Lean manufacturing is not about adopting Toyota’s tools, or using Japanese terminology, it’s a continuous improvement philosophy that becomes a way of life, says plant manager Billy Taylor.
Goodyear’s Fayetteville plant in North Carolina was struggling to survive in 2010. It was a high cost plant and it wasn’t meeting market demand. The plant was producing 31,200 tires a day, but the market wanted between 36,000 and 38,000. Something had to change.