Mail flow: Canada Post aligns its material handling process across the supply chain to serve...

When most material managers think of lean manufacturing and material handling, they think of the many well-publicized techniques for reducing waste and improving material flow. These tools include setup time reduction, standardized work, five S, value-stream mapping, pull production and continuous flow. But that's only the beginning.

The managers and employees of Canada Post Corp. (Ottawa) have been learning about and applying such tools for more than 10 years. To great success. Collectively they have freed up more than 3 million sq. ft. of floor space, allowing the cor