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MANUFACTURING BASICS & BEST PRACTICES BULLETIN

Now serving over 11,921 subscribers

Competitive Knowledge for Manufacturing People 

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July 6, 2006

Hi [[firstname]],

Hope you had a great 4th of July holiday. Sorry, but 
now it's time to get back to earning a living. 

Many of my subscribers have asked me to identify and 
comment on the significance of current world class 
manufacturing best practices. First let me say that 
most best practices have been around long before most 
of us were born... back to the Henry Ford days. That 
said, today I'll delineate 10 manufacturing best 
practices and next week I'll give you 10 more. Be 
sure to look for next week's MBBP.

Have a nice day, and stay connected... more to come.

Bill Gaw
Business Basics, LLC
Bg@bbasicsllc.com
760-945-5596

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MANUFACTURING BASICS & BEST PRACTICES BULLETIN

Now serving over 11,921 subscribers

Competitive Knowledge for Manufacturing People 

=====================================

WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING BEST PRACTICES

Best Practice #1 – TEAM DYNAMICS 

Team dynamics is predicated on the effectiveness of 
their members to communicate and share knowledge. 
As with any organizational innovation, the successful 
introduction of team dynamics requires that ability 
to assimilate significant change. Hierarchies must 
be flattened, team members must be empowered to make 
and then implement decisions, and new and at times 
unfamiliar technologies must be adopted, various 
sources of resistance must be addressed, plans must 
be clearly communicated, and ownership of the new 
model of teamwork must be widely deployed. 

Best Practice #2 – Performance Management 

Measurement systems can be motivational or de-
motivational. The individual goal setting of the 80's 
is a good example of de-motivational measurement - it 
tested one individual or group against the other and 
while satisfying some individual egos, it provided 
little contribution to overall company growth and profit. 
Today, the balanced scorecard is the choice of 
manufacturing winners. 

Best Practice #3 – SEQUENTIAL PRODUCTION 

It takes more than systems sophistication for 
manufacturing companies to gain control of factory 
operations. To achieve on-time shipments at healthy 
profit margins, companies need to replace obsolete 
MRPII/ERP "order launch and expedite" methodology with 
the simplicity of sequential production. The assertion 
that sequential production only works in high 
production, widget-manufacturing environments is a 
myth. 

Best Practice #4 – POINT-OF-USE LOGISTICS 

Material handling and storage are two of manufacturing's 
high cost, non-value added activities. The elimination 
of the stock room, as it is known today, should be a 
strategic objective of all manufacturers. It's time to 
realize that there is much more to increasing supplier 
contribution to a company's growth and profitability 
than simply placing purchase orders with the lowest 
price bidder. 

Best Practice #5 – CYCLE TIME MANAGEMENT 

Long cycle times are symptoms of poor manufacturing 
performance and high non-value added costs. 
Manufacturers need to focus on the continuous reduction 
of all cycle times. Achieving success requires a 
specific management style that focuses on "root cause" 
proactive problem solving, rather than "fire-fighting". 

Best Practice #6 – PRODUCTION LINEARITY 

Companies will never achieve their full profit potential 
if they produce more than 25% of their monthly shipment 
plan in the last week of the month or more than 33% of 
their quarterly shipment plan in the last month of the 
quarter. As companies struggle to remain competitive, 
one of the strategies by which gains in speed, quality 
and costs can be achieved is to form teams of employees 
to pursue and achieve linear production. 

Best Practice #7 – RESOURCE PLANNING 

One of the major challenges in industry today is the 
timely right sizing of operations. Profit margins can 
be eroded by not taking timely downsizing actions and 
market windows can be missed and customers lost by not 
upsizing the direct labor force in a timely manner. 
These actions demand timely, tough decisions that 
require accurate, well-timed and reliable resource 
information. 

Best Practice #8 – CUSTOMER CONNECTIVITY 

The reality of customer responsiveness is in the eyes 
of the beholder - the customer. The sooner we realize 
and accept our customers' perceptions of our products 
and services as reality, and accept it as our challenge, 
the sooner we will earn their confidence and become 
their permanent supplier of choice. 

Best Practice #9 – INFORMATION INTEGRITY 

It is not uncommon for front office management to 
become disenchanted with computerized systems results 
when time schedules and promised paybacks are not 
achieved. Truism: acceptable systems results cannot 
be achieved when systems are driven by inaccurate data 
and untimely, uncontrolled documentation. 

Best Practice #10 – STRATEGIC PLANNING 

Strategic planning continue to find application in an 
ever-increasing number of organizations. Once the tool 
of largest companies exclusively, it has since proven 
invaluable to medium and smaller- sized firms as well. 
More and more, managers in organizations of every size 
are discovering the advantages of developing and 
utilizing strategic planning to improve the execution 
of their business plan. 

Be sure to watch for another 10 next week.

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If you and your company need help with implementation 
of any of the above best practices, may I suggest that 
you invest in one or more of my cost-effective training 
modules. For training module details go to:

LEAN MANUFACTURING:
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-lm-MBBP.htm

VALUE STREAM MAPPING:
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-vsm-MBBP.htm

KAIZEN MANAGEMENT:
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-kci-MBBP.htm

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-scm-MBBP.htm

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT:
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-bsc-MBBP.htm

STRATEGIC PLANNING:
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-sp-MBBP.htm

ISO 9000 2000 TOOL KIT
http://bbasicsllc.com/e-lp-iso-MBBP.htm

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You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with 
your manufacturing teams, peers and upper management... 
better yet, have them signup for their own copy at:

http://bbasicsllc.com 

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Manufacturing Knowledge you'll not find in the books 
at Amazon.com... neither in the APICS library 
nor in the Harvard Business School Press

Lean Manufacturing - Balanced Scorecard 
ISO 9000:2000 - Strategic Planning - Supply Chain 
Management - MRP Vs Lean Exercises - Kaizen Blitz 
Lean Six Sigma - Value Stream Mapping

All at one Website: http://bbasicsllc.com 

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Manufacturing Knowledge you’ll not find at offsite 
seminars nor in the books at Amazon.com

Lean Manufacturing - Balanced Scorecard 
ISO 9000:2000 - Strategic Planning - Supply Chain 
Management - MRP Vs Lean Exercises - Kaizen Blitz 
Lean Six Sigma - Value Stream Mapping

All at one Website: Good Manufacturing Practices

 Manufacturing Cost Reduction for Winners

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