Safety tape is one of the simplest, yet most effective, ways to improve the safety of your manufacturing facility. In fact, it is so effective that it is one of the highest recommended options for increasing safety in the 5s certification standards. There are many different places where this type of tape can be used to help improve safety, and even help improve efficiency for factories since…
Mike Wilson | February 27, 2013 | Floor Marking | Facility Efficiency, Safety
The term “quality” is somewhat ambiguous in nature as it means differing levels of satisfaction to different people. However, even though acceptable levels of quality vary widely from person to person, one thing is for sure, when a person purchases a product to meet a specific need he or she expects the product to fulfill the need it was intended to fill. In essence, quality can be…
Mike Wilson | February 26, 2013 | Lean | Lean Manufacturing
Value stream mapping is a technique which is commonly used to analyze and design the flow of materials or information that is required to move a product from conception to the hands of a customer. It is an important part of the lean manufacturing process and when done properly can help increase the efficiency of any company while also driving profits up. Unlike many other process improvement…
Mike Wilson | February 25, 2013 | Value Stream | 5S, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing, Value Stream, Value Stream Mapping
What are pipe labels and why are they necessary? Well, even though the use of pipe labels may seem like a minor detail in the grand scheme of running a warehouse or industrial work setting, they are actually an essential component needed to help ensure the safety of employees. Pipe labels are also often referred to as “pipe markings” and function just as they sound; they are…
Mike Wilson | February 22, 2013 | Safety Products | Pipe Marking
For those of you who have not experienced the splendor of IKEA, right now is a great time to learn some helpful and effective facts regarding their lean tactics and safety style. IKEA is a Dutch-based retail company that originated in Sweden back in 1943. Through the years IKEA has proven itself to be one of the largest and most efficient ready-to-assemble furniture and home décor stores…
Mike Wilson | February 21, 2013 | Lean, Safety Solutions | Continuous Improvement, Lean
Six sigma is an innovative way of operating that incorporates a set of strategies that aim to improve the processes conducted within a business. It was originally developed in the early 1980’s and has been a well-received tactic to help save businesses valuable time and money as well as improve processes and overall production tremendously. Many businesses actually seek out employees who have been trained in the…
Mike Wilson | February 20, 2013 | Lean | Lean, Six Sigma
Many businesses need and even require the use of safety signs to warn employees and customers of potentially hazardous areas. However, the task of finding the right signs to portray the right message, along with finding a reputable company to provide the signs may be more difficult than originally intended. We are here to ease some of that burden with 10 helpful tips for finding the right…
Mike Wilson | February 19, 2013 | Safety Solutions | Forklift Safety, OSHA, Safety, Safety Signs, Workplace Safety
Six Sigma has been around in the U.S. since the mid 1980’s and was originally developed and implemented by the Motorola Company. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with six sigma, it is essentially a set of strategies and tools that are implemented to enhance processes conducted within a business or organization. Six sigma was first developed to assist within the manufacturing realm of businesses…
Mike Wilson | February 18, 2013 | Lean | Lean, Six Sigma
It is the legal duty of any factory’s management to make sure that it protects its employees from the dangers of arc flash. Most importantly, they need to comply with the OSHA industry standards which among other things, require that the management conducts a proper assessment of the arc flash hazards within and around the workplace. Have you heard about the arc flash analysis software? You need to…
Mike Wilson | February 15, 2013 | Safety Solutions | Arc Flash, Workplace Safety
There are many different types of ways to help measure whether a product is successful or not. However, one of the most widely used methods is process capability. The general meaning of process capability is the ability of a process to meet its intended purpose designated by the process definition or management. In layman’s terms, process capability basically helps determine if a process is working sufficiently to…
Mike Wilson | February 14, 2013 | Safety Solutions | Workplace Safety
Colored tapes are an important feature in most industrial workplaces. In fact, tapes are an important part of any safety program in a factory or workshop. Can you imagine how such places would be without a standard of maintaining safety and order? It would be chaos everywhere, with people and machines moving about randomly without any organized order. For the proper running of facilities, the Occupational Safety…
Mike Wilson | February 13, 2013 | Safety Products | Organized Workplace, OSHA, Safety
What is considered a good or quality internal audit? What are the goals of an internal audit? What are some tips to ensure a quality audit? These may be some of the questions floating around in your head. For many business owners an internal audit is less daunting than an external audit because when an external audit is conducted many issues (some tax-related) are revealed without even…
Mike Wilson | February 12, 2013 | Lean | Lean Manufacturing
The control of important documents in today’s workplace continues to be a struggle despite the incorporation of the ISO 9001:2000 requirements. To clarify document control, it can be described as ensuring that current documents are first approved by qualified personnel and then distributed to the areas or places where they are actually used and that old or redundant information is then removed. What does the ISO 9001:2000…
Mike Wilson | February 11, 2013 | Lean | Lean
When most people think about performance improvement, they often think of things such as customer satisfaction or continuous improvement models. It is true that both of these components are important to the overall success of a business. However, the most significant revision within the ISO 9001 is calling for a requirement of quality objectives. If you think about it, objectives are a HUGE part of how a…
Mike Wilson | February 8, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean
The world of health care is always changing and rightfully so with all the changes in the business world why would health care remain the same? However, despite some long-practiced, tried and true methods of assessing health care quality such as Donabedian’s structures method which focuses on processes and outcomes as well as the inception of the continuous improvement model and the balanced scorecard method the professionals…
Mike Wilson | February 7, 2013 | Safety Solutions | Continuous Improvement, Healthcare, Lean
