Sometimes adopting lean manufacturing means adding more people to a process. Eric Ethington, a lean product and process development coach, previously worked in the auto supply business. In a pump assembly product line, the typical cell had six operators. They came up with a new cell design that called for three more operators. The new cell helped the process really hum, Ethington says. It was so successful that they received a call from the finance department to check the data since it was now cheaper making it in the United States vs. Mexico.
Productivity had gone up, and investment in that line went down by 40% since they were able to get more out of the same equipment.