Publishers take manufacturing how-to manual internationally

BOULDER – A local publishing company is working to appeal to its Spanish-speaking readers.

Flow Publishing, a Boulder company producing books on the subjects of lean, flow and Six Sigma manufacturing, has released a Spanish version of one of its primary texts – “Fundamentals of Flow Manufacturing.”

The company has released an English version of “Fundamentals of Flow Manufacturing” in India, and it is working on a Chinese version pending government regulations. It also is considering an English release of the book in Germany.

“The U.S. and Mexico have a very strong economic connection, with more than 1.5 million workers in Mexico along the border working in ‘maquiladoras’ (export assembly plants),´ said Richard Rahn, principal and co-author of the text. “The manufacturing work force in the U.S. is largely Spanish-speaking, especially in the border states like California, Texas and Arizona. The work force in most Colorado manufacturers is mostly Spanish-speaking as well.”

Lean is a business philosophy and set of tools designed to reduce lead times, improve quality and productivity, reduce inventory and improve working capital for large companies. Flow and Six Sigma are subsets of lean.

Traditionally used in manufacturing environments, the methods are being applied to health care, banking and government. “I would guess that 90 percent of the Fortune 500 is applying lean methods, but the level of commitment will vary widely. The automotive and electronics industries are very familiar with lean and Six Sigma,” Rahn said.

The book was translated by professional lean experts in Chihuahua, Mexico and edited at the University of Chihuahua. The government of Chihuahua is discussing lean training opportunities with some of Rahn’s Mexican colleagues, and he said the book has been “very helpful in promoting that conversation. Otherwise, feedback has been light.”

About 400 copies have been sold so far.

Rahn and his partner Gerard Leone work with several large corporations with Mexican operations through their separate Boulder-based consulting company, TLR Solutions Inc. The company was formed at the beginning of this year through a merger of FlowAlliance Inc. and Business Process Consulting Group. The bulk of their business comes from this company.

TLR’s clients include John Deere and Lexmark International Inc.

TLR has worked with Orcon Corp., a California-based producer of aerospace materials and flooring products, for four years. The company has 120 employees in Union City, Calif. and another 60 in Ensenada, Mexico.

Bob Zajdel, vice president and general manufacturer of Orcon, said his company teaches its Hispanic workers about lean principles, though it doesn’t use the book published by Flow Publishing. He also said Rahn went to Mexico to help teach workers about lean.

“They taught our organization how to do Kaizens (systematic lean events), and since being engaged with Richard and the Kaizen process, we’ve had about five Kaizens per year.”

As a result, Zajdel said he’s seen significant efficiencies, inventory reductions and head-count savings.

“Lean and flow manufacturing are the ways that companies can compete in the 21st century,” Rahn said. “Without it, companies anywhere in the world have trouble being competitive.

“In the aerospace industry, as an example, the Supplier Excellence Alliance projects that 50 percent of the current suppliers will be gone within the next five years because of mergers, acquisitions and business failures. The ones that survive will have improved lead times, cut waste, freed up working capital and who are able to become more of a solution provider to their customers. The key business strategy to achieve these goals is lean manufacturing.”

Lean is relevant to overseas manufacturing because it can help with competitive advantage – a corporation’s ability to sustain a profit higher than the industry average – according to Daria Kotys-Schwartz, professor of mechanical engineering with the University of Colorado at Boulder.

“Outsourcing can reduce cost. However, you risk longer lead times and quality problems,” she said. “Some believe if you control your lead times and quality with overseas companies (through lean methods), then the reduced cost is beneficial.”

Mexico isn’t one of the biggest manufacturing players in the world, according to Kotys-Schwartz. “As an international GDP contributor, Mexico is below 5 percent. The largest players are Europe, Japan, China and India.”

Future plans for the companies include release of a book on the value stream maturity model in June, which will be the centerpiece for TLR’s training and consulting work. The company also recently formed a relationship with the Colorado Association for Manufacturing and Technology to do more work in Colorado.

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