LONGVIEW, TX—After implementing lean manufacturing, the BorgWarner assembly plant here has increased profits, raised productivity, and improved employee health and morale.

Medtronic Inc. is a leading manufacturer of catheters, defibrillators, pacemakers, stents, valves, surgical instruments and other medical devices. The company operates state-of-the-art assembly plants around the world.

Kaizen (continuous improvement) is a key principle behind lean manufacturing initiatives in all industries.

Plant floor layout in the medical device industry is typically dictated by the types of products being produced.

Traditionally, hearing aids, pacemakers, defibrillators, cochlear implants, neurostimulators and other medical devices depend on lithium-ion batteries. However, batteries add extra weight. Batteries also raise numerous safety and reliability concerns.

BLUE SPRINGS, MS—Masafumi Hamaguchi, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi, loves running, professional wrestling and helping assemblers produce the highest quality vehicles possible.

Over the last decade, lean manufacturing has been prescribed as a cure-all in a wide variety of industries.

WASHINGTON—Connecting industrial operations to the Internet could lead to significant gains in productivity, potentially worth $10 trillion to $15 trillion globally, a study by General Electric.