Lean Bronze case studies
Lean Bronze · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Lean Certification Bronze Level is one of the credential tiers listed by SME among its technical certification programs, appearing alongside Silver Level, Gold Level, and the Lean Knowledge Certificate. It is aimed at manufacturing professionals who want formal recognition of their grounding in lean principles and practice, and it suits early-career practitioners, team members and engineers building toward more advanced lean credentials. The Lean Bronze case studies are 5 cases and about 4,729 words.
1The Defect Offender Board
Ridgeline Beverage is a 240-person co-packer running three shifts, fourteen months into a lean journey. The suggestion system is lopsided: of 1,130 ideas submitted last quarter, 82% came from first shift and 41 came from third shift.
941 words, about 5 min2Two Ways to Fix Line 3
Kestrel Machining runs a six-machine CNC cell producing one valve-body family. Weekly demand is 1,500 pieces.
970 words, about 5 min3Four Plants, Four Flavors of Lean
Meridian Components has four plants and a five-year-old lean program with no common definition of success. Plant A runs 5S with quarterly audits and scores 4.6 out of 5; it has logged 142 kaizen events in two years, but on-time delivery is 86% and customer complaints are up 22%.
894 words, about 4 min4The Shared Paint Line
Northline Valve paints three valve families on one shared powder line running two shifts: 840 minutes of net available time per day after breaks and maintenance. Line cycle time is 30 seconds per piece.
972 words, about 5 min5The Five Whys That Stopped at the Picker
Cedar Point Distribution ships 12,000 order lines per day from six pick aisles. The mis-pick rate is 0.9%, about 108 errors daily, each costing roughly 45 in replacement, credit, and freight - near 1.2 million a year.
952 words, about 5 min