Valuestreamguru's blog

Getting benefits out of a stable production plan

Without a stable manufacturing plan organizations can descend into chaos - so many companies fall into the trap of building to order and then trying to prioritize for the customer that shouts the loudest - this can cause huge problems for the supply chain as they attempt to pass requirements to suppliers - Implementing a master production schedule can provide stability and a plan that meets the business needs - as supplychain-mechanic.com's video on key benefits of master production scheduling shows manufacturers should invest the time and effort into making sure there manufacturing plans are both robust and stable to ensure that material flows can be primed effectively and that customer requirement can be met

Problem solving is THE key business skill

Nothing runs smoothly in business. No matter what the industry all businesses will experience problems whether that's from those that are self created to those that are generated by external stakeholders, problems can come in all shapes and sizes from small problems that might make things uncomfortable to those that can stop the business in their tracks. The art to business is how you deal with them. Facing the task We all know the feeling - it's Monday morning and before you've even had chance to have that first coffee you meet your first crisis, you have a missed delivery and the assembly line is on stop. Dealing with difficult suppliers is a common enough problem that many businesses face daily. Your faced with either sticking your head in the sand and hope either that someone else will pick it up or to systematically investigate the problem and attempt to either mitigate it (alternative delivery from a different supplier) or fix the problem (talk to the supplier and get the supply chain moving again). The aptitude and attitude of a business faced with these situations can make or break them - those with an agile well equipped team team (with process and tools/data) with a can do attitude will be better positioned to swiftly deal with the problem and move onto the day job - ignore issues at your peril as they are more likely to snowball and become much worse. Spotting your challenge early Half the battle is being risk aware - knowing what problems you may face and having a plan in place to deal with them should stand you in good stead. Having appropriate strategies in place to with common issues is a must and should be part of your everyday business planning. Think about our example of our missed delivery - if your strategy monitored suppliers performance and you selected suppliers with a high percentage of on time delivery what chance would you have of the problem appearing in the first place. Learning lessons So you've experienced a problem and you've sorted it in one way or another - what you do next can make a huge difference. Do you simply move onto the next challenge or do you learn from your problem and build the lessons you've learned into your business processes or even try and eradicate the likelihood of it happening again

Lean is not just for manufacturing!

While improvement methods such as six sigma and lean have been around for decades - its still surprising to see that many still see such activities relating primarily to manufacturing.  Processes are the same the world over - they have an input, activity and output.

Improvement methods can therefore be applied to anything from using Lean in the office, Lean in the supply chain through to The Application of Lean Thinking In Healthcare - The tools that lean provides can be used in virtually all businesses - unfortunately waste is everywhere but the good thing is whatever your business there are plenty of tools that can help that are widely avilable

ABC Analysis video

Just as a little suppliment to the ABC analysis post we did a while back - we've now posted a short ABC Analysis video - as a reminder ABC analyis is an inventory catagorization tool that you can use to segment your inventory, then fine tuning your process to ensure your spending the right management time and effort in managing the parts that matter.

Starting out with process mapping

When your starting out in business improvement it can be really daunting with all of these new tools and techniques - there's such a lot to know when you start out and sometimes you miss out on how powerful some of the simplest tools are.

For me, without a doubt, one of the primary skills to learn is that of process mapping. As a skill it's been around for years but it's really powerful in getting to grips with what goes on in your business and giving you the basis on which to launch improvements. If your starting out you might want to check out some process mapping examples as if your just starting out all those icons can be a bit scary and take time to get to grips with.  Take time to see how the different shapes link in and take a look at how cross functional maps work.

Start of by just using the basics (see the list of Process mapping shapes and icons) - and to start with practice mapping on a process that your familiar with - for example try process mapping how you'd make a cup of coffee for your colleague - this can be a fun and informative way that can help you hone your mapping skills.

Visiting the gemba when mapping processes

When documenting your processes, one of the most fundamental concepts is to ensure you engage the process stakeholders by visiting the shop floor or the workplace where the process your documenting is usually carried out. Process mapping can be fairly simple - describe the inputs, the transformation or activity steps and the outputs.

This can be done visually through a process map (from a simple process flow chart or if required through more complex means like value stream mapping) or through words describing the process. The target is the same – a method of conveying what happens. Visiting the workplace or “gemba” as it is sometimes referred to is crucial as it ensures that you capture the process steps accurately. 

Documenting a process away from the workplace may allow inaccuracies or subjective opinion (of how you think the process is carried out) to be included in your documentation, resulting in something that doesn't reflect reality. 

Actively include the people who carry out the process in your mapping ctivity - don't be afraid to ask questions and for complex processes consider videotaping the process to playback later to allow you to take your time in transcribing the process. When your initial draft is complete take your process back to the workplace and get it validated by operators – don’t be afraid of a little criticism if it's wrong as the idea of stakeholder involvement when process mapping is to ensure it's accurate and complete and any comments can allow you to iterate your document before publishing the final version.

What are the most important skills business people should learn?

So I'm on Twitter and I notice I have a new follower @CamponovoWorks- 

I take a look at some of his recent posts and one in particular catches my eye

" What are the most important skills business people/professionals should learn in the first 5 years of their career?" 

That's a really great question! My answer?

I really think that of all the skills you can acquire - patience and an ability to listen are crucial. To listen means that you'll try and understand what's really driving your client. You wont try and guess - you think you know best you'll just listen - and understand. 

Patience should mean that you don't jump to conclusions and that you follow due process.(like six sigma DMAIC or any other methodologies for that matter).  You think things through you analyze and plan you dont leap into the great unknown without due consideration. 

What do you think?

Supply chain improvement

When faced with trying to optimize your supply chain there are many things to consider and many options and options that can be applied. When it comes to suppliers there are several key steps to consider which can each have a significant impact. For example - consider the impact of globalizing your supply chain - capitalizing on low cost labour overseas for example - the benefits can be significant. In our piece on using supplier management to optimize the supply chain - we take a look at the key options you have when your looking to re-invigorate your organizations supplier portfolio.

Data collection plans and their importance in Kaizen Projects

When your undertaking an improvement project one of the most important things you’ll need to get your hands on is data. Data represents facts about your process and can help you in determining route cause and help model any improvements that you consider. Given the importance then – an appropriate data collection plan is vital – utilizing poor data can create all sorts of issues – incorrect hypotheses – poor solutions and is some cases resulting in making a bad situation worse! So what’s a data collection plan? Well it’s pretty simple – it’s the planning of how you’ll get your data to support your project – your Data Collection Plan should include (amongst other things). 1/ What data you’ll need 2/ How you’ll collect it 3/ What format you store it in 4/ Who will collect the data and manage it during your project It needn’t be difficult but it’s a key step that you’ll need to include in your Business improvement project. For more information check out our article on Data Collection plans

The importance of error proofing

The importance of error proofing Many organizations invest significant sums of money into quality and business improvement projects and events where the primary focus is on repairing problems and errors that have occurred. These issues have often resulted in significant cost and impact to customer satisfaction. Techniques such as error proofing or preventative maintenance regimes are often neglected until it’s too late. When designing processes the opportunity to engineer in error proofing (or Poka Yoke) is too often overlooked – however considering the respective benefits this is somewhat surprising. These techniques don’t have to be complicated – I always love the example of the white ceiling paint that goes on pink but dries white enabling you to see what you’ve painted and what you haven’t – this is a truly excellent example of error proofing – a simple technique that is very effective when painting white surfaces! So when designing your processes – always consider what might go wrong – then go back over your processes to consider what steps you could take to prevent them – you wont catch everything that’s to be sure – mistakes always happen but you’ll hopefully catch more that you’ll miss.