Leaning the way to satisfy customers: A case study

This article describes the application of a lean scheme for waste elimination to eliminate a problem of high inventory level and low customer service level of a Mexican steel company. This problem was originated by a highly variable and long production lead time that resulted from a decentralized and uncoordinated production and inventory planning and control system, overproduction decisions based on increasing productivity and an inefficient plant layout and material handling system. The implementation of the solutions is still in progress, and a description of the advances and results is given.