Five Leadership Essentials for Lean Success

Posted by IMEC on Aug 29, 2022 12:10:22 PM

This is an original article from the NIST Manufacturing Innovation Blog.

The Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) defines people-centric leadership (PCL) as a leadership approach that seeks to create a culture in which everyone is encouraged to improve and apply their talents and given the opportunity to pursue excellence at work every day.

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Using Technology to Capture Standardized Work via the TWI-JI Format

Posted by Ken Wunderlich on Jan 7, 2022 12:10:21 PM

This article will focus on technology as well as Training Within Industry - Job Instruction (TWI-JI) module to capture standardized work.

The challenge: The onboarding process is challenging. The primary reason is two-fold.

First, if tasks are documented, they are usually written and describe the steps in the process. However, the onboarding process is much more than tasks. It involves a logical format that often uses more sensory input to be successful (e.g. vision or audio). Only, providing a written document for training has limited effectiveness as it does not consider all sensory input. Different individuals capture knowledge differently. Providing multiple methods or considering different sensory inputs will provide a more effective educational session.

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Lean Through COVID-19: Adapting Lean Tools To Changing Times

Posted by Greg Thompson on Aug 11, 2020 11:52:22 AM

The global response to the Coronavirus has impacted all of us. The need for continuous improvement persists, and one may argue is even more important during challenging times. How can we use lean tools during this time?

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Four Strategies to Use Now to Adjust and Improve Cash Flow During a Crisis

Posted by Jeff Allspaugh on Apr 24, 2020 11:10:23 AM

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” — William Arthur Ward. 

Maintaining adequate cash flow is a major factor when operating a healthy business in times of growth and prosperity. During tough times it takes on an amplified role. The fundamentals of collecting on receivables, reducing expenses, reducing inventory investment, and the like are still in play, but these and different strategies need to be examined in difficult economic times.

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Manufacturers – Lean into Your Role in Illinois’ Economy

Posted by Simone Erskine on Sep 18, 2019 8:15:00 AM

It is no secret that manufacturers play a critical role in the state’s economy. Manufacturing alone contributes the largest amount per industry to the state’s output with 12% Gross State product. It is the state’s powerhouse industry that is responsible for 93% of its exports, pays $52 billion in wages and benefits to 592,000 people – that’s about 9.2% of the state’s workforce.

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Fuss and O'Neill: Helping Organizations Achieve Safer, More Cost-effective Productivity

Posted by Simone Erskine on Aug 26, 2019 1:24:10 PM

Who is Fuss & O’Neill?

Fuss and O’Neill Manufacturing Solutions provides mentoring, training, and engineering services for industrial and municipal clients to help them achieve safer, more cost effective productivity. In a recent interview with Larry Bouvier, Vice President and Partner at Fuss & O’Neill, IMEC got a deeper look into how they work with manufacturers and set themselves apart from the competition – one of many reasons they are one of IMEC’s top Third Party Resource partners. 

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Leadership Program Students to Help Company Streamline Manufacturing Process

Posted by Simone Erskine on Aug 15, 2018 1:53:21 PM

This is an original article written by Tim Crosby, Communication and Marketing Strategist. 

Students in Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Leadership Development Program don’t learn leadership out of a book; they learn it in the real world.

The latest batch of incoming students, along with the upper classmen, will again demonstrate this approach next week when they help a company reorganize part of its Chicago-area facility to improve efficiency and profitability.

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How Efficient is Your Quick Changeover?

Posted by Simone Erskine on Jul 18, 2018 9:36:00 AM

What can you accomplish with the time saved on machine or product setup? A quick changeover plan or Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is a lean manufacturing technique intended to improve process efficiencies. Let’s take a look at how quick changeover is applied on the racetrack.

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Visionary Leadership: Keys to a Successful Continuous Improvement Transformation

Posted by Roger Shrum on Apr 11, 2018 7:37:00 AM

Written by Roger Shrum, IMEC Regional Manager

In my work with manufacturers, I’ll encounter leaders who are frustrated with the slow pace of implementation of their continuous improvement programs.  They are concerned that they are not seeing the payback they were hoping for.  What I share with them is sometimes unsettling: Many enterprise-wide lean deployment programs become stalled because the top manager in the company has not clearly articulated his/her personal vision and committed to making it successful.

In one example, a company I was advising faced chronic late delivery problems, which jeopardized its reputation with longstanding customers and opened the door for its competitors to take business away.  The company was forced to work significant overtime and expedite production just to stay in the game. This company had a history of waiting for a downturn in business to shore up its delivery performance. Along the way, they “dabbled” in implementing lean methods, but as orders increased, a full lean implementation was shelved.  In retrospect, these well-meaning, busy leaders now realize that they may have missed an opportunity for significant growth by not positioning the company to adequately meet customer needs during the upside of the cycle.  

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It's Not Their Fault - People vs. Processes

Posted by Scott Czysz on Nov 16, 2017 2:48:51 PM

Written by Scott Czysz, IMEC Technical Specialist

Over the last couple months, I've observed a recurring theme with a few of the companies I am working with: a frustration with "them" (co-workers, factory workers, etc.) not doing what they are supposed to be doing.  As I dig deeper, I have found the problem lies within:

  • Poorly designed (or never designed) processes,
  • Poor or no process documentation,
  • Poor or no training for the people that are doing the process every day, and, not surprisingly,
  • Poor results.
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