Integrated Waste: Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Admittedly, it has been a while since I checked a shampoo bottle for directions, however, I do recall a time in my life reading:  Lather, Rinse, Repeat.  Curiously, they don’t say when or how many times the process needs to be repeated. Perhaps someone can educate me as to why it is necessary to repeat the process at all – other than “daily”.  I […]

Lean – A Race Against Time

Background If “Time is Money”, is it reasonable for us to consider that “Wasting Time is Wasting Money?” Whether we are discussing customer service, health care, government services, or manufacturing – waste is often identified as one of the top concerns that must be addressed and ultimately eliminated.  As is often the case in most organizations, the next step is an attempt to […]

Critical Process Triggers

Critical Triggers It is inevitable that failures will occur and it is only a matter of time before we are confronted with their effects.  Our concern regards our ability to anticipate and respond to failures when they occur.  How soon is too soon to respond to a change or shift in the process?  Do we shut down the process at […]

Lean Is …

What is lean?  The following definition is from the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership website, http://www.omep.org: Lean Is A systematic approach for delivering the highest quality, lowest cost products with the shortest lead-times through the relentless elimination of waste. The eights wastes that accompanied this definition include: Overproduction Waiting Transportation Non-Value-Added Processing Excess Inventory Defects Excess Motion Underutilized People It is very […]

Variance – OEE’s Silent Partner (Killer)

I was recently involved in a discussion regarding the value of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).  Of course, I fully supported OEE and confirmed that it can bring tremendous value to any organization that is prepared to embrace it as a key metric.  I also qualified my response by stating that OEE cannot be managed in isolation: OEE and it’s intrinsic […]

The Face of Manufacturing in 2011

Happy New Year! Another year begins with the confidence that the manufacturing sector will continue to recover from the crash of 2008-2009 that continued its unrelenting grip well into 2010.  There is little doubt that the face of industry in North America and around the world has changed but is it really on the rebound? I am of the opinion […]

OEE: Planned Downtime and Availability

As a core metric, Overall Equipment Effectiveness or OEE has been adopted by many companies to improve operations and optimize the capacity of existing equipment.  Having completed several on site assessments over the past few months we have learned that almost all organizations are measuring performance and quality in real-time, however, the availability component of OEE is still a mystery […]

Make or Break with OEE

Reward systems, bonuses, and other forms of compensation have been the topic of many newspaper articles and news broadcasts as of late.  Although attention has turned toward the viability and sustainability of the manufacturing sector, there are many of us who question how the performance of these companies is measured and, even more so, rewarded. While executive compensation is typically subject to scrutiny in and outside of […]