• To meet ever-rising customer expectations, manufacturing companies need to design, execute, and constantly improve processes that ensure the best product quality at a low cost, with minimal waste and maximum employee safety. 
• The North Star in achieving this is World Class Manufacturing (WCM) — a set of policies and principles developed for the operation and management of a manufacturing organization that focuses on becoming lean with cost-effective and flexible operating processes; it covers not just shop-floor practices but also all aspects of an organization’s activities.1 WCM is the philosophy of being the best, the fastest, and the lowest-cost producer of a product or service. It implies the constant improvement of products, processes, and services to remain an industry leader and to be the best choice for customers, regardless of where they are in the buyer’s journey