A 5S guide to those who don’t do Lean manufacturing or not sure where to start. TLDR at bottom I have been doing a little 5S of my own, nothing too special. I was getting frustrated when I would be doing some home repairs or building something, building bike ramps for the kids is a favorite. I had a need to make life easier by sorting out the collection of screws I use into their…

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Applying Lean thinking is different to applying Lean Manufacturing. There are some fundamental differences. Not only are we dealing with people and not machines but there are differences to what is required, and challenges faced. I have found these 6 Lean principles key to improving productivity when working with any engineer group. 1.    Process map your key activities Grab a big old white board or blank wall and process map the key design process. Don’t…

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Productivity Alberta a few years ago executed a number of productivity projects with various companies to help demonstrate the benefits of applying Lean in different industries. Productivity Alberta first changed into Go Productivity and then quietly hibernated disappeared. I was just today looking for some videos to help a client with the start of their Lean journey. They are diving into value stream mapping some important business process. One that immediately came to mind was…

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Interesting and useful report on Industry 4.0 from Plant Magazine and BDO https://www.plant.ca/2020-advanced-manufacturing-report/. You will have to handover an email address (real or imaginary) for a copy. Ignore first third of the report, it’s industry profiling, you want to get to the meat. The report doesn’t tell you what to do, that would be impossible but make some very good points: Industry 4.0 covers a raft of new technology and terminology; These are the main…

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One of the things I find fascinating about companies that really put get their production areas right is how much of sales tool it is. This includes maintenance shops and not just your typical ‘factory’ environment. I personally decided not to have my car serviced at the dealer when I saw what a mess the service shop was. Looking at the pile of new and old parts piled up on a work bench I couldn’t…

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Waiting – People, Processes or Product People and machines can wait, the less your customer’s product or service waits the better and more efficient your company will be. Waste of Waiting Waiting is one of the 7 wastes (or 7+1) common to manufacturing, service industry or the office and often the one that people most identify with. Everyone is familiar with the mantra “time is money”. What gets interesting in Lean is when we ask…

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1 – Define Value This may appear unnecessary as you would think most companies clearly know what the value is they deliver to their customers. Oddly it is often not defined. Value is essentially the service or product your customers need or pay for and nothing more. Actions the company do that do not contribute to product delivery are waste and can be eliminated or at the least streamlined. By defining value you can define…

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Reshoring II – Close-shoring Close-shoring is the practice of demanding that a supplier is based close to the customer’s location to facilitate the sharing of best practices and innovation between the two. When done strategically it can significantly lower supply chain risks and overall costs. What is Close-shoring? Close-shoring is the extreme opposite of off shoring. Close-shoring is when you require your supplier who otherwise could be located far away from you to instead be…

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If you want to cut costs cut cycle times Cost cutting is a requirement for a lot of companies not just those hit by the downturn in oil and gas. Automotive part suppliers often have an annual 3% price reduction built into the contract. The challenge for companies is how to cut costs without negatively affecting performance or shifting the cost from one part of the business to another. Cutting cycle times is one of…

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The first step in applying Lean to any organization is being able to define the Value the organization delivers. Normally in Lean we define value add work as “what the customer wants to pay for”. There are however many situations when the customer is not the one paying, so we need another way to define value add. Example 1 – Traditional Lean Definition The simplest situation to consider is a commercial organization selling direct to…

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