Tours give manufacturers an opportunity to learn from others' experiences.
A trip to the Raytheon Integrated Air Defense Center (IADC) in Andover, Mass., concluded IndustryWeek's Excellence in Action series of plant tours for 2009 and provided attendees with an opportunity to witness the defense contractor's implementation of lean manufacturing tools and its emphasis on total employee engagement. Among the practices Raytheon demonstrated were set-up reduction, lean cell design, visual controls, inventory management and workplace organization.
And like any manufacturer engaged in continuous improvement efforts, Raytheon did not allow tour attendees to leave the facility until they had shared comments about how the IADC could improve an already robust focus on operational excellence.
