"With all the complex manufacturing operations going on in the world today, most large companies have systems and methods certified by many governing bodies. Surely they employ best practices. On second thought, look at all the recent issues in the news about recalls. Several large industries have to recall product due to quality problems. Problems plague these very large corporations who are supposedly too big to fail. They are failing because they have not optimized their production methods. They have not fully embraced a best practices philosophy. Therefore there is a need for a forty-thousand foot overview of best practices. It is necessary to step back every so often and do an honest assessment of where we are and where we are going. This book is a tool that helps to make this assessment and provides proven methods to shore up any weaknesses you may find. Today, modern manufacturing is overwhelmed with tools to manage itself. There are countless hot, new, innovative ideas that become the flavor of the day--Deming's Statistical Process Control, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Lean, ISO 9000, just to name a few. All these programs offer some better tool to manage our business, make decisions, and manufacture a quality product. No one system, however, can be an instant fix. No canned concept can guarantee success. You can't purchase "best practices". Best practices come from a mindset, a philosophy, developed by looking at all the tools available and deciding