When lean tools are used effectively every day, manufacturers eventually arrive at a destination: lean culture. All the continuous improvement efforts along the way will drive a cyclical culture that's sustainable.

ASSEMBLY was born in October 1958 with the name Assembly & Fastener Engineering. Although its name was later shortened to Assembly Engineering, and subsequently to ASSEMBLY, it was then, and is today, a magazine of ideas and methods.

Before the availability of electric lights, early automobiles were equipped with gas lamps for headlights and oil lamps for taillights. Electric lights did not become commonplace until the 1920s.

One of the top transmission assembly plants in the world is Ford Motor Co.'s Van Dyke facility in Sterling Heights, MI. It's part of a network of Ford factories that mass-produce axles, engines and other power train components used in the company's cars and trucks.

Project quality and product quality are different things, but they are inextricably linked—or they should be. It is possible for a project to seem successful and deliver the anticipated result, only to find out later the product is not what was expected.

With nearly a century of experience manufacturing trucks, it's no surprise that Kenworth is one of PACCAR's most successful arms. Kenworth, along with fellow PACCAR brand Peterbilt, achieved a record 30.7 percent of retail market share for Class 8 trucks in the U.S. and Canada in 2017, up from 28.5 percent in 2016.

Much of today's manufacturing involves the use of physical templates which can be costly and cumbersome.

Trucks moved roughly 71 percent of the nation's freight by weight in 2016, according to the American Trucking Association. That's 10.55 billion tons of freight or $738.9 billion in gross freight revenue. To move all that stuff around, some 34 million trucks logged more than 450 billion miles.

In the Chicagoland area, the home of ASSEMBLY Magazine for the past 60 years, freight trains are a daily fact of life. It's hard to drive anywhere without encountering at least one long train with numerous cars pulled by powerful locomotives.

Parts come in all sizes, shapes and weights. But, any type of part isn't good until it's at the right location, at the right time and at the right height on assembly lines.