GE's Shingijutsu Factory
GE's latest thinking on product manufacturing is he Shingijutsu philosophy or Lean production system. They have started applying this at the Louisville Appliance Park manufacturing facility. The first application of the system is for GE's GeoSrping hybrid water heater for which they plan to transfer manufacturing from China to Louisville.
GE hope the approach will cut down on development time by allowing the teams to identify problems early so that adjustments can be made quickly. GE reports have the full breakdown on this at:
http://www.gereports.com/re-inventing-factories-the-kaizen-moonshine-method/