Bring plant-floor zombies back to life; let them use their brains!
This blog will be somewhat short. I apologize, but I wanted to get a thought in this month. I hope that the content, as basic as it may be, sparks your interest enough to conduct some research on the subject. I hope that it eventually motivates organizational leaders to push for employee empowerment, succession planning and employee involvement. I have
More Articles
Now more than ever, your plant needs to implement 5S
One of the basic tenets of manufacturing is there is never a shortage of challenges. When times are good, the challenge is how to make more on-time deliveries with the least cost possible. In this current economic environment, the challenge is how to make on-time deliveries with the resources available.
Has anyone applied lean to government institutions … ever?
I recently had cause to visit a state government office to conduct some business. So, prior to my visit, I decided to do some legwork beforehand to see what I was in for, and to ensure that I was prepared for the visit. The Web site was simple enough and I had no problems discovering what I was looking
A new you … and a new view on organizational performance
As we begin a new year in our organizations, we are committing resources to answer the new challenges in order to bring success to the bottom line. One of the key challenges across many of our situations is employee well-being and health. In order to meet our challenges, we need to ensure our workforces
Are you wasting your customer’s time?
I had occasion to go to the doctor’s office recently. It was for a basic checkup, and since I am lean guy to my bones, I want to focus on the visit from my perspective - the customer. My appointment was for 10 a.m., and I arrived there promptly at about five minutes until 10. I signed the sign-in
If you want to be successful with standard work, read on
Many companies say that they use standard work, but actually, very few do - at least, in the manner which leverages lean fully at the operational level. Instead, most firms actually use some form of work standards or work instructions. Frequently, plants trying to implement standard work within their
Lean lessons for the recession
Transforming a manufacturing business into a lean enterprise during boom times is a fun and exciting experience. Lean generates growth, new customers, market penetration … all good things. In today’s world, one might ask, “How do I use lean now?” The answer is much the same as in
Win with TWI or lose without it!
What does TWI (Training Within Industry) have to do with the current economic issues? Well, it can have a very positive impact for firms struggling with the current business conditions. Whether times are prosperous or not, any business can benefit from: improving output per employee, resolving people
The objective is to eliminate surprises
Surprises have their place, but they are not welcome in a manufacturing operation. “One of the goals for manufacturing in our organization has to be to eliminate surprises,” a CFO of a U.S. manufacturing company told me recently. “We don’t seem to be able to prevent ugly surprises
The U.S. should focus on lean before bailouts!
How many factories have you walked into and thought, “Wow, these guys could use some lean manufacturing processes in order to improve their services and reduce costs?” How many times have you had a supplier that produced a good product but had cost problems, quality issues or service issues? Before
