How Lean Works in the Iowa Prison System
So, you think Lean won’t work for you?
What if we showed you how it works behind bars?
[Read More ...]Archives
CIRAS Will Help You Get Ready for the “Future of Manufacturing”
CIRAS is on a journey to help Iowa manufacturers discover and implement the future of manufacturing.
[Read More ...]Winning Proposals Start with Understanding RFPs
Success in government contracting requires that you convince a government agency that you’re the best choice to fill any particular need. To get there, you have to know how the system works, who to deal with, what the rules are, and how to cast yourself in the best possible light.
CIRAS is planning a special event this spring to help you understand all of that.
[Read More ...]Start your New Year with a Lean Coffee™
A new year means it’s time for a new beginning and new resolutions about how we’d like to improve. Would you like to talk about that? Are you looking to connect with other Lean practitioners and share ideas about continuous improvement?
If so, we think you should put “attend an ILC Lean coffee” on the top of your 2019 resolutions list.
[Read More ...]Cleaning Cobot is Coming to Miracle Tool America
Dozens of times each day, the skilled workers at Miracle Tools America in Davenport must stop what they’re doing and clean. Making drill bits can be a dirty business, and the tiny water channels that are used to keep tools cool have a tendency to get clogged.
Hence, the company decided to begin experimenting with a new type of employee – one that wouldn’t mind the monotony.
One who is made of metal.
[Read More ...]Our Third Annual All-Iowa Holiday Gift List
Every year around this time, we like to take a minute to remind everybody that we make great things here in Iowa.
[Read More ...]Because You Know We’re Worth It: ILC Memberships are due
Attention: Iowa Lean Consortium members! The renewal process for ILC memberships will operate differently this year.
[Read More ...]Fort Dodge Finds Efficiency, Better Service Through Lean
David Fierke still remembers the 30-year public works employee who looked him in the eye at one of the city of Fort Dodge’s first Lean events in 2009 and asked what Fierke, the then-relatively new city manager, really thought he was going to teach a veteran about filling potholes.
Probably not much, Fierke acknowledged. But after Fort Dodge employees spent several hours that day looking for waste in the city’s pothole-filling process, they nevertheless managed to make it better.
[Read More ...]Cox Honored for “Achievement in Economic Development”
CIRAS Director Ron Cox was one 15 College of Engineering faculty and staff who received Iowa State University’s highest honors during an annual awards ceremony on September 14.
[Read More ...]Touring Tech – Manufacturers Find Value When They See What ISU Can Do
Nathan Meyer was no stranger to CIRAS, but he wasn’t fully aware of all the technical expertise available at Iowa State University until he took a CIRAS-led tour of campus research labs in the fall of 2017.
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