Strategic plans are often developed in isolation and rarely aligned across an organization.
As a result, the organization's strategy and strategic objectives are not well defined, are not well communicated, and do not impact day-to-day decision-making.
Strategy Maps and Hoshin Kanri (or Hoshin Planning) provide an organization with effective methods and tools to develop, communicate and align its business objectives, strategic initiatives, operating plans, targets, and goals.
“People and their managers are working so hard to be sure things are done right, that they hardly have time to decide if they are doing the right things.
There are three types of business leaders:
Those who know the score and know they are winning;
Those who know the score and know they are losing; and
Those who don’t know the score.
Everyone will benefit from goals and objectives if they are SMART. SMART, is the instrument to apply in setting your and your organization's goals and objectives.
This article provides operations and supply chain professionals with a framework for developing an integrated supply chain strategy for their organization.
For more details about different methods and tools an organization can utilize during the strategy development and deployment process, please check out our “Strategy Planning and Deployment” training material.
While many organizations are well on their way to Operational Excellence, at least with respect to their Supply Chain, using Strategy Deployment, Balanced Scorecards, and Lean Six Sigma, and are enjoying the benefits of shorter response times, lower inventory levels, and reduced costs, others are still contemplating how to get started.
One of the reasons for this is the lack of a comprehensive and systematic Supply Chain performance measurement system.
This makes it difficult to establish an operational linkage between potential Lean Six Sigma initiatives and the high-level goals and objectives of the organization as a whole.
The 8D (Eight Disciplines) Problem Solving Process is a team-oriented and structured problem-solving methodology that is mainly used to identify, correct, and eliminate recurring problems.
The U.S. government first standardized the 8D Problem Solving Process during the Second World War, referring to it as Military Standard 1520. It was later improved and popularized by the Ford Motor Company in the early ‘90s.
Today, the 8D Problem Solving Process has become a standard in many industries as problem-solving, as an internal Corrective Action Request (CAR) Process, and as a Supplier Corrective Action Request (SCAR) Process.
Lean 5S Visual Workplace Organization is a workplace organization methodology to improve productivity, by eliminating waste, and Quality, by reducing variation.
The 5S Visual Workplace Organization methodology also facilitates a structured dialog about standardization which builds a clear understanding between employees, of how work should be done. This structured approach can be used in any manufacturing, distribution, or office environment and in all types of industries.
A few weeks ago I was approached by the Owner and CEO of a privately held packaging company.
The company specializes in flexible packaging solutions for the produce packaging industry and generates a high single-digit profit margin from about $70 - 80M in annual revenue. One of the major challenges this organization faced was its high finished goods inventory.
Kanban is a Japanese word that means signboard or signal card. Kanban systems were first introduced by Toyota in the 1950s as a scheduling system to determine what to produce, when to produce it, and how much to produce.
Kanban systems lead to an improved process flow through level-loading, reduced scheduling activities, and can result in significant inventory reduction and work-in-process. A Kanban system can be a very simple and effective “tool” to design a process that is scheduled based on actual demand.
Mistake-Proofing is an effective method to prevent defects from occurring in an organization’s manufacturing, service, or business process.
This article describes the six mistake-proofing principles needed to design both products and processes so that mistakes are impossible to make or, at the least, easy and early to detect and correct.
The essence of Mistake-Proofing is to design both products and processes so that human errors or mistakes are impossible to make or, at the least, they are easy and early to detect and correct.
When performing a Mistake-Proofing analysis on a manufacturing, service, or business process, it is, of course, important to identify every human error possible during each process step.
The Human Work Model and the associated Sixteen Human Error Modes described in this article have been proven to be very helpful in identifying potential Human Errors when applied properly to every activity of any manufacturing, service, or business process.
Kaizen is commonly known to mean "continuous improvement". The goal of a Kaizen event is process improvement through the elimination of waste and/or reduction of variability.
Kaizen events differ from traditional Lean Six Sigma projects in that the team comes together for intensive project work over a short period of time, usually lasting three to five days. The overall duration of a Kaizen event, including preparation (1-2 weeks) and follow-up (2-3 weeks), is about four to six weeks, compared to the eight to twelve weeks normally allocated for a traditional Lean Six Sigma project.