1. Identify waste in the current production process.
2. How does the pager suggestion eliminate waste?
3. Have the students and Mr. Alvarez found the root cause of the cart problem? Why or why not?
4. How would you apply the principles of lean production to improve Wiley’s situation?

Founded in 1975, Wiley Construction was one of the first designers and builders of wooden roof trusses. Over the past 40 years Wiley has prospered, and it now has office and manufacturing space of approximately 132,200 square feet and additional lumber storage facilities of about 22,300 square feet, on a 60-acre site near the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Utilization of this space has never been difficult, and in the fall of 2000 Wiley proudly opened a new 6000-square-foot showroom, which serves as an educational building center and showcase for many of the products it builds and/or sells. In addition to its core roof truss business, Wiley now has over 200 employees designing and building floor truss systems and pre constructed interior and exterior wall systems. Joseph Wiley, the founder and chairman of Wiley Construction not only wanted to build superior roofing systems, he also envisioned the idea of prepackaging an entire house.