Posted on Mon, May 10, 2010
In this week's Operational Excellence Insight, Lean Consultant Mike Donovan writes about the appropriate use of ERP in a Lean Manufacturing Enterprise. Mike points out some of the problems with ERP/MRP as a shop floor control execution tool although he strongly support ERP for other business purposes.
The value of ERP in manufacturing has long been a subject of debate. The anti-computer crowd tends to be those narrowly and totally focused on Lean Enterprise techniques such as Kanban, one piece flow, and building to customer demand among other applications from the tool box for creating a Lean Supply Chain. The extremists in that camp preach that ERP is totally non-value added and it should be eliminated. This is not a very informed view point.
Clearly, there are some logic problems in ERP systems especially in scheduling functionality that is driven by fixed lead times, predetermined queue times and backward planning to create schedules for execution. Furthermore, many ERP advocates are not aware that the scheduling of dependent demand with MRP shop floor control logic is more or less illogical once orders are released...
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Posted on Tue, May 04, 2010
This week's Operational Excellence Insight focuses on four tips to prepare the organization for Lean in administrative areas.
Some Operational Excellence zealots make the mistake of focusing their efforts solely on the production organization. Since many improvement methodologies have a factory heritage, this is a very easy trap to fall into.
But ignoring the administrative side of the business means missing huge opportunities. In fact, our experience is that Lean Six Sigma in the office often provides greater benefits than in the factory.
One reason is simple economics - in many companies overhead burden is a much larger percentage of total cost than direct manufacturing. Also, virtually all manufacturing companies have made at least some effort to improve production methods, even if significant opportunities still exist. At the same time, it is surprising to learn how many organizations have never applied structured improvement efforts in office settings.
In concept, attacking non-value added activity in administration...
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Posted on Mon, Apr 19, 2010
This week's Operational Excellence Insight explores Kanban. Click to read the full article.
Do you have any experiences (good or bad) to share? Please feel free to post a comment.
Posted on Tue, Nov 10, 2009
The concepts of Lean have been formally studied (outside of Japan) for twenty years - and far more if you include early versions of the technology dating all the way back to some of the concepts of Henry Ford. What will happen next?
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The fundamentals of Lean never change and good organizations will continuously apply them to achieve higher and higher levels of performance.
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The principles of Lean will evolve as new technologies and business tools develop
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Like all business improvement methodologies Lean will eventually be replaced by a new approach.
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Something else
We have our strong opinion - but what is yours? Share your thoughts by commenting on this blog and check back for the discussion.