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MANUFACTURING BASICS & BEST PRACTICES BULLETIN

Now serving 10356 subscribers

Competitive Knowledge for Manufacturing People 

Definition of TQM for Winners

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November 7, 2005

Hi [[firstname]], welcome back,

If your company is not receiving the benefits 
promised by the computer salesmen, I'll bet that the 
cause is neither hardware nor software design. My 
experiences have found that a lack of information 
integrity is usually the root cause of poor systems 
performance. Timely and accurate information provide 
the foundation for good decision making; and timely 
and accurate data provide the foundation for positive 
system results. MRP "take action" nervousness is 
almost always caused by inaccurate and untimely data 
inputs.

If your company is struggling with poor system 
performance, be sure to read this weeks article, 
"The root cause of poor system performance."

Have a nice day, and stay connected.

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

P.S. I have extracted the number one BASIC, "Information 
Integrity" from our lean manufacturing tutorial and 
combined it with "Value Stream Mapping" to offer our 
subscribers a special e-Learning Package at only $96.00. 
Check it out at:

http://best-manufacturing-practices.com/e-lp-ii.htm 

Definition of TQM for Winners

==========================================
BUSINESS BASICS & BEST PRACTICES BULLETIN

Now serving 10356 subscribers

Competitive Knowledge for Manufacturing People 

Definition of TQM for Winners
==========================================

THE ROOT CAUSE OF POOR SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

MRPII/ERP System objectives cannot be achieved when day-to-
day production and manufacturing control systems are driven
by inaccurate, untimely and uncontrolled data and/or
documentation.

If your company is typical, you'll find that converting the
monthly financial forecast into reality still requires
overtime, costly expediting, expensive "on-the-run" product
changes and even a little "smoke and mirrors." With all the
available sophisticated computerized systems, why is it so?

The answer lies in what's missing and has nothing to do with
the quality of the system designs. Like Vince Lombardi, who
focused his team on the mastering of football basics ... we
need to focus our teams on the mastering of business basics.

INFOTEGRITY


There are Eight-Basics of Kaizen Based Lean Manufacturing,
but when it comes to improving systems performance,
"Information Integrity" is the most important. We call it
KBLM Basic #001, "Infotegrity" ... the ability to
communicate data and documentation completely, accurately
and in a timely manner. 

Like blocking and tackling in football, it's not glamorous
and few want to do it ... but without tenacious and flawless
continuous improvement and execution, manufacturing
performance can never be optimized. 

A CASE IN POINT

Infotegrity is crucial to computerized master scheduling and
MRP computations. Excessive MRP rescheduling of released
orders is costly and disruptive and is usually driven by
poor input data. To improve the quality of MRP
"rescheduling" messages, one materials manager focused on
improving the integrity of MRP inputs. She reduced the
frequency of their MRP "regeneration" and implemented a
mandatory weekly review/purge/reset of all purchase and
production "open" order status. 

The results were amazing; reschedule messages were reduced
by 85% and her planner/buyers gained time to do additional
proactive parameter maintenance. Because of increased
scheduling stability, there was a significant improvement in
both supplier and shop "on time" deliveries, (87% TO 98%)

THE MRP PARAMETER CHALLENGE

Definition of TQM for Winners

A good example of the importance of Infotegrity is the "eye-
opening" result of the cumulative effect of data inputs in a
computerized order release and scheduling system such as
MRP. There are at least ten data input files that drive such
systems with data accuracy indexes varying between 90% and
100%. Statistically, their cumulative effect (the product of
their values) could yield a devastating, order release
accuracy of 68.2%. That translates into a cumulative 31.8%
error rate in the order release and scheduling process. In
spite of this huge constraint, American ingenuity and energy
still gets the job done ... but at what costs?

Although many business gurus have identified data accuracy
as important in the implementation of computerized systems,
their message has been lost in the mania of systems
sophistication. To remain competitive in the future,
manufacturers must improve the results gained from their
business systems investments ... to do this, the fine-tuning
of Infotegrity is a "must do." How do companies accomplish
this task? 

SOME OF THE "HOW TOs"

Here are a few of their techniques:

>>> Simplify data bases - making it easy and routine to keep
data correct and up to date.
>>> "Bulletproof" system parameter maintenance - helping to
eliminate mistakes.
>>> Streamline and discipline the product documentation
process - doing it right the first time.
>>> Real time auditing and corrective actions ... keeping
information current and correct.
>>> Employ the right tools - point-of-use logistics, back-
flushing, and the Internet.
>>> Establish the right mindset ... the quality of decision-
making is dependent on Infotegrity.

THE COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT

Definition of TQM for Winners

Competition is getting tougher and tougher as each year
passes. If we don't want our competitors to close in on our
markets, we need to continuously improve product/service
quality, increase productivity, lower costs and increase
speed of new product introductions. 

To maintain ones' competitive edge into the future,
management's focus must be shifted from systems
sophistication to systems Infotegrity. In short, its time to
put the "horse before the cart." Information Integrity is no
panacea, however, I'm convinced that a company with simple,
unsophisticated systems and a high level of Infotegrity will
outperform a company that has sophisticated systems and low
Infotegrity. What about those company that have both? I buy
their stock!

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If you need a little INFOTEGRITY help, check out our 
Special Information Integrity e-Learning Package at:

http://best-manufacturing-practices.com/e-lp-ii.htm 
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You are welcomed to print and share this bulletin with 
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better yet, have them signup for their own copy at:

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With the escalating spam-wars, it's also a good idea 
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This will help guarantee that your bulletin is never 
deleted unexpectedly.

Definition of TQM for Winners

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Business Basics, LLC
6003 Dassia Way, Oceanside, CA 92056
West Coast: 760-945-5596

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: http://bbasicsllc.com

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Definition of TQM for Winners

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

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This will help guarantee that your bulletin is never deleted unexpectedly.

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

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