Books by William A. Levinson

On the manufacturing shop floor, the principle of "value comes from the production of parts rather than charts" crucially applies when using practical statistical process control (SPC). The production worker should need to enter only a sample's measurements to get immediately actionable information as to whether corrective action (e.g., as defined by a control plan's reaction plan) is necessary for an out-of-control situation, and should not have to perform any calculations, draw control charts, or use sophisticated statistical software. This book's key benefit for readers consists of spreadsheet-deployable solutions with all the mathematical precision of a vernier along with the simplicity of a stone ax.Traditional SPC relies on the assumption that sufficient data are available with which to estimate the process parameters and set suitable control limits. Many practical applications involve, however, short production runs for which no process history is available. There are nonetheless tested and practical control methods such as PRE-Control and short-run SPC that use the product specifications to set appropriate limits. PRE-Control relies solely on the specification limits while short-run SPC starts with the assumption that the process is capable-that is, at least a 4-sigma process, and works from there to set control limits. Cumulative Sum (CUSUM) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) charts also can be used for this purpose. Specialized charts can also track multiple part characteristics, and parts with different specifications, simultaneously. This is often useful, for example, where the same tool is engaged in mixed-model production.Readers will be able to deploy practical and simple control charts for production runs for which no prior history is available and control the processes until enough data accumulate to enable the traditional methods (assuming it ever does). They will be able to track multiple product features with different specifications and also control mixed-model applications in which a tool generates very short runs of parts with different specifications. The methods will not require software beyond readily available spreadsheets, nor will they require specialized tables that are not widely available. Process owners and quality engineers will be able to perform all supporting calculations in Microsoft Excel, and without the need for advanced software.

Praise from Industry Week, January 2003"...In Henry Ford's Lean Vision...Levinson shows how the father of American mass production toiled to eliminate waste, instituted just-in-time delivery of inventory, and applied many other tools now identified with lean..."Japanese manufacturers have made concepts like kaizen (continuous improvement), poka-yoke (error-proofing), and just-in-time famous. When the Japanese began to adopt these techniques from the Ford Motor Company during the early twentieth century, they knew exactly what they were getting: proven methods for mass-producing any product or delivering any service cheaply but well.Henry Ford's methods, however, went well beyond the synergistic and mutually supporting techniques that constitute what we now call lean manufacturing. They included the "soft sciences," the organizational psychology that makes every employee a partner in the drive for success.In Henry Ford's Lean Vision, William A. Levinson draws from Henry Ford's writings, the procedures in his factories, and historical anecdotes about the birth of lean in Japan to show that the philosophy that revolutionized Japanese manufacturing was the same philosophy that grew the Ford Motor Company into a global powerhouse -- and made the United States the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth. Levinson reveals how Ford was ahead of other modern visionaries and discusses why the very ideas that made his company such a success were abandoned in his own country, and why they finally found acceptance in Japan.Henry Ford's Lean Vision is a hands-on reference that provides the reader with proven principles and methods that can be applied in any business or service enterprise. It covers all aspects of building and running a successful enterprise, including Ford's principles for human relationships and the management of physical resources.

The synergy of the human and technological aspects of Lean form what Henry Ford called a universal code for achieving world-class results in any enterprise. This book expands upon and systemizes this universal code into a structure or framework that promotes organizational self-audits and continuous improvement. The first section offers a foundation of four simple but comprehensive Lean key performance indicators (KPIs): waste of the time of things (as in cycle time), waste of the time of people, waste of energy, and waste of materials. The second section consists of an unofficial (and therefore customizable) standard against which the organization can audit its Lean management system.

Equips readers to deal with non-normal applications scientifically and to explain the methodology to suppliers and customers. This book shows how to handle uncooperative real-world processes that do not follow textbook assumptions. It explains how to set control limits and calculate process capability indices for non-normal applications.