June 11, 2007  

Hi MBBP Subscribers,  

My wife Ann and I just returned from a week vacation visiting friends in Denver, Colorado. Ann did some watercolor painting with her friend and took in a couple of Denver's museums.  

Ann's friend's two sons run a fly fishing school and had promise to teach me the secrets of fly casting. I found fly casting a lot like golf... the harder you try to get some distance the shorter the result. It's all in timing and form and the more you try to muscle it the less success you achieve. Since I'm a solid "A" type, you can probably feel my stress and frustration. However, I did OK and caught a large mouth bass. I'm not telling its weight but suffice it to say it was a "catch and release" situation.  

While fishing the rivers of Colorado, I actual thought about readers who are pursuing manufacturing careers and are experiencing the stress and frustration of not progressing at their desired speed.  

If you're concerned about a lack of career progress or even just securing your current position, don't miss out on reading this weeks MBBP article. It could change your life.  

Have a nice day and stay connected.  

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

WORLD CLASS MANUFACTURING PROFESSIONALISM

 Here’s a simple definition of a professional:  

"Professionals are people that do what they says they are going to do."

Professionals are trained in their profession, their business, team dynamics, risk assessment and decision making. They have been trained to plan and execute in difficult business environments. They get things done!  

How do these professionals develop their skills? Most learn from their experiences and their self-development agenda. They accept career development as a personal challenge and not a company obligation.  

I was fortunate when I was in my early stages of professional development to have been employed by General Motors. In those days, GM was a leader in the development of professionals. Training received at GM was instrumental in my advanced from a production coordinator to a foreman and then to a plant manager.  

In my later years, I took personal charge of my career by becoming a perpetual learner. Studying the gurus of my profession and actively participating in relevant professional associations (A past president of the San Diego APICS Chapter). This continuous training agenda provided the foundation for my future career growth that culminated as President of OMNI USA.  

What's the point of me telling you about my business career path? Well, I was a high school drop out and joined the Army at age 17. Got my GED in the service and later under the GI Bill I became a college drop out. My manufacturing career started with General Motors as a hourly technician. So, my point is; if professional development and skills training moved me from a hourly technician to a president of a company... I am positive is can help you reach your full growth and earning potentials.  

So, if you're not already a member of the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) go to their website http://www.apics.org and check them out. If your in materials management check out the Institute of Supply Management http://www.ism.ws.

If your in manufacturing engineering check out the Society for Manufacturing Engineers http://www.sme.org  And, make sure you attend meetings, participate in discussion groups and eventually get involved in a leadership role.  

In addition to membership in professional institutes, you must continuously update and expand your management and business skills. There are a number of companies that have established good reputations for educating manufacturing leaders. Two of the best are Jim Womack's Lean Enterprise Institute at http://www.lean.org and Tony Gorski's JCIT International at http://www.jcit.com.  

Although these companies are the "heavy-hitters" inmanufacturing consulting and education, I like to think that Business Basics is a great cost-effective alternative.  

I started Business Basics as a hobby to keep me busy in my retirement years. The purpose was to share some "lessons learned" with up and coming manufacturing leaders. Little did I know then that it would turn into a profitable business.  

BB's success can be attributed to providing practical, real-world, and cost-effective solutions to the most difficult manufacturing problems. Problems that can be permanently eliminated only by a tenacious execution of the basics and best practices of manufacturing. That said, I want once again to introduce you to my unique mentoring program, "World Class Manufacturing Certification." Appearing below are some excerpts from its Web page:    

The Lean Manufacturing 
Certification Program

Objective: Provide cost-effective, self-paced world class 
                 manufacturing training for anyone...  anywhere... 
                 anytime; eliminating the high cost of seminars, travel
                 expenses, and time away from the job.

Purpose:  Provide world class manufacturing knowledge in a 
                structured program that offers individual recognition with
                Certificate of Achievement. (CEU status pending)

Benefits:  Competitive knowledge to help you and your company: 

• Increase speed, improve quality, and reduce costs

• Optimize supply chain management

• Reduce the stress caused by missed schedules

• Eliminate the high cost of scrap, rework, and end-of-the-month scrambling

• Stabilize material requirement planning

• Transform visions into reality

• Reach your full growth and earning potentials

• Transform work into fun again

• Certificate of Achievement (CEU status pending).  

Deliverables:  7-World Class Manufacturing (WCM) Training
                       Modules plus Certificate of Achievement:

So what say you? Isn't it time for you to initiate your own personal development program? Currently I have three people enrolled in the program and room for seven more. Take five minutes and visit the World Class Manufacturing Certification Program's Web page at:  

The Lean Manufacturing Certification Program

At your special 25% MBBP discount, you'll be glad you did.

The Lean Manufacturing Training Library

Manufacturing leaders have a responsibility to educate and train their team members. Here are 7-cost-effective, e-learning modules to help you get to where you need to go. 

Manufacturing leaders have a responsibility to educate and train their team members. Here are 7-cost-effective, e-learning modules to help you get to where you need to go.  

For MBBP subscribers, we have packaged the training modules as a complete set. It's only available to companies that are MBBP subscribers and at a 43% discount.   

If you can pull it off, have your company purchase the complete set. It's available as the World Class Manufacturing Training Library and can be review by clicking on the below link:  

The Lean Manufacturing Training Library

Print and Share

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

                                  http://bbasicsllc.com