(Bosch Rexroth: Hoffman Estates, IL) -- Developed with lean manufacturing expert, Richard Rahn, Rexroth’s lean manufacturing podcast episode 17, “Lean Transformation in the Aerospace Supply Chain,” explores how to apply lean manufacturing concepts to the aerospace industry to improve productivity and operational excellence. The episode is the latest in a series of Rexroth podcasts dedicated to lean manufacturing education.

Rahn, who is the principal of the Leonardo Group Americas, explained one of the challenges in implementing lean for aerospace suppliers is the industry’s high-mix, low-production environment. “Lean techniques were originally developed for a much higher volume, repetitive manufacturing environment, and it’s difficult to apply the traditional tools for implementing lean to the aerospace environment, which produces maybe 10 or 20 of any given product,” says Rahn. “It’s harder to make the investment in standardizing the product flow.”

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