A group of seven companies has formed a consortium to promote the benefits of lean manufacturing in the UK. The companies – Bosch Rexroth, Bosch Power Tools, the Leonardo Group, K Hartwall, ADM Automation, Sick and SSI Schaefer – have set up a demonstration production cell at Rexroth’s Cirencester site and have been hosting free half-day seminars to explain and demonstrate how lean manufacturing can help companies to improve their efficiency, productivity, competitive position and profitability.

The cell includes the latest developments in lean manufacturing technologies and is being used to manufacture real products – metal dollies that can be produced in a wide range of variants to show how lean manufacturing caters for high-mix manufacturing. The seminars combine formal presentations with practical sessions in the production cell. The consortium expects about 80 people to attend the seminars each week.

The Lean Factory Group UK is modelled on similar organisations operating in five other European countries. After the initial series of seminars in Cirencester, the group is considering taking the demonstration cell to other parts of the UK and Ireland.

ADM Automation’s contribution to the demonstration cell is a low-cost automated guided vehicle system that it has developed in-house.