Manufacturing Effectiveness 5: The Critical Factor of a System that is Easy to Control The concept off ’tilting the playing field‘ as opposed to ‘pushing water up hill’ is a simple rule of thumb thathelps you understand the issues. Efficient operations involve the repeat of simple predictable tasks, whilst being ask to choose Read more
Manufacturing Effectiveness 4: Tilting the Playingfield When improving any system aim for the minimum possible human input. You should attempt to ’tilt the playing field‘ rather than ‘push water up hill’. In other words, the system should be designed so that it does most of the work for the people who have Read more
Manufacturing Effectiveness 3: Internal Logistics Quoting directly: a reliable benchmark on which to base an analysis of any manufacturing organisation is that of the internal logistics feeding the production operation – how material planning is carried out, how the purchasing system operates, how regular componentry is re-supplied on the shop-floor, Read more
Manufacturing Effectiveness 2: The Model Michael Porter’s (1985) ‘Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance’, Free Press, New York; introduced a process view of general business organisations as a generic business system with clearly definable activities which could be analysed and then optimised. Porter chose: In 2005 I developed a Read more
Manufacturing Effectiveness 1: Introduction In my last two posts ‘Change Is…5’ & ‘Change Is…6’ (featured on my profile) I talked about the difference between good and excellent. In my MBA thesis 17 years ago I tackled the subject of what makes a good manufacturing organisation. I’d spent my first six Read more