University of Washington: Keen on Lean
Faced with a deficit just two years ago, the University of Washington’s in-plant has turned its financial situation around and repositioned itself for success by implementing Lean production practices.
In fact, the operation decided to shut down its large-format offset presses in 2010.
"The equipment had been paid off for years, but we no longer had enough offset work even to justify their existence in our facility," Davis explains.
So the in-plant sought improvement, not by bulking up with equipment, but by slimming down via Lean process-improvement practices developed by the Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp. The basis of the Lean philosophy has been described as "preserving value through less work."
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