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We hope you enjoy this month's edition of our operational excellence newsletter. Please take a few minutes to read the Striving for Excellence article. It speaks to how Lean concepts have enabled A-dec to achieve drastic reductions in lead time and inventory while increasing quality and productivity.
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Quantum Associates, Inc
Operational Excellence Newsletter
Delivering Swift and Significant Results
"Our groove is to help you improve."
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November 2015
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Why Isn't Everyone Doing Lean??
The results from Lean Process Improvement speak for themselves. Typical results include an order of magnitude reduction in lead time, a doubling of productivity, unimaginable increases in inventory turns, and so on. Given these types of results why isn't everyone doing it?
In my experience helping companies implement Lean Process Improvement I run up against two barriers to a successful implementation. First there is the general lack of understanding of the Lean approach to management and Lean tools. Many people in the companies I have worked with are under the misconception that Lean is just for manufacturing and has no application in the administrative areas of the company. Heaven forbid if they apply lean thinking in the office. This same line of thinking is pervasive in most service companies, which means they are missing out on a great opportunity to improve the customer experience and their competitive advantage.
The second barrier to achieving sustainable Lean Process Improvement is leadership inertia. Many company leaders still live in the traditional management paradigm (make the month or the quarter, focus on the numbers) and they cannot or resist making the switch to the Lean paradigm (focus on their processes instead of just results). Clearly, you cannot have a successful and sustainable Lean initiative if the CEO or whoever has the leadership role will not lead it.
Leaders of both manufacturing and service organizations need to look at Lean differently so as to gain a better understanding of how Lean applies to their companies. Resist the old "lean manufacturing" mantra and think Lean Process Improvement and implement it throughout the organization. Remove yourself from the traditional management approach and move to the Lean management approach. Lean is the polar opposite of traditional management, but it makes sense for your business and it is a better way.
Every organization can be even more successful using the Lean approach. You owe it to your stakeholders to make your organization the best it can be. Good luck!
Willie
"Our groove is to help you improve"
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| Discovering the Value of People | |
Contributor: Kevin Meyer
There's a benefit to reducing cost, but there is no balancing benefit for preserving the value of brains...(Read More)
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Striving for Excellence
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Lean tools and concepts have allowed A-dec to successfully achieve large challenges throughout the years. Within manufacturing, they have drastically reduced lead times and inventory levels while increasing quality and productivity. The engineering department is using Lean concepts to speed up time-to-market for new products. Human resources uses Lean to create standards for recruiting new employees. Customer service uses Lean to process orders faster...(Read More)
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Increase Efficiency While Cutting Costs
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Contributor: Christine Chatfield
Because the costs of raw materials can be so unpredictable, it benefits many manufacturing companies to look for ways to increase their productivity and efficiency while still cutting costs. Being able to achieve this goal allows these companies to maintain their profitability despite the rising and falling commodity prices...( Read More)
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How Lean Manufacturing Improved ER Wait Times, Satisfaction at a California Hospital
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Contributor: David Ferguson
Lean manufacturing principles are responsible for a significant drop in emergency department wait times and a big boost in patient satisfaction at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in California...(Read More)
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| The Real Purpose of Visual Management Tools | |
Contributors: Tim Healey
Visual management is increasingly common in offices implementing lean. Yet even though signs, large LCD displays, whiteboards, and charts dominate the wall space, these tools often become part of the wallpaper. After just a few months, many offices revert back to meetings and management to provide information and services within the company or, more important, to the customer...(Read More)
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Quantum Associates works through a network of consultants and partners - all of whom have substantial experience in various industries and areas of functional expertise. Our associates have worked with consumer product companies, industrial and manufacturing companies and service firms.
We are a small firm. We like to work with only a few clients at a time and deliver breakthrough improvements and extraordinary value. We do what we do because we are great at it and we are passionate about it.
Our name Quantum stands for "swift and significant" and that is what we deliver for our clients, swift and significant process improvement results enabling them to increase the speed, efficiency, and effectiveness of their business processes because a faster organization is typically a better organization.
"Our groove is to help you improve."
- Lean Process Engineering
- ISO 9001
- "Quantum Process Improvement"
- Problem Solving | Root Cause Analysis
Enjoy the Newsletter,
Willie Carter
President
Certified Lean Sensei
Certifed Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence
Certified ISO 9000 Lead Assessor
"He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery." ~ Harold Wilson
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