If you haven’t figured it out by now, Continuous Improvement requires a deep level of engagement and awareness. In order to identify where opportunities for improvement and lean strategies exist, management is encouraged to get out on the floor and interact with workers. This concept has been popularly practiced as Management By Walking Around (MBWA)…. Read more
Planning a Kaizen event takes significant foresight, but by breaking it down into simple steps that lead you through the process, you can easily plan a successful Kaizen Blitz. In part one, we left off at pre-event training. Here we will pick back up with pre-planning and the project itself. Pre-event planning You want to… Read more
As we discussed in this article, scheduling Kaizen events can simplify your approach to lean manufacturing. They help you break up your tasks and execute them in a timely, organized fashion. Once you understand some key ingredients to the events, you can start to put your first one together. Here is a quick guide to… Read more
In order for a manufacturer to stay profitable and competitive in today’s industry landscape, its management team must be working towards continuous improvement, or Kaizen. This idea of Kaizen is an umbrella for a lot of lean strategies that work to improve all processes. Some approaches include 5S, Just-in-Time, and Value Stream Mapping. Choosing the… Read more
By its very nature, lean strategies of all kinds result in a safer workplace. Rather than having safety result as a byproduct of lean, however, you can flush out more opportunities for lean improvements by exploring your safety issues. While you’re examining process, flow, communication, and the waste therein, remember to take a close look… Read more
You can find endless articles describing tips and guidelines to create a safer manufacturing facility, but most of these bypass what is really happening at your site. If you want to improve safety, you need to establish a safe work environment. That means that you can’t just focus on the aftermath of poor choices. You… Read more
If you’re a manufacturer, you know the pressure to be leaner exists daily. There are a lot of models and practices available that can assist you with this mission. Kaizen, or Continuous Improvement, is one of the simpler notions to follow, but the approaches to it branch out into numerous avenues. It’s difficult to choose… Read more
Accidents in a warehouse can have devastating consequences for the employees involved as well as the business. In this environment, many dangers are present, so accidents can unfortunately happen frequently. By looking at some of the most likely culprits, though, you can take steps to drastically reduce the likelihood of an accident in your warehouse…. Read more
According to the successful manufacturing strategies created by Toyota Production System, anything that doesn’t increase value in the eye of the customer is considered waste. Lean manufacturing is a part of Kaizen, or continuous improvement, that strives to eliminate all such waste. In manufacturing, the 8 most common wastes of Lean are described in the… Read more
Autofil is a specialty yarn manufacturer in the United Kingdom that needed to solve some productivity and safety issues. They primarily cater to car seat manufacturers who demand high-quality materials for their products. Autofil is able to stabilize and improve yarn attributes by using autoclaves to apply heat treatments to the yarn. It is in… Read more