DEARBORN, MI -- The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) announced the launching of the Lean Registry, a free community connection and collaboration space for lean practitioners. The Lean Registry is brought to you by SME with help from its partners and sponsors, such as The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) and The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.
In 2005, SME engaged hundreds of volunteers from companies, universities, associations and independent practitioners to help create its Lean Certification program. During the development phase, a connector/content sharing tool such as the Lean Registry was conceptually described by volunteers as necessary to help connect practitioners to each other and to those seeking lean collaboration, guidance and expertise. Lean Certification candidates progressing to the Silver or Gold levels must demonstrate that they have mentored and trained others along the way and practitioners frequently need to look outside their company to get mentoring and support. As a result, the Lean Registry was developed.
Lean users cross industry, company and geographic domains. Practitioners work at global enterprises, small companies, independent consultancies, and public institutions. Some work in large departments; others are the original "Lean Lone Rangers". The Lean Registry allows users to post needs/expertise directly to their profile, create virtual groups and make safe connections more easily. Registrants can easily search through shared profiles to find who might match a specific need they have and then send an invitation to connect. Users control if or when to accept a connection and/or share contact information. A Shingo Prize examiner described it as 'Lean Harmony dot com'. From a lean perspective it is about making the value of our people more visible and establishing clear connections to enable value to flow safely.
To join the Lean Registry go to http://SMEConnection.leveragesoftware.com.
About SME
The Society of Manufacturing Engineers is the world's leading professional society supporting manufacturing education. Through its member programs, publications, expositions and professional development resources, SME promotes an increased awareness of manufacturing engineering and helps keep manufacturing professionals up to date on leading trends and technologies. Headquartered in Michigan, SME influences more than half a million manufacturing practitioners and executives annually. The Society has members in more than 70 countries and is supported by a network of hundreds of technical communities and chapters worldwide.
About AME
The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), founded in 1985, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to cultivating understanding, analysis and exchange of productivity methods and their successful application in the pursuit of excellence. AME is practitioner-based, and events and workshops focus on hands-on learning. AME publishes the award-winning Target magazine, and operates several regional and national events each year.
About Shingo Prize
The Shingo Prize was established in 1988 to promote awareness of Lean manufacturing concepts and recognize companies in the United States, Canada and Mexico that achieve world-class manufacturing status. The Shingo Prize philosophy is that world-class business performance may be achieved through focused improvements in core manufacturing and business processes.