Tag Archives: Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing Principles

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Lean manufacturing is one of the most widely utilized business improvement methodologies.There are hundreds of consultants and schools teaching lean manufacturing principles.

The problem with many courses teaching lean manufacturing is the lack of real world experience of the instructor.Many have limited experience applying the principles, nor the interpersonal skills to influence change.

Lean manufacturing is not nearly as structured as six sigma or other continuous improvement initiatives.There is no standard approach to implementation or third party certifying body such as ISO.

Lean manufacturing consists of many different “tools”.The best courses teach the lean manufacturing principles as well as how and when to use the tools.

Some companies have heard that lean manufacturing implementation will reduce their waste and costs, and decide to just start implementing.They often start using one tool at a time until the boss declares it’s done.

Worse yet, some companies find a consultant that knows 5S and little else.When the consultant leaves, the clean and organized business eventually realizes they are clean, organized, and still full of waste.

The correct approach to implementing lean manufacturing begins with an analysis of the businesses needs, opportunities, and challenges.Once these opportunities are identified, the tools are used which will solve the issues.These tools might be lean manufacturing or six sigma tools.It simply wouldn’t be prudent to limit the success of a lean initiative to exclude any tool if it was known to solve the problem at hand.

In other words, the problems identify the tools rather than the tools being force into the organization.

Some of the lean manufacturing tools are 5S (Sort-Set in Order-Shine-Standardize-Sustain), value stream mapping, kanban, takt time, continuous flow, cellular manufacturing, TPM (total productive maintenance), SMED (single minute exchange of die), OEE (overall equipment effectiveness), line balancing, standardized operations,

7 wastes (muda), error proofing,kaizen, and root cause problem solving.

There are a few tools that can and should be used with any lean manufacturing initiative.The 5S tool is a powerful workplace organization tool.This tool makes sense in any business.It would be hard to find an organization where order and organization didn’t make sense.

Root cause problem solving tools should be used in every lean manufacturing implementation.These tools vary based on the problem.Some of the more common are Cause and Effects Analysis,5 Why Analysis, 8D method, CT trees, Process Mapping, and affinity diagrams.

Value stream mapping is another useful tool to determine where value is added and the areas of non-value added (muda).The value stream map depicts the flow of product and information on paper.Information such as inventory, distance, and bottlenecks are highlighted.Once the value stream map is completed, opportunities for improvement become obvious.

Tools such as line balancing, SMED, takt time, and OEE should be used to solve specific business opportunities.For example, SMED (single minute exchange of die) is a tool that is used to reduce machinery or process setup times.This tool is a lot more useful in businesses that run smaller order quantities and changeover often.OEE is an excellent tool to determine why a machine or process is not producing at world class levels.Once the reasons (opportunities) are known,they can be improved.

Kaizen (Japanese word meaning continuous improvement) is a very powerful improvement tool.It is basically a rapid (3-5 days) improvement method utilizing a cross-functional team to solve a business problem.A kaizen event team will use many other lean tools to help solve the problem.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) is an excellent tool to improve maintenance, which in turn helps improve all aspects of a manufacturing business, including OEE, setup times, downtime, costs, and profitability.TPM is based on having operators involved in the maintenance of their equipment.The operators often complete their own preventive maintenance, while other initiatives simply have them highly involved.Although TPM is a great tool, it wouldn’t be as useful in a service organization without equipment.

Utilize lean manufacturing principles to identify and solve business issues and the financial impact will justify their use.If the tools are made to “fit” the organization, the result will be chaos, disruption, low morale, and financial loss.

Carl Wright is an industrial engineer, ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt, and Master Black Belt. Carl is involved with the lean manufacturing implementation organization http://www.1stcourses.com

Energy Savings In Manufacturing Industry

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Energy plays a very important role in industry, Industries could be classified into heavy energy consumer, medium energy consumer and low energy consumer. Organization have started doing energy audits in their plants, offices etc. Such studies has highlighted waste of energy and requirement of energy efficient technology.

Some areas for energy cost reductions.

OFFICE:

Large Corporations or factories have bigger administration offices like accounts, sales, purchase, human resources, production planning, canteens, rest rooms, common rooms etc. Each department or sections has certain utilities like air conditioners,photocopiers, fans, air washers, lights etc. Cost reduction in energy bill can be achieved through proper monitoring optimization of equipments

LIGHTING

HEATING

FANS

PLANTS

Any manufacturing unit would consume energy for its production purpose.With monitoring and proper utilization of equipments We can have substantial cost reduction in energy cost. Energy could be in various form thermal or electrical.

PRIME MOVERS ( MOTORS )

AIR CONDITIONING

COOLING TOWERS

BOILERS /FURNACES /OVENS

REFRIGERATION AND AIR COMPRESSOR

FUEL ALTERNATE

ENERGY ELECTRICAL

Lets us take a simple example of cooling tower.Cooling towers are used to cool hot water coming out of air conditioning,generators or other utilities.

Cooling Tower Fans are made up of aluminium casting these are then rotated to create draughts which in turn cools the water. These fans can be replaced by Fibre Plastic made fans or blades.These Blades are light in weight hence power consumed by motor is less.Thus by replacing metallic blades with FibrePlastic can result in considerable savings.

Putting temperature sensors into cooling tower basin can result in stopping motors from running the moment desired temperatures are achieved.

All about cost reductionstrategies, ideas, tips which would increaseprofitability, improve productivity, reduce waste.

VISIT: http://www.shumaonline.com

Engineering Solutions For Manufacturing Improvement

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Engineers must have a thorough understanding of the manufacturing process as well as the design process.The gains that are achievable by paying close attention to the processes are surprising. Indeed, while it’s true that the emphasis on manufacturing improvements and on deploying lean thinking in our workplaces has had a dramatic effect on the productivity of manufacturing processes, these gains are only a primer for what can happen when design solutions are successfully integrated with the manufacturing processes.The interface between product development and manufacturing operations offer one of the biggest opportunities for improvement in our facilities.Just as 5S serves as an introduction to a full-fledged lean deployment, design and process integration serve as an introduction to facility wide lean transformation.

The Good Engineers…

With access to powerful CAD systems, it is easy for engineers and designers to stay at their computers, theorizing about the best way to make the parts and assemblies.But here’s the catch; design which doesn’t comprehend the details of the manufacturing process is not engineering; it is merely creative drawing.Likewise, when designing products “on the floor”, obsolete and outdated process assumptions cannot be challenged.It becomes difficult to develop a good understanding of the effects and causes of variation.Without detailed design work, little improvement is made; parts won’t fit together, and real improvement from previous projects cannot be made.

When working with a specialty vehicle manufacturer, it was discovered that the production associate spent nearly 45 minutes trimming seat brackets to improve the appearance.Everyone agreed that this was too long and an extended discussion ensued which focused on removing much of the time from this operation.But it was the wrong discussion.The mounting brackets were impossible to see once installed in the vehicle, so there was no reason to trim them.In the lean vernacular, the entire operation was non-value added.

This happened because engineers didn’t understand either the process or the requirements of the system.The finished assembly requirements were never checked.No one bothered to watch the production process, to understand the quality requirements, or to validate the logic.

Unfortunately, situations like this are not isolated or even rare. In every plant, in every operation similar findings are waiting to be discovered. But shortcuts are taken, CNC programs aren’t optimized, manufacturing plans and design plans aren’t integrated – and the profits suffer.

So what are we to do?The only answer is to immediately start forcing the issue by bringing the design elements into compatibility with the manufacturing processes.Designs must be completed with the manufacturing processes in mind.

While working on a project with Toyota, their assistant chief engineer summed it up “Brian”, be asked, “Do you know the difference between a good engineer and a bad engineer?”He continued, “A good engineer has to wash his hands before he goes to the bathroom”.

Use lean techniques to completely understand the process

In complex, multi-stepped processes, it isn’t unusual to discover that no one completely understands all the details from start to finish.Why is each step taken?Why are they taken in this particular sequence?Are certain techniques especially critical to success?When tools are required, how should they be set up, maintained or staged?Without satisfactory answers to these questions, it is doubtful that there is an adequate understanding of the process.In new product development projects, the same questions apply – they’re just much harder to answer.

An Illustration from my files: As engineering director of a large tier one automotive supplier, I had grown concerned with the efficiency of the process used to manufacture a component for one of our automotive customers.The numbers were good and improving.We had exceeded our productivity goals and quality goals for months in a row.Our delivered quality to the customer was outstanding, and we had been awarded both the design and the production for the next generation of the product.

But observing the line, it was easy to see that we were manufacturing products in large, unwieldy batches rather than single part flow.At my urging, it was decided that we would spend two weeks and conduct a detailed process review and develop a value stream map of the workcell.As we walked through the line, we immediately started learning about our process. In the first station, the parts were stored far away from the operator.In subsequent stations we found equipment maintenance problems, serious ergonomic issues, worn out tools and non-value added operations.

As we continued through the line, we found multiple operations that added no-value; there was rework built into the line and engineering specifications that were poorly done.After the two week review, we had identified over 100 major concerns.Two months later, when the issues were resolved and the testing complete, we had improved productivity by 50%, reduced cost by $2 million annually, and improved our first pass quality yield from 95% to 99.5%.Most importantly, we now knew how to better design the product and the process for the next generation.

Understand the requirements

There are many entities that place demands on our products.Customers have functional and aesthetic requirements, governmental agencies have environmental, health and safety and reporting requirements, and we have internal standards.Don’t make the assumption that you understand all of these requirements or know why a process step is taken or an engineering specification has been applied.To be sure it is understood – go and see for yourself.In the earlier seat bracket example, anyone could have asked the question “Can anyone see the mounting bracket once it is in the car?”But the question wasn’t asked because all the managers, supervisors, engineers and operators already knew the answer – or so they thought.But their answer was wrong.It wasn’t until we took the 5 minute “field trip” to look at a finished vehicle that the real requirements became known.

Of course, this was a simple solution. It isn’t always so easy to determine the real requirements.

Sometime we need validation tests, customer approvals, detailed engineering studies or design reviews to determine the requirements.In many cases you may need to work through the concerns one-on-one with customers. But it’s always worth it.

Listen to those who really know

The most knowledgeable people in most manufacturing operations are the production, maintenance, and quality associates.But managers and engineers routinely change processes, revise or replace equipment, change designs, or implement other “Continuous Improvement” ideas without utilizing or even consulting these resources.This is a mistake.Even in the unlikely event that the ideas of the engineers are superior to those of the workers, the results will be better when the workforce is involved in the decision making and planning of the changes.

The quality issues were serious enough to for me to lead the Plant Superintendent, the Engineer, the Quality Manager, and even the Vice President of Operations to the work cell to review the problems.We had some ideas on what should be done to fix the issues once and for all, and were debating the proper approach.

The operator was working in the area, so we stepped back to stay out of his way. As we did, his under the breath grumbling became obvious, so I asked him what was going on.He answered: “I’ve only worked in this area for twelve years, so I probably don’t know enough to help out on this “technical” problem”.Of course, he knew exactly what should be done, and once we took the time to include him in our discussions, we had a roadmap that quickly led us to the fix.

Establish the foundation for future improvements

As we go through the effort to learn about the process and the product and then implement the resulting improvements, it is important to document what we have learned.Guidelines or checklists need to be established to make sure that the lessons learned on this project do not get lost once the next generation product is designed.

In lean manufacturing we have found that significant gains are made when we take the effort to establish standardized work.By performing the work in a consistent manner, the job gets gone quicker, the results are more predictable, and quality performance improves.Additionally, when there is a problem, it can be more quickly identified and permanently rectified.

Design checklists are the standardized work for product development.The learnings, but positive and negative, from past projects are compiled in the checklists.In some cases, the checklist will essentially define the “how to” of the design, giving precise steps to be taken to ensure success.In other cases, the checklists will provide standardized solutions to common design problems.

(c) Copyright – Brian D. Krichbaum.All Rights Reserved Worldwide

Brian D. Krichbaum http://www.processcoachinginc.com

Brian Krichbaum is the President of Process Coaching Incorporated, a consulting company committed to helping organizations improve their operational, program management and engineering performance, using detailed organizational assessments, lean techniques, targeted short burst projects and systems coaching to build accountability & self sufficiency into client systems.

The Challenges of Contract Manufacturing

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In every industry today, organizations succeed by focusing on what they do best and leaving the rest to their partners, agencies or outsourced vendors. Contract manufacturing, while it can be difficult from a supply chain perspective, seems to fit neatly into this scenario.In addition to allowing global organizations to focus more on their core competencies, value proposition, and engineering; contract manufacturers provide several other advantages over manufacturing products internally to include: lower costs, flexibility, access to external expertise and reduced capital expenditures.

However, the question remains and must be addressed: with so much potential and cost savings that contract manufacturing can offer to their partners, why do so many of these relationships fall short of expectations? Perhaps one reason is that many of those expectations are flawed from the very beginning.

For example, let’s take the first example of cost savings.The fact of the matter is that many of the cost savings that should be passed on to the customers may go to the contract manufacturer’s bottom line instead. This happens more than you think.Additionally, many contract manufacturers don’t always have the supposed influence with their suppliers since the original manufacturers often select the partners from the very beginning. This lack of influence is a key driver for an increase in costs from the contract manufacturer.Also, flexibility can be compromised by the contract manufacturer’s focus (or lack thereof) on low costs and low inventory. And, although using contract manufacturers often ties up less capital, the dollars need to compensate against the inventory holding costs included in contract manufacturers’ charges.

Even with clear assumptions on the objectives and expectations, it may be a challenge to realize the benefits. That’s largely because it’s difficult to manage relationships with vendors and suppliers; especially when those suppliers were not selected by the contract manufacturer. Essentially, the parties should create clear objectives and expectations from the beginning that would make it possible to manage the relationship through service level agreements linked to a set of key performance indicators. However, these challenges may tempt businesses to keep manufacturing in house, at the sacrifice of increased costs.Instead, organizations need to take a strategic approach to contract manufacturing relationships; one that will benefit all in the supply chain.

Please click here if you need quality contract manufacturing solutions, strategic supply chain management solutions.

Information On Contract Manufacturing

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Contract manufacturers are firms that manufacture components or products for another hiring form. The most popular industries use this process including the defense, semiconductor, medical, automotive, personal care, energy, computer, and aerospace fields. Common types of contract manufacturing includes CNC machining, aluminum dye casting, gears, forging, grinding, and complex assembly.

In just about every single industry today there are organizations that manage to succeed by focusing mainly on what they are best at, while leaving the rest to their partners, agencies, and outsourced vendors. Contract manufacturing can be difficult to supply from a chain point of view but it seems to fit perfectly into the scenario.

In typical contact manufacturing business model a hiring firm will contact the contract manager regarding a design or formula. The hiring firm is generally an OEM. During this process the contract manufacturer will quote the parts based upon processes, labor, tooling, as well as material costs.

In most cases the OEM will get multiple quotes from different CMs. When the bidding process has been completed the hiring firm will select a source as well as an agreed upon price. Then the CM is basically the hiring firm’s factory and produces and ships units of the same design.

Contract manufacturing can be used for just about anything, all the way from single components to a complete product. There are many popular companies that use contract manufacturing as a main alternative to operating and maintaining their own factories. Your very own personal computer, printer and cellular phone are perfect examples of these products that are made from using this specific method.

When you are in an international context establishing a foreign subsidiary as a contract manufacturer can have very considerable tax benefits for the associated parent company. This will allow the company to reduce their overall tax liabilities while increasing profits. This all depends on the activities of the specific contract manufacturer.

Written by Joshua Gibbson. Find the more information on contract manufacturing.

Rotational Moulding The Ideal Process For Manufacturing Hollow Plastic Products

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Whatever industry you work in, there is a strong likelihood that plastic components play a part in the work you do. From oil and fuel tanks to cabs for tractors and JCBs, from pipes and ducts to medical equipment, plastic parts are everywhere. Companies are always on the lookout for more reliable and cost-efficient ways of mass-producing the components they need.

Rotational moulding is a particularly cost-effective process for manufacturing hollow plastic products. Because this process is so versatile and very little waste is produced, costs are low compared to other plastic manufacturing processes, such as blow moulding or injection moulding.

How the rotational moulding process works

Believe it or not, the process which is used to create such a versatile range of plastic products was originally developed for creating chocolate Easter eggs. Although the technology is far more sophisticated these days, the basic rotational moulding process remains the same.

In rotational moulding, polymer powder is slowly tumbled in a heated, enclosed mould. The powder melts, forming a coating over the internal surface of the mould. The mould is cooled, allowing the polymer coating to become solid. The mould is then opened, and an accurately shaped plastic part is extracted.

Rotational moulding is a highly versatile method for making a precise, stress and seam free plastic product at comparatively low cost. The process can produce complex shapes with controlled wall thickness in a variety of materials. It is particularly suitable for manufacturing hollow or partially hollow pieces.

By selecting from a range of different materials, articles with physical properties as varied as flexible gearstick gaiters or rigid commercial vehicle cab components can be made. Metal inserts such as threads and bushes can be moulded in, and moulded cavities filled with foam. Alternatively, threads may be part of the moulded shape itself. Mouldings may be CNC machined, drilled, sawn, routed, tapped or welded.

The appearance of the product can be enhanced by applying a surface texture or paint. The look and feel of other materials such as metal and leather can also be simulated. If more rigidity or insulation are part of the design, an inner foam layer can either be moulded integrally or injected into hollow sections after moulding.

Rotational moulding can produce a huge variety of plastic products

The uses for rotomoulding are extensive, stretching far beyond the basic enclosed box or tank for which the process is best known. Rotational moulding can produce components for machinery, furniture and fittings for aircraft, even products for the home or garden.

By choosing the correct polymer, tecni-form can produce articles with various physical properties: thus the result can range from extremely flexible – inflatable even – to very rigid and impact-resistant, such as a protective capping.

Although a moulding starts as an enclosed hollow shape, that does not limit the shape of the final product. For example, the original moulding can consist of two or more combined shapes which can then be separated to produce two or more separate products.

As rotational moulding is such an adaptable plastic manufacturing process, it can be used to create components for a wide range of industries. From the automotive industry to the world of advertising, from furniture to medical supplies, rotationally moulded plastic products are used in most market sectors.

tecni-form produce plastic products for a wide range of industries, using the rotational moulding process. Their website is a comprehensive resource of information and examples of the rotational moulding process in action.

The Advantages of Lean Manufacturing

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Lean manufacturing is the processes, techniques, strategies and initiatives being implemented by companies around the world that aim to reduce unnecessary and unproductive tasks, activities and behaviours in the work environment.

Because the times have really gone hard, demanding and intense due to political and turbulent concerns affecting all nations, firms are currently facing challenges to be able to keep their profitability and efficiency.

Lean manufacturing not only reduces operational costs but also targets to boost, restore and significantly raise the competitiveness of a company.

There are seven identified ‘forms of waste’ within the work environment and systems that lean manufacturing principally aims to alleviate, if not totally eliminate. These are over production, over processing, transportation, motion, inventory, waiting and scrap and defects.

Several advantages of adopting lean manufacturing principles

The first advantage identified by experts from implementing lean manufacturing techniques and strategies are the reduction of manufacturing time.

When the manufacturing lead-time is significantly lowered, it follows that the operational costs incurred from the use of energy, utilities and wages from labour’s time will also be significantly reduced.

Thus, lean manufacturing helps companies retain, maintain and significantly increase their earnings, widen their margins and help them generate savings from lower costs.

Space is another area where lean manufacturing advantages are clearly and effectively exhibited. Working space, it is understood, is one of the primary and basic factors that keep operations of businesses going.

Labour and human resource experts estimate that adoption of good and effective lean manufacturing techniques and strategies will likely help companies reduce their physical floor space requirements by as much as 5% to 30%.

The figures involved could be small and miniscule for your eyes, but, actually, that will significantly contribute too much more efficiency and savings. That would be an advantage almost all businesses will surely look after.

The advantage in productivity

It is found that in general, companies implementing and adhering to lean manufacturing practices significantly boost and increase their manufacturing productivity by as much as 75% to 125%.

It is because time and efforts are principally targeted by lean manufacturing processes. Thus, elimination of wastes, practices, behaviours and unnecessary and disturbing objects in the work place will surely and practically help workers get on to their tasks with much smooth pacing and comfort.

You know how it is when workers work without any distractions and interruptions. Productivity is very much maximised. Thus, lean manufacturing becomes a necessity for companies to be able to achieve that goal.

The advantages in terms of waste to profit relationships

It follows that elimination and reduction of wastes will gradually and efficiently help boost and raise up earnings and profits in companies.

Thus, elimination of wastes and unproductive activities, objects, tasks and behaviours in the work place will surely help the company and its personnel focus on the requirements and demands of the customer.

The advantage of that, above all is that, when customer satisfaction is achieved, sales will surely rise. The best way to establish a good relationship with customers is to improve the products and services offered to them.

Lean manufacturing would be of great help to achieve a good customer or client relations.

Another advantage brought about by lean manufacturing techniques among various companies and firms adopting it worldwide is streamlined, rationalised or lean structuring of the organisation.

You should know that elimination of excess and unnecessary job positions and tasks in a company is a sure way to help that firm reduce labour costs and eventually lead to generate savings.

Lean manufacturing without a doubt brings that advantage of leanness upon organizations and companies practicing and adopting it.

Advantage on culture improvement

Various companies around the world are practicing and implementing different cultures. It is usually a cause of problems, conflicts and issues around and within the organization.

In lean manufacturing, the cultures are standardised, thus, unfavourable practices and behaviours of both the employees and the management are reduced, if not eliminated.

The greatest advantage of lean manufacturing in terms of cultures adopted by companies is that lean manufacturing makes the differences between management and personnel reach to a verging point.

Lean manufacturing principles should really be implemented by companies. It is high time to reap its advantages.

Dave Grooms is obsessed with solving business problems. He views your business problem as a personal challenge to his genius. That’s why he always finds a profitable solution.

Subscribe to Dave’s 5 part ecourse by visiting [http://www.lean-manufacturing-info.co.uk]He will show you how to adapt lean manufacturing into all different types of business processes, the key lean manufacturing principles, all the different steps to take to transform your own business practices, and much more!

Dave would love to speak at your next business event and will get your guest fired up with his great money making techniques.

6 Reasons Why Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma Fails

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Inside the lean manufacturing community, there is talk of a few high profiles failures recently.There is a lot of discussion with the lean community regarding how this could happen.

Most of the real lean manufacturing experts understand the few reasons for failure. Although there could be more than listed here, the reasons are often very simple.

1.The expert isn’t really an expert -

2.Lean manufacturing or Six Sigma tools are used to solve every problem -

3.The company does not devote enough resources

4.The timeline expectation is too short

5.Using the name Lean but not the principles

6.The business is beyond repair

The first four are only short term problems which can be overcome.A company can rid itself of the so-called expert and hire one. They can learn to apply other tools in addition to lean manufacturing tools.They can find, develop, and devote the proper resources eventually.The timeline expectation can also change with the right mind set.

If the business is beyond repair, it is probably not in need of a lean manufacturing implementation.It may need re-organization, financial re-capitalization, or a complete transformation. Whatever the business needs, it should happen before any continuous improvement initiative begins.

When a company needs a transformation, or specifically headcount reduction, this should be done prior to any continuous improvement initiative. Those in the lean community know this, but often are pushed to downsize the organization. It is critical for lean’s success to educate the executives to the problems with headcount reduction.Although it seems like common sense, some simply do not get it.People will not find a way to eliminate their job.

Although some may not agree, there is no silver bullet in business.Lean manufacturing principles, applied correctly in the organization, will do wonders. Six sigma initiatives also provide excellent benefits where applicable. But like all improvement methodologies, they are best applied to well run organizations searching for long term improvements.

One the largest reasons for lean or six sigma failure is forcing the use of tools to solve problems.We finally have the term lean six sigma, which includes both.Now we need a new term to include the other useful tools. Many lean practitioners do not understand six sigma, and therefore have no idea which tools they are missing. Conversely, many six sigma experts are not experienced in the application of lean manufacturing principles.

Lean and six sigma tools do not encompass every tool made to improve a business.Systems such as Manufacturing Excellence at least have a name that would imply any tool can be used.

Any initiative requires some minimum amount of resources.If the proper amount of resources cannot be devoted to the initiative, it is best to wait until the necessary resources are available.Without necessary people and time, any lean, six sigma, or other initiative will fail.Those doing the implementation will become frustrated, and employee morale will suffer. The initiative will become categorized as another fad of the month which wasn’t sustained.

It is also important to devote the time necessary to achieve and sustain improvement. Although some tools such as kaizen events lend themselves well to rapid deployment, the entire lean or six sigma initiative cannot outrun the organization.Both lean and six sigma initiatives are business changing initiatives, often resulting in major organizational changes. Businesses are run by people, and most can only handle so much change per time frame. Although this varies and may be altered as an organization learns to change quicker, forcing it will only cause chaos.

When consultants are utilized, it is best to spread out their time to allow the organization to absorb the change. Consultants can certainly throw more change and improvements on a company quicker than the company can digest it.Unless the organization can afford to have the consultant for a longer period of time,spacing visits is better than a rapid sequence of deployment.

Although there are a few main reasons lean manufacturing and six sigma fails, there are many more pointing to success.Thousands of companies are employing lean and six sigma today.Many of these companies have cut cycle times, reduced waste, increased productivity, improved quality, and enjoyed huge growth. If and when a lean or six sigma initiative fails, look at the reasons and change direction.The failure reason isn’t the tools or the initiative, but the application of them, business environment and circumstances surrounding it.

Carl Wright is an industrial engineer, ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt, and Master Black Belt. Carl is involved with the lean manufacturing implementation organization http://www.1stcourses.com

Process Manufacturing Techniques To Reap Rich Rewards

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Should you be a business owner of your company that manufactures products for customers, you should ask yourself couple of questions “Is my manufacturing process delivering at its optimum?”, “Can I improve my manufacturing process to make it more effective?”If you answer negative for the first and affirmative for the second question, it is time that you implement process manufacturing techniques on your manufacturing processes.

What do process manufacturing techniques do?

Process Manufacturing techniques work on the simple concept of integrating all the tools, machines and resources to optimize the efficiency of the manufacturing processes.Automation is an integral aspect of process manufacturing with many applications built for specific purposes.ERP software is one application which ensures that process manufacturing is achieved by means of automation.

What are the benefits of process manufacturing?

Reduces Inventory – Inventory is one of the reasons why production processes slow down.Process Manufacturing techniques like Lean Manufacturing employ different tools to ensure that the Inventory is reduced to a bare minimum.This ensures that the manufacturing processes work out of required materials for the manufacturing processes with unwanted materials not finding a place.

Reduces Lead time – Process Manufacturing techniques also advocates smooth flow of information between different stages of the production cycle ensuring less probability of errors in subsequent stages of production and reduction in lead time.All this leads nicely for the manufacturing processes to achieve shorter production times.

Shorter Production Cycles – Every manufacturing process aims to produce ‘x’ quantity of a product within a time constraint.A company’s capability to do this consistently holds it in good stead with its customers.A company can achieve this by shortening the production cycle time.Considering that this has to be implemented with minimal impact on quality, process manufacturing techniques are implemented.

Automation – This is an inherent feature of almost all the process manufacturing techniques.Integrating manufacturing processes ensure that the chances of errors due to human intervention are minimized.With automation contributing directly to lessening the administrative and information-sharing workload, most companies consider automation as their strategic objective to process manufacturing.

What are the challenges to process manufacturing?

Benefits aside, there are many challenges to implement process manufacturing techniques in an organization.Firstly, the business owner must do well to manage the change without impacting the performance of the manufacturing process.Remember, process manufacturing techniques may re-engineer the manufacturing processes.If the re-engineering is not managed by the business owner, it may result in a lot of employee dissatisfaction. Secondly, process manufacturing techniques are not immune to uncontrollable changes.This means that human intervention at some stage of the manufacturing process is inevitable.

If you weigh the benefits and the challenges of process manufacturing, you will observe that numerically and qualitatively, process manufacturing rules.It is this balancing act that companies cash on to make their manufacturing processes more effective.

Ruth Campbell owns and operates http://www.process-manufacturing-guide.com – Process Manufacturing Guide

Lean Manufacturing Training

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Lean Manufacturing is being implemented in thousands of corporations today.Although the discipline has been in existence for over two decades, only the largest corporations have any long term use of the tools.

In fact, many corporations have only begun to implement lean manufacturing.These companies are hoping to achieve the same success written about on the internet and reported in the publications their industry publications. These same executives have no doubt heard the horror stories of failed implementations of lean manufacturing.Their fear is wasting money and time on another “program of the year”.

The key to success is the correct training for the right people.The good news is the amount of training programs available from which to choose.The potentially critical mistake is choosing the wrong course which may lead the corporation down a long and expensive path of wasted money and time. Lean manufacturing is not just a collection of “tools” like the normal tool box in your garage.At the home, some jobs require a hammer while others take a wrench.Most lean tools work together, so they must be mastered to determine how the interaction works to solve the business challenges.

For example, a kaizen event utilized to solve a SMED (single minute exchange of die) issue might require the use of the value stream map to determine bottleneck priorities.Alternatively, an OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) kaizen event often requires knowledge of take time and TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) to obtain maximum improvement.

In addition to all of the technical necessities, there is the soft side of gaining “buy in” and empowering experienced workers to change their thinking and habits. This is not easy, especially when these workers have done a good job the same way for many years.

Companies that try and fit tools to their problems are doomed to fail. Employee will develop morale problems and begin to distrust management.The distraction often takes years to overcome, and the worst part is the bad name lean manufacturing gets in the process. Companies that train a critical mass of individuals, hire several lean manufacturing experts, and commit the resources to change the culture in a positive manner are the ones written about. They know lean manufacturing works.They may go down a short “wrong” path occasionally, but find their way to the destination, which is a corporation operating in a state of lean with ongoing continuous improvement.

There are many good training courses.However, lean is best applied using the PDCA model.The model, by definition (Plan-Do-Check-Act), requires flexibility. This is best taught by an instructor that has years of experience with lean manufacturing implementations.It is best taught by someone that has seen failure as well as success.

Once the individuals have been trained in the basic lean manufacturing principles, it is important to have a collection of materials for continuous reference and training. There are many good books written about lean.Look beyond the top sellers, as many lean experts have written good books that are not marketed well. It is also important to “see” a successful lean implementation. Visit other facilities to see their success and ask your own questions that may be relevant. Most companies welcome the chance to show off their success, especially to a local company in another industry.

Some companies hire a consultant to help lean their lean journey.You can easily find as many success as failure stories. Hiring a consultant for implementation requires the same investigation as finding a trainer. Again, asking other local companies is a great way of finding good consultants.

When visiting a company, be sure to ask questions of those individuals that weren’t responsible for the lean implementation. You’ll get unbiased opinions from various perceptions. The person responsible for the implementation would find it difficult to admit financial mistakes in training, implementation, and hiring.

The lean journey never ends. However, taking the straightest path to the lean state will minimize expense and avoid distraction. The state of lean often brings huge corporate success in the way of additional business, products, profit, and job security.

Carl Wright is an industrial engineer, ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt, and Master Black Belt. Carl is involved with the lean manufacturing training organization http://www.1stcourses.com