Total Productive Maintenance: 8 Steps to Better Equipment Reliability, More Capacity & Sustained Improvement
You’ve launched your continuous improvement (CI) initiative. Product lines have replaced process villages. There’s more floor space. Supervisors and executives are closer to the gemba after experiencing 5S, visual factory and Managing for Daily Improvement. Standard work has made abnormalities more visible, and Six Sigma methodology has corrected problems that have plagued the operation for years….
Innovation through Putting New Technology to Work
The Ancestry of Genomic Sequencing Production I recently received my own DNA analysis results from a company called 23andMe. The very fact that DNA analysis has reached general availability, and that a certain level of analysis is available for under $100 directly correlates to significant decreases in production costs. First, I do need to state that…
8.5 “Must Know” Career Tips & Tricks (Redux)
I wrote the first version of this article almost a year ago and, since then, I have had several people remark to me that it has helped them a great deal (which is the point, I guess.) I have also had several people give me some new ideas and, of course, I have had time to…
9 Critical Roles for Top Management in Improvement Programs
The success of improvement programs in most organizations not only impacts their competitiveness, but in many cases also their survival. Programs like Operational Excellence, Lean Transformation, Process Re-engineering, Cost Reduction, etc., are launched with a lot of fanfare, but sadly, they either die an unnatural death after some time or become painfully slow. Much care is…
Building a Business Excellence Program in Multi-Nationals
I see many questions asked regarding the development of a BE /OE/CI/LSS (Business Excellence Operational Excellence/Continuous Improvement/Lean Six Sigma) program. There is no right or wrong answer since every business is different. However, I wanted to share my experience, thoughts and some options as it relates to multi-national organizations. Hopefully you will find them useful. Before…
Lean Management Journal – “On Singling Out Followers” by Joseph Paris: June 2013
“On Singling Out Followers”, by XONITEK’s Joseph Paris, reflects on Willi Schneider’s article, published in an earlier edition of LMJ, and expresses his view on followership. Plus, continued media coverage of the Operational Excellence Society. Published in Lean Management Journal in the June 2013 issue. Download PDF