You Can be Great If You Really Want To

Kaizen (Japanese for “improvement”) is a philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. When applied to the workplace, Kaizen activities continually improve all functions of a business, from manufacturing to management and from the CEO to the assembly line workers. By improving standardized activities and processes, Kaizen aims to eliminate waste, Lean manufacturing. 

 

According to Stephen Parker, CEO of Datacraft Solutions, “The Datacraft Solutions team believes in Continuous Improvement (CI), not only in manufacturing operations and supply chain management, but also in the Lean tools offered to our customers. CI in inventory and supply-chain management means the continuing pursuit of higher inventory turns, less stockouts and improved on time delivery in a challenging and ever-changing business landscape. This, in turn, requires fine tuning of the Kanban card-sets to reflect Sales and Operations Plans (S&OP), forecasts and a combination of other demand management factors.”

 

 

 

Kaizen is a daily activity, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity improvement. It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work (“muri”), and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work using the scientific method and how to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes.

 

To be most effective kaizen must operate with three principles in place:

 

consider the process and the results (not results-only) so that actions to achieve effects are surfaced;
systemic thinking of the whole process and not just that immediately in view (i.e. big picture, not solely the narrow view) in order to avoid creating problems elsewhere in the process; and
a learning, non-judgmental, non-blaming (because blaming is wasteful) approach and intent will allow the re-examination of the assumptions that resulted in the current process.

 

The challenge is to do this in a simple process with minimal administrative overhead, and quickly. Working with Lean Thought Leaders and after five years of advanced research and development, we have created the industry’s first card releveling tool: Intelligent Card Leveling (ICL).  Intelligent Card Leveling will be deployed this year in the third quarter.

 

 

Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com) delivers a revolutionary digital kanban process of automation solutions to lean manufacturers through a secure Internet gateway, eliminating the need to install and maintain a complex IT infrastructure. The company has experienced significant growth in the past two years by eliminating complicated, expensive, time-intensive software implementations as well as extensive training regimens and the need for internal support. Datacraft Solutions’ replenishment supply chain digital kanban system (Signum) allows customers to access and utilize powerful lean benefits immediately for a low, predictable monthly fee. Services are scalable so manufacturers can design an appropriate digital kanban solution.

 

 

Datacraft Solutions

www.datacraftsolutions.com

Sonja Foust

sfoust@datacraftsolutions.net

800-819-5326

 

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In the manufacturing industry, the concept of continuous improvement is very necessary especially nowadays. As operational costs continue to rise amid higher expenses for labor, raw materials, taxes and other operational necessities, manufacturers are bearing the pressure of continually surviving the challenges of business.

The concept of Kaizen or ‘continuous improvement’ was conceived and first implemented in Japan, where manufacturers are very well known globally for being highly efficient and productive at the same time. Continuous Improvement revolves around the idea that incremental and small changes or improvements in production can definitely lead to major and significant results when done consistently or sustained continuously. Thus, Japanese firms and other global companies adopting the system of Continuous Improvement are characterized for being highly efficient and productive.

If your business is aiming to adopt and implement the principles of the system, it would be imperative that you first be acquainted with the key Continuous Improvement metrics. Integrating the ideals and principles of Continuous Improvement would not be much of a hassle if you would be determined enough to understand before fully implementing the Continuous Improvement metrics.

Continuous Improvement metrics basically focus on the five core indicators of a good manufacturing or company performance. Thus, it would be helpful if you would be more exposed to those Continuous Improvement metrics that are described herein.

Quality. The main concern of all manufacturing operations should be the quality of the produce. Quality is the factor that would make or break a product or a brand. If quality is sustained and ensured to be high, for sure, demand for the products the manufacturer makes would remain high and business would be sustained as long as consumers value and recognize that high quality. Many manufacturers fail because of their inability to sustain quality.

Productivity. When the quality is sustained, of course, manufacturers should ensure productivity. Productivity is the factor that ensures that the business would be able to produce goods that the market demands. If manufacturers are unproductive, they would not be able to produce enough volumes of products that would be distributed in the market. In the end, the business would fail to generate enough revenues and eventually earnings to sustain long-term operations.

Schedule. Good manufacturers are those that are able to meet prescribed or preset timetables. In the manufacturing arena, good scheduling is important because suppliers and distributors are always strict when it comes to nourishing and piling inventories. Productivity and quality would fall futile if timetables are not met and strictly implemented.

Effort. Lean manufacturing is recommended if you are to adopt Continuous Improvement metrics. That means, the efforts exerted on a regular basis within the workplace should be minimized. Personnel can be streamlined. Did you know that manufacturing does not need too numerous head count of laborers if only efficiency is implemented? By that, there is a need to de-clutter the workplace so that workers could move more freely and there would be no possible delays in production. A minimalist interior design of facilities could help lessen unnecessary efforts in the workplace.

Cost. Perhaps the main gist of concerns that bog manufacturers is cost. No company would want to face higher costs, but most of the time, rising expenses are inevitable. When the business pays salaries of employees, purchases raw materials for manufacturing, invests in equipment and technology, pays taxes and shoulders marketing, there is indeed costs incurred. Continuous Improvement principle aims to control of lower costs without compromising effort, schedule, productivity and quality.

If your business is ready to focus on these Continuous Improvement metrics, or already have them in place, for sure, company margins would continue to widen and overall profitability would be bolstered. Success would be within reach.

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