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
Higher productivity in material handling can result from various kinds of changes. If you improve the ergonomics, you make the job easier to physically execute. If you improve the tools, you make work performance more efficient. If you improve the process, you optimize how much can be accomplished in a given amount of time. Productivity… Read more
Musculoskeletal injuries from pushing and pulling tasks cost American businesses billions every year. Acute injuries aren’t the most commonly-sustained, either. Rather, chronic injuries that occur over time cost millions of people jobs, medical expenses, insurance hikes, disability, and lost labor or work. Materials handling relies heavily on the pushing and pulling of carts. It’s tempting… Read more
We are all well aware that the purpose of forklifts is to lift. Manufacturers, warehouses, and distribution centers all use them for this exact purpose. However, these machines are so powerful that it seems practical to use them to replace other strenuous manual labor, like pushing. Even when facility managers don’t encourage that practice, drivers… Read more