Founded in 1985, under the direction of Lee Sage, the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) is a not-for-profit association helping manufacturers in the pursuit of excellence through the facilitation of practitioner-to-practitioner learning. Providing valuable tools and programs such as Value Stream Mapping

Value Stream Mapping

Value stream mapping is a lean manufacturing technique used to analyze and design the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or service to a consumer. At Toyota, where the technique originated, it is known as "material and information flow mapping"...

, Kaizen

Kaizen

, Japanese for "improvement", or "change for the better" refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, game development, and business management. It has been applied in healthcare, psychotherapy, life-coaching, government,...

, and other Lean initiatives. The AME provides hands-on events and workshops from practitioners who want to share their experience.

The AME currently operates in the USA, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 with over 5000 members.

Conferences

The AME holds an annual conference featuring workshops, presentations, tours and keynote speakers.

Conference locations:
2010 - Baltimore, Maryland
2009 - Covington, Kentucky
2008 - Toronto, Ontario