As I posted in our bumper sticker maker review, we made this sticker for some guys in Iraq, and we use it to promote our labeling machines, but I guess, if you LOVE it, just drop us an email, and we’ll see if we can sell you one. If you want to make your own bumper stickers–whether you like Mr. Bieber or not, you could buy the…
Mike Wilson | July 29, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Industrial Label Printer, Label Printer, Sticker Makers
My business turns around visual safety supplies, and one of the most important ones for appropriate implementation–whether it be for extensive programs: 5S and lean, to the mundane: arc flash, pipe marking, and bumper stickers (for marketing), is the professional grade label printer. And, by professional, it has to be a thermal label printer. Why a thermal transfer labeling machine? Because they give you the most durable…
Mike Wilson | July 27, 2012 | Safety Products | Industrial Label Printer, Industrial Label Printers, Label Makers, Label Printer, Labeling
Ever dream about reaching an efficiency of 95%?! Think that is a crazy goal for your company? It’s not! That is what lean and kaizen help you achieve. It can also help you get rid of employees. Well, that’s how an article in Business Today titled “How Toyota Uses Kaizen for Efficiency” would have you think. The article reports the following: Toyota benchmarks itself on efficiency. It…
Mike Wilson | July 26, 2012 | Kaizen, Lean | Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing
What is so important about floors? We walk on them, put things on them….but mark them? After all, we put the markings for emergency exits in planes on the floor, and we are told that when smoke fills a room to crawl out of the building. It makes sense that we have industrial floor marking. Author Rick Ruzga mentions, in his blog post “Floor Marking Standards -…
Mike Wilson | July 25, 2012 | Floor Marking | Floor Marking, Workplace Safety
We carry Arcad’s arc flash analysis software, and they’re now pushing their latest update — version 5.0, for which they sent us an email the other day mentioning how they got “confirmed to meet NEC, CEC code and IEEE P 1584, NFPA 70E, CSA Z462 standard requirements” and received a certificate of compliance by a registered professional engineer in Ontario. This means that the use of their…
Mike Wilson | July 25, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Arc Flash, Workplace Safety
Proving that there is an absolutely great payoff for bringing leaner thinking on-board his reader’s company, “Lean Blog” writer, Mark Graban, discussed lean (more specifically, continuous improvement), the PDCA process, and the need for going to the gemba in his blog post, titled “Lean Effort Pays Big” in a Colorado Springs Hospital. Via info from Memorial Health System (MHS) staffer, Justin Lewis, Graban noted that Lewis’ employer…
Mike Wilson | July 24, 2012 | Lean | Gemba, Lean Manufacturing
Bumper sticker maker machine One thing that industrial level labeling machines excel at is something that is decidedly NOT industrial in nature – making bumper stickers. Now, don’t get me wrong, a bumper sticker maker can be a great tool for your business–for marketing to outside vendors and consumers, for inner safety and promotional efforts with employees, or even as a product for resale. The amount of…
Mike Wilson | July 24, 2012 | Safety Products | Forklift Safety, Industrial Label Printers, Labeling, Sticker Makers
The other day, I was consulting with a customer who was designated as his company’s “go-to guy” for implementing lean in their shop. He wasn’t entirely convinced with the move, questioning, since his company has been doing well for the past 3 decades, why would they need to fix something that isn’t broken? I asked him how many people work in his warehouse–he said fifteen. I then…
Mike Wilson | July 23, 2012 | Lean | Lean
I have a business within the visual safety and industrial consulting markets, and we have a lot of everyday challenges that arise, from customer service to transportation scheduling, and, as the company leader, I am expected to make things right. Well, everyone makes mistakes, and some problems are harder to solve than others. Sometimes, I need to look outside myself for some advice to give me some…
Mike Wilson | July 20, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Lean Manufacturing
Mark Graben, author of Lean Hospitals and the newly released, Healthcare Kaizen, examines Accountability versus Freedom and their effect on both the education and healthcare industries. Graben refers to an op-ed piece in a recent Wall Street Journal article by Deborah Kenny titled, Why Charter Schools Work. The WSJ article discusses the structural philosophy of what makes up a successful work environment and how to create proper…
Mike Wilson | July 19, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Healthcare, Work Environment, Workplace Safety
My company sells label makers. Granted, they aren’t like the consumer level ones, like the Brother P-Touch brand. WE sell industrial label makers meant for commercial operations, and the label tape we provide with our high-grade printers is of the highest quality. It is meant for offices, factories, warehouse, and other professional facilities. The other day, I was in an office supply store–let’s say Staples– and I…
Mike Wilson | July 18, 2012 | Safety Products | Industrial Label Printers, Label Makers, Labeling
Arc flash is a problem that can cause enormous property damage and even loss of life. It is when an electric current jumps a gap between phases or a fault in the terminals. This electrical arc contains enough juice and heat to turn everything in the vicinity to a plasma projectile, and creates a pressure wave capable of blasting a person across a room! Knowing the potential…
Mike Wilson | July 17, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Arc Flash, Electrical Safety, OSHA, Safety
FoxNews just published an article which quoted President Obama. In a recent speech he made he said, “If you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own.” President Obama’s comments might ring foul in some ears, but one thing is definitely true; At some point we all need help on our climb to the top. We need great teachers and mentors. We must not downplay the…
Mike Wilson | July 17, 2012 | Safety Solutions | Workplace Safety
With so many business models in the market today it’s often difficult to understand what would be best to incorporate into your operations before it becomes obsolete. Six Sigma, is one to learn and then, to keep around. For over 10 years, the Six Sigma business philosophy has changed the way many Fortune 500’s and other major corporations do their day-to-day. As an extremely technical process many…
Mike Wilson | July 17, 2012 | Lean | Six Sigma
The Kanban system promotes efficiency. It is not an especially complicated system. Sometimes, though, we must go back to the most basic basics. So let’s review the principles of the Kanban system. Nipon Ekanaronqpun describes Kanban this way in his article What Is The Kanban System for Lean Manufacturing?: The word ‘Kanban’ comes from a Japanese word which means ‘card’. The Kanban system, as it is known,…
Mike Wilson | July 14, 2012 | Kanban | Kanban, Lean Manufacturing
