Dan Key, SVP, Operations & Supply Chain at Axalta Coating Systems spends a lot of time analyzing successful teams and how they win. He has found that many of them have similar characteristics. They have a system, they hire people that fit that system, and they develop that system over time. They mix A+ players with a lot of B players that know their role in the organization. They’re not afraid to let people go (not even the A+ talent), but rather see it as an opportunity to change and improve. They define a sound strategy that everyone on the team can understand. As we make our New Year’s resolutions to improve our organizations in 2018, consider some of Key’s tips to creating successful teams and a sound strategy.
Read More →Sustaining a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Implementing lean initiatives can be a challenge, but sustaining them is even harder. As Mark Reich, COO of the Lean Enterprise Institute, told the crowd at the American Manufacturing Summit, “to be sustainable, it has to be more than a program. As long as it’s a program, it’s not going to be sustainable. Because as soon as whoever’s program it is leaves, it’s not going to sustain. So it has to be built into the company’s fundamental way of doing business.” In other words, it needs to become part of the culture. Once you have made the case for change and built the concept of continuous improvement into the culture of your organization, it is leadership’s responsibility to continue to nurture this culture. In his presentation, “Culture: The Definitive Piece in your CI Journey,” at the American Manufacturing Summit, Mark Gooch, GVP, Operations & Lean Enterprise at Pentair, gave the following tips to the audience on sustaining a culture of continuous improvement.
Read More →Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement: The Case for Change
A lot has been written about how to truly implement continuous improvement processes and lean initiatives, you need to embed it in the culture of the organization. “Every company in manufacturing has to develop an operating philosophy, a standard methodology, and a language that creates a culture that focuses on continuous improvement,” Byron Greene, former VP & Head of Vehicle Assembly at FCA, explains. But how does an organization go about doing this? Michele Calbi, former VP, Lean Transformation at Navistar, told the audience at the 2016 American Manufacturing Summit, “You have to create a case for change. It is extremely powerful. If you can drive that passion into the employees, you will see amazing things.” She shared a few stories of companies that have pulled themselves out of dire situations by creating a powerful case for change.
Read More →Reaching the Manufacturing Talent of Tomorrow
The issue of how to build a steady pipeline of manufacturing talent is one that our thought leaders continually address. The problems are well-established: we are living in a mature economy, and within the next 10 years, the baby boomer generation, on which our manufacturing sector was built, will retire. The generation coming into the workforce is less interested in a career in manufacturing. On top of these shifting demographics, the technical landscape in manufacturing is evolving so much that there is a tremendous skills gap. “By 2024, we will have three generations on the shop floor with completely different value sets, interests, abilities… and this is a huge challenge for leadership, team dynamics, and incentives,” says Dirk Hilgenberg, VP, Assembly at BMW Manufacturing. How do our thought leaders propose we address these problems?
Read More →Why your lean initiative may not be working
At the 2016 American Manufacturing Summit, Byron Greene, former VP Manufacturing at FCA (now VP Manufacturing at Whirlpool), told us: “Over the last 20 years at Chrysler, we’ve had at least four versions of the Toyota Production System. Each started with fanfare, great enthusiasm, and intent, and they failed. The focus was on the tools, the technical side, without understanding the essence of the method as a whole.” He says that where many organizations go wrong is that they emphasize the technical aspects of TPS, “which totally misses the cultural change that is necessary to make it work over time.” To really implement lean properly, and bring about cultural change, you need to first understand the culture, then go slow, and build trust. Learn from our thought leaders about how they have done this in their organizations.
Read More →Millennials in the Workforce: Implications for Manufacturing
As many manufacturing organizations are having trouble maintaining a steady pipeline of talent, their frustration turns to millennials. At the 2016 American Aerospace & Defense Summit, Curt Towne, EVP, New Business Development at TPT (The Productivity Team), gave the following statistics about millennials in the workforce, which have implications for how organizations should recruit, train, engage and retain millennial talent. Millennials are now the single largest group within the workforce, and will soon become the biggest consumer groups, too.
Read More →Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories PSS Insourcing Solutions
Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories PSS Insourcing Solutions is a program that places a team of experts in the client’s laboratories with access to their quality systems in order to execute a project in the client’s scope of work. By adopting this insourcing approach, organizations are able to benefit from the expertise of an experienced laboratory testing provider, while reducing costs as they continue to keep projects, methods and analytical techniques in-house. With more than a 55-year track record of scientific and laboratory operations expertise, PSS ensures that each team of experts are top quality and selectively chosen for the appropriate project. This in-house approach is preferred by pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies as opposed to hiring temporary staff. Temporary staff solutions result in valuable resources being used for recruitment, training, and managerial purposes, which could be redistributed to another area. Temporary staff also often result in conflicts with long-term needs, European regulations, and strict IRS guidelines. Benefits of insourcing include lower headcount, avoiding high turnover, condensing product development cycles, flexibility and more. PSS’s Insourcing Solutions has grown exponentially, currently, employing more than 1,500 employees, as well as serving clients in 15 countries at more than 70 different sites worldwide. You can find more information on the PSS’s Insourcing solutions in their ebook here. For more information on Eurofins, visit their website here.
Read More →Case Study: How to lead progressive changes through project leadership
“Big new legislative requirements mean big changes at even the most efficiently run companies. But when the company uses project leadership to incorporate those changes into its larger business strategy, the benefits go far beyond compliance.” To learn more about the benefits from project leadership, check out the case study by Integrated Project Management, click here.
Read More →Word Press: Five Considerations When Justifying an Investment in ERP
Organizations entering into an ERP project begin their journey by making a business case for ERP. The effort involves determining an expected return on investment, anticipating total costs and fully documenting the business case for investing in a new or upgraded system. This can’t-miss paper makes the case that it is critical to document the business reasons for an investment in ERP. You’ll see the reasons to calculate the expected value to offset the cost. Identifying risk is part of the process, as is putting in plans to mitigate risk. This white paper by Ultra Consultants will identify five considerations to keep in mind when justifying an investment in ERP leveraging Ultra Consultants’ experience in helping manufacturers with this process. View the full white paper below!
Read More →Automation Today
As manufacturers struggle to fill highly skilled production positions—according to NAM (National Association of Manufacturers), “80 percent of manufacturers report a moderate or serious shortage of qualified applicants for skilled and highly skilled production positions”—technology may need to step in to fill the gap. As the article “Automation Today” by FARO Technologies states: “It’s no secret that manufacturing continues to become more automated, and manufacturing output per worker is on the rise.” Smart factories are sought after because they are quickly becoming the “factories of the future,” while growing changes in automation become difficult to ignore. Find out more about the latest advancements in optical 3D measurement and automation technology in the article below including: Advanced Manufacturing; Automated Metrology; and Cobalt.
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