In the 1990s, lean manufacturing revolutionized how we organized and ran assembly lines. Now, manufacturing is undergoing another revolution—only this time, it’s digital. In the factory of the future, software and data analysis will be every bit as important to product assembly as robots, riveters and nutrunners.
How will this new revolution affect our efforts to become lean? Will it be an impediment or a help? After all, many manufacturers are still in the initial stages of lean development, and they are years behind in digital development.