Proven solutions for every high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturer
August 17, 2026
WELCOME TO THE CONFERENCE
Thank you for your interest in a conference that targets high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturers. Specifically, its audience is all the HMLV manufacturers, such as steel service centers, custom furniture manufacturers, machine shops, custom fabricators, Engineer-To-Order manufacturers of complex assemblies, collision repair shops, etc., who have annual sales anywhere between $5 million per year and $100 million per year. Of course, you can add to this list all hospitals, shipyards, maintenance facilities, etc. too!
If you are an HMLV manufacturer, then this conference is where you are guaranteed to get answers to the toughest management and operational challenges that you face today. It is guaranteed to be an excellent investment of your time and the registration fee that you pay. Why so? The reason is the lineup of speakers and the topics on which they will present. For further details about the presentations in every session, please click on this link to see the agenda for the conference. And if you wish see the credentials of any presenter, please click on their name because it is a hyperlink to their LinkedIn profile page.
If I may bore you with a little history, I held this conference every year from 2002-2011 while I was a faculty in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at The Ohio State University. Back then I had no industry experience. Still, every year the conference would attract 50+ attendees. Some of them were seasoned industry practitioners who taught me so much about how they managed and grew the job shops they owned. Now fast forward to the present when I have the experience and expertise gained from 12+ years of hands-on implementation of Job Shop Lean. Therefore, I am confident that all of us at the conference will have answers to quite a few of the challenges faced by a job shop owner (or anybody who works in a job shop or other high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturing facility).
I will end by expressing my deep gratitude to the highly-credentialed speakers who have agreed to present at this conference. Thank you for your support!
ORIGIN OF JOB SHOP LEAN (Link)
RESULTS FROM IMPLEMENTING JOB SHOP LEAN
- Weber Metals (Los Angeles, CA) reported a one-time work-in-progress (WIP) inventory avoidance of $3,000,000 after implementing the proposed shop re-layout and scheduling strategy
- TECT (Cleveland, OH) reduced floor space requirements with their new layout which reduced their annual facility leasing costs by $350,000
- TECT (Cleveland, OH) estimated that their new layout reduced travel time for forgings produced for a key customer by ≈ 85%
- Ulven Forging (Hubbard, OR) implemented a new layout and invested in new equipment that resulted in an annual savings of $137,000
- Ulven Forging (Hubbard, OR) reduced the average time it took their front office to respond to an RFQ from 10.2 days to 2.4 days
- SIFCO Forging Industries (Cleveland, OH) implemented a work cell in their Non-Destructive Testing department that increased Equipment Uptime by 20% and increased Labor Productivity by 10%
- Bula Forge & Machine Inc. (Cleveland, OH) reorganized their Shipping Department which eliminated excess work-in-process (WIP) valued at ≈ $130,000
- G&G Mfg. Co. (Cincinnnati, OH) implemented a flexible flow cell that reduced Manufacturing Lead Time for a representative part from 12 working days to 5 working days
- Alpha 1 Induction Service Center (Columbus, OH) implemented a work cell that yielded a first year’s cost savings of $64,000
- Hoerbiger Corporation of America (Houston, TX) estimated that implementation of a machining cell would (1) reduce order fulfillment time from 16 days to 5 days and (2) reduce annual material handling labor by 51 hours
- Hoerbiger Corporation of America (Houston, TX) implemented a new layout for their Shipping Department with ≈ 50% less floor space requirements
- Hirschvogel Inc. (Columbus, OH) reduced setup time on one of their cold forging presses from 125 minutes to 94 minutes which enabled an estimated increase in annual production valued at $300,000
LEARNING RESOURCES FOR JOB SHOP LEAN
- Approach for Implementing Job Shop Lean (Link)
- PFA: Essential Foundation of Job Shop Lean (Link)
- PFAST: Software to Implement PFA (Link)
- Commercial Software for Implementing Job Shop Lean (Link)
- Past Projects:
- YouTube Channel (Link)
- Publications:
GOALS OF THIS CONFERENCE
With the current efforts to re-shore outsourced manufacturing and overcome the challenges of tariffs, millions of small and medium-sized high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturers in the US have to implement manufacturing practices that achieve additional performance gains beyond those achievable with Lean, Six Sigma, TOC, etc. That is because they operate like job shops and not like any of Toyota’s mixed model assembly lines! This conference will introduce attendees to Job Shop Lean and show them how to implement a manufacturing strategy that:
- Adapts the Principles of Lean (Link) for Make-To-Order high-mix low-volume (HMLV) custom manufacturers
- Blends Industrial Engineering science with the simple, intuitive and proven methods of the Toyota Production System (aka Lean)
- Delivers significant benefits to small manufacturers like McWane Plant & Industrial Inc., in Houston, TX (Link).
PRIMARY AUDIENCE FOR THIS CONFERENCE
- This conference will benefit any attendee who is (a) working for a high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturer, (b) is reasonably conversant with Lean (as based on the Toyota Production System) and (c) has prior experience in implementing Lean.
- This conference is most applicable to job shop-type high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturers with these SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes — 20xx, 23xx, 24xx, 25xx, 3061, 3069, 31xx, 3363, 3364, 3398, 3441, 3443, 3444, 3446, 3449, 3462, 3463, 3471, 3479, 3541, 3542, 3543, 3544, 3545, 3546, 3547, 3549, 3612, 3613, 3624, 3625, 3629, 3672, 37xx, 38xx and 39xx. Examples of these manufacturers are forge shops, machine shops, custom fabricators, MRO (repair) facilities, foundries, steel service centers, etc.
- This conference will benefit industry professionals with job titles like:
| Business Owner/President COO VP – Operations Director – Operations Operations Manager Engineering Manager Plant Manager | Consultant Facility Planner Manufacturing Engineer Industrial Engineer Production Supervisor Lean Six Sigma Practitioner Lean Champion |
TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS CONFERENCE
- Learn how Job Shop Lean is a radical departure from existing CI (Continuous Improvement) strategies like Lean Six Sigma, TOC and Operational Excellence
- Learn new concepts and practices developed specifically for high-mix low-volume (HMLV) manufacturing
- Understand the importance of informed leadership instead of leadership
- Learn new problem-solving tools such as Mind Maps, 5W2H Questioning, ECRSSA Thinking, etc.
- See the benefits of establishing an industry-university partnership with an Industrial and Systems Engineering department
- Meet with peers and manufacturers who have implemented Job Shop Lean, especially the leadership and implementation team at McWane Plant & Industrial, Inc.’s facility in Houston, TX
- ….. and much more
AGENDA FOR THIS CONFERENCE (Link)
REGISTRATION FOR THIS CONFERENCE (Link)
VENUE FOR THIS CONFERENCE: (Link)
CBB124 (Room 124 in Classroom and Business Building), 4242 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Houston, TX 77204
Parking near Classroom and Business Building
Campus Map
UH Parking & Routes
SPONSORS OF THIS CONFERENCE
• Lean & Flexible, LLC (Link)
• UH Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (Link)
POINT OF CONTACT FOR THIS CONFERENCE (Link)
If you have any questions, please call Dr. Shahrukh Irani @ (832) 475-4447 or email him @ ShahrukhIrani1023@yahoo.com