Cycle Counting
The main goal of cycle counting is to cycle through your inventory to ensure inventory accuracy on a consistent basis.
A Few Secrets to Plant Manager Success
Today's international business climate is becoming more and more competitive and tough to stand out in the crowd.
Quality Tips
Manufacturers can no longer count on customer loyalty, but they can expect customers continued demands for quality products and service.
Commodity Businesses, Throw Out Continuous Improvement!
onsider throwing out the old rule book; turn your thinking upside down in favor of innovation and value-add.
Keys to Plant Management Success
To succeed in today's environment, it is no longer desirable to have a world class operation focused on providing a value add while maximizing resources; it is a requirement.
Sustainability – who knew that it’s common sense?
Liken sustainability to reducing waste, which in turn respects the environment and makes business financial sense. Sustainability is gaining traction in today’s cutting edge discussions. Whenever a topic pops up in multiple places suddenly, I take notice. I’ve read multiple articles in trade publications and magazines, attended a keynote [...]
Safety
Bedrock - always appropriate. I want to thank my mentor in this topic, Debra Daniels for her expertise – Debra, have I incorporated your wisdom appropriately? Build safety into the culture – most safety programs are pointless as they are considered an outside program (and many times, meetings are [...]
Lessons Learned from Failure
Why do failures generate so much interest? Perhaps as students, we had it pounded into our heads that mistakes are bad - avoid failure at all costs. What can we learn from failure? First, failure isn't fatal - not only is failure not fatal but it also is critical [...]
Improving Operational Efficiency
As I continually find, fundamentals are often overlooked yet critical to success; thus, it seems this is a great topic to take a look at.... What matters in your operation? - Forget about Lean, Six Sigma, TQM and the rest for now. In my experience, it is a distraction [...]
Is Outsourcing Dead?
As the cost advantages for outsourcing dry up more companies are bringing manufacturing back to North America. Re-shoring may increasingly be your best bet for improving customer service levels without going broke. GE has started to rev up Appliance Park again - and is starting to bring manufacturing back [...]