge of parts delivery during the lean
manufacturing simulation. Other Boeing team members
worked at various
manufacturing operations. |
"We
are thrilled with the Boeing Corporation's decision to include UK 's
Center for Manufacturing. and its lean manufacturing program in the
corporation's long-term efforts to establish itself as a leading practitioner
of the Toyota Production System," Lester said.
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