Manufacturers Cope By Going Into Lean, Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 9 October 2008 | 7:40 pm
Over at ThomasNet, a recent survey gives us an idea of how manufacturers cope during this economic downturn. As Philippine Senator Mar Roxas said, this is a major tsunami.
Well, on my way to work today, I heard on the radio that because of the economic turbulence in the U.S., about 400,000 workers in the Philippines might be affected. These workers work for the contact centers.
In the manufacturing side, I asked Wizheart about its implication. And he said that manufacturing companies, or any other company for that matter, live and breathe on credit. With financial institutions going bankrupt affecting local stocks, local banks would have stricter guidelines on credit or credit lines, or they might not grant loans to companies. Companies wouldn’t have the means to buy the raw materials. For manufacturing companies that are exporting to the U.S., such as semicon, they would find themselves without market.
Going back to that survey on ThomasNet, manufacturing companies are:
responding to the economic downturn by looking to streamline business, manufacturing and supply chain operations.
To handle the downward spiraling economy and to increase business efficiency, 63 percent of respondents have already adopted, or are examining, lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, Total Quality Management (TQM) and other methodologies for improving supply chain management.
Filed under: Finance, Lean Manufacturing, Economy, Six Sigma, TQM
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Australian Companies Looking to Go Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 21 September 2008 | 8:18 pm
At this time of global economic crisis, many business any where in the world have to find ways to stay afloat. Many have embarked on performance and quality improvement methodologies and principles.
Lately, there has been an increasing demand for senior level executives who have functional specialization and experiences in in Lean manufacturing principles including Six Sigma, TQM, 5S, Kaizen, Kanban, and Quality Circles. It is hoped however that implementing these Lean principles will pervade entire organizations and be their culture. Read more…
It’s good to know that companies are now acknowledging these improvement methodologies to protect and grow their business.
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Deployment, Lean Manufacturing, Lean, Six Sigma, TQM
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St. John’s Mercy Medical Center Goes Six Sigma
Posted by: meikah | 16 September 2008 | 11:41 pm
When executives at St. John’s Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur noticed patients in wheelchairs lining the halls as they waited for physical and occupational therapy, they thought there must be a better way. Continue reading…
Indeed, there is. To improve the situation they used the principles of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma.
The results:
- improved quality
- reduced waiting times
- shorter lengths of stay for patients
- improved outcomes
- a lot of other secondary effects
Filed under: Benefits and Savings, Six Sigma Organizations, Healthcare, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, St. John's Mercy Medical Center
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Six Sigma-based Lean Office and Service Training
Posted by: meikah | 14 September 2008 | 8:34 pm
Productivity Australia is offering a Lean Office and Service Training package for offices. The training will improve and enhance office operations and productivity.
The programme is based on the proven principles and practices of Lean Manufacturing and incorporates TQM, Six Sigma and other practice principles. The participants are provided with the opportunity to contextualise these lessons to their own individual circumstance and achieve real and sustained workplace improvements.
Filed under: Training, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, TQM
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Applying Lean and Six Sigma to Process Industries
Posted by: meikah | 25 August 2008 | 9:47 pm
Undeniably, the two most popular process improvement methodologies in use today are lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. For every type of waste you encounter, you either use lean or Six Sigma.
Lean manufacturing, for example, has identified seven types of waste:
- Over-production: Producing too much, too soon.
- Inventory: Extra production required to buffer process variability.
- Transportation: Movement of materials without adding value.
- Waiting: Increasing production cycle time without adding value.
- Movement: Movement of operators without adding value.
- Defects: Product that does not conform to customer specifications.
- Over-processing: Processing a material more than is necessary to meet customer specifications.
Of these seven, the waiting, defects, and over-processing exist in process manufacturing. These wastes are fertile ground for the application of lean and Six Sigma methodologies.
Product changeovers, which in process manufacturing can sometimes take 18 hours or more, are an example of waiting waste. Defects are the result of production of material that does not meet the specifications of the downstream internal/external customer. Over-processing occurs when the material is processed to a greater extent than is required by the downstream customer. All of these add to costs and can be reduced and/or eliminated through the use of these methodologies.
Read more…
Source:
Reliable Plant
Filed under: Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Processes, Lean Manufacturing, Lean, Six Sigma
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Successful Cessna’s Relocation is Due to Lean
Posted by: meikah | 6 August 2008 | 9:26 pm
The move was inevitable. Cessna Aircraft Company, a Textron Inc. company, knew they had to move its 140,000-square-foot McCauley Propeller Systems manufacturing plant in Vandalia, Ohio, to its new 110,000-square-foot home in Columbus, Georgia.
The clincher: to make the move in one month.
The challenges: to maintain the least amount of disruption to production and downtime and to have little or no disruption of operations and deliveries.
The solution:
Cessna’s Jimmie Veal turned to The ACCESS Group (TAG), experts in lean manufacturing consulting and plant relocation based out of Nashville, Tenn., to complete a feasibility study for the business impact of the project.
Then they enjoined Jabezco, which was working in harmony with TAG, who determined the optimum move sequence through first understanding the process flow, inventory levels, demand, etc.
Today, the Columbus McCauley Propeller Systems operations are producing more product, have employed cost and production efficient robotics vs. manual labor and are following lean manufacturing principals.
It’s amazing that one big move like this has been made successful because of a system called Lean.
Source:
iSixSigma News
Related stories:
Six Sigma Helps Cessna Make Good of Its Promise
Textron’s Six Sigma Way
Filed under: Lean Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, Textron, Lean, Cessna
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8 Basics of Lean Six Sigma For Manufacturing Firms
Posted by: meikah | 23 June 2008 | 8:52 pm
From Articles Bridge again, I’m sharing here the eight basics of Lean Six Sigma for Manufacturing Firms.
- Information Accuracy - Any system is bound to fail if it is based on inaccurate data and inappropriate documentation.
- Performance Management - A balanced scorecard is often successful in motivating key employees to perform.
- Continuous Production Lines - Using the simple technique of sequential production, organizations can make timely deliveries and gain substantial profit margins.
- Production Point Logistics - Cutting down existing inventory and making an attempt to move production parts and components to their point of use can prove to be substantial cost savers.
- Shorter cycle times - By eliminating waste in production, companies are able to manufacture goods quickly.
- Smooth schedules and linear production - Maintaining constant emphasis on the achievement of daily targets is necessary. It will create awareness among the team of how critical it is to execute timely production planning details.
- Resource Planning -Timely planning with the appropriate workforce size is necessary. By reallocating employees onto other avenues rather than laying them off due to efficient processes, staff will become more confident in the organization.
- Customer Satisfaction - Customer Satisfaction has to be grounded in reality, and cannot simply be perception-based. All communication regarding actual quality of products and expectations should flow directly from customers.
Source:
Six Sigma Zone News
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Tips, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma Zone
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Lean Six Sigma at General Cable
Posted by: meikah | 4 February 2008 | 8:07 pm
Ranked #561 by Fortune 500 in 2007, General Cable in Indianapolis was awarded one of the ten best manufacturing companies in North America.
According to the article on Mineral Wells Index.com, consistency is an important award criteria. General Cable demonstrated the ability to be good and sustain that level of performance, perhaps even improve it continuously.
Buck Wright, the plant manager, said that the whole group is proud of their achievements so far, and that they attribute their success to Lean Six Simga.
“The main tools of the plant are Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing. Six sigma is a philosophy of doing business that eliminates defects through a knowledge of the fundamental processes. It’s a method to make sure you get to the root cause of problems instead of just putting a band-aid on.”
At General Cable, which boasts of a low turnover, there is great teamwork among the old and new members. Many of the employees have grown together and so they have developed an efficient working atmosphere.
Well, Six Sigma and Lean can do all that to any company.
Source:
Mineral Wells Index, a featured link of iSixSigma
Filed under: Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Six Sigma Organizations, Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma
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Six Sigma and Green Initiatives at IBM
Posted by: meikah | 8 October 2007 | 12:26 am
Business Green Blog writes about IBM launching a Green Sigma service soon. From the name alone, the new service will be a combination of Six Sigma, lean, process management principles, and green initiatives.
The focus will be on developing processes to reduce the carbon intensity of products and processes and create a lean green business. Read more…
In manufacturing especially, carbon usage is big. With this new innovation from IBM, I’m pretty sure other companies can learn from this. Other companies may already have their own green initiatives and are about to incorporate lean or Six Sigma, or both.
If you are among the latter, please do share your experiences here.
Source:
iSixSigma News
*Photo from Stock.Xchng
Filed under: Six Sigma Organizations, Software/Technology, Sustainable Business, iSixSigma, Lean Manufacturing, IBM
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Lean + Six Sigma = Success
Posted by: meikah | 14 August 2007 | 7:20 pm
This is common knowledge, of course. In fact, I’ve written several posts telling that Six Sigma can blend well with any continuous improvement methodologies. So let me illustrate again this formula (Lean+Six Sigma=Success).
I found an article on Six Sigma Zone that mention companies and how they achieve the improvement they seek out because of Lean and Six Sigma.
Hoffman of Anoka, Minn., for example, can claim that:
From 2001 to 2006, for example, productivity rose by about 40 percent, and inventory turns were about 40 percent faster. Customer warranty claims fell by almost 50 percent. Safety metrics improved by 22 percent. And all of these contributed to the most important improvement of all, a 30 percent increase in sales.
For TRW Automotive’s Occupant Safety Systems plant in Mesa, Ariz.:
They are able to boost the productivity and reduce the scrap rates of one of the plant’s manufacturing lines. The team used Activplant to study the downtime and production rates at each station and to analyze the flow through the line. Engineers were able to determine whether the low rates were due to downtime at the station or to starvation caused by a process flow problem.
What about you? Do you have Lean+Six Sigma=Success experiences worth sharing?
