The Push for Lean Standards and Certification

PharmaManufacturing.com
06/08/2005

What does Lean really mean? It depends on who you ask, which makes it extremely difficult to integrate Lean efforts within companies and across industries, and to formulate widely accepted best practices.

For just this reason, the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Association of Manufacturing Excellence and the Shingo Prize for Excellence have set out to establish common Lean standards and professional certification. “The significance of this program is global,” says Mark Tomlinson, SME director of membership. “Lean Certification has the potential not only to standardize Lean practices within global organizations, but to also align entire extended supply chains to a common standard and practice of Lean.”

The initiative would also, according to Tomlinson, create training and development opportunities for manufacturing practitioners, and allow companies to structure Lean development programs for employees.

The greatest challenge of the effort will be to differentiate professional certification from the many certificate programs that exist for Lean, Tomlinson adds. For more information, contact Tomlinson or SME at 313-271-1500.