Mass production makes items faster, better, and cheaper. The larger your production volume, the lower your cost and, subsequently, your product prices. This is common knowledge, but what is not well known is the magnitude of this effect. In this post I would like to show you a few comparable products, albeit with vastly different production volumes, and hence different prices.
Management
All posts about management techniques, success stories, failures, etc.
How to Roll Out a Lean Transformation
The goal of a lean transformation is to shift the culture of an organization toward lean. In my last post I discussed a lot of prerequisites. In this post I would like to discuss how to actually do it. Be warned, there is no magic bullet. There is no simple trick that just turns lean on. It is a lot of hard work.
Key Points for a Lean Transformation
In my last post, I showed you a good example of all the things you can do wrong during a lean transformation. Learning from these mistakes gives a list of points that are relevant for a lean transformation. Let me show you what is important for a successful lean transformation.
How NOT to Do a Lean Transformation – A Case Study of GM
Becoming lean is an aspiring goal for many companies. In my first post I showed you how Toyota does it … and why this may not work for you. In this second post of this series I will show you how NOT to do a lean transformation, and try to highlight common mistakes. In a subsequent post I would finally like to show you possible options you have for your lean transformation. Read on!
How to Conduct a Shop Floor Meeting
In this last post (for now) on my series on shop floor management I will talk about how to conduct a shop floor meeting. Who should be there; when, how long, and how often you should have such a meeting; and what is on the agenda. I will also talk about common mistakes that you should avoid.
How to Set Up a Shop Floor Meeting – Part 2
In my second post in this series on shop floor management I will look at more things that go into the team corner besides the tracked KPI. How do you manage your improvement activities? What organizational stuff should go in there? Hopefully this will help you make more successful shop floor meetings. In my next post I will also talk about what should NOT go into a team corner on the shop floor.
How to Set Up a Shop Floor Meeting – Part 1
Regular meetings are necessary to keep yourself and others informed. This is also true for the shop floor. Many factories have set up meeting corners for the workers and their supervisors to meet. In this series of posts I would like to show you what you need for a successful shop floor meeting. This first post looks at the hardware and content of the team corner where the shop floor meeting usually happens, as well as the most important KPI that should be addressed in the team meeting.
On Adjusting Supervisor Workload
In my last post I looked at the span of control. This is very related to the workload of the supervisor. Hence in this post I would like to discuss how to adjust the supervisor workload. Usually, this is to reduce the workload, as most shop-floor supervisors are in my opinion overworked and have no time left for improvement. In some cases, however, you may have a situation where you want to give the rare underworked supervisor more work. Most of the approaches presented will work in both directions. Let’s look at some ideas: