Five Steps to Starting LEAN Successfully
In LEAN methodology, businesses become more efficient, more profitable, and less wasteful through a plethora of time-tested strategies. However, many of the strategies might not be immediately intuitive, and may therefore not have made their way into your original business plans. Many people find themselves in this position, and want to figure out how they…
Tony Ferraro | February 6, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement | 3 min read
Overcoming Opposition During LEAN Deployment
LEAN business practices are commonplace in the modern day, and have been for some time. Especially throughout the last two to three decades, businesses in a variety of sectors have overwhelmingly opted for LEAN/Six Sigma practices. Lean methodology is meant to increase efficiency, decrease waste, and, ultimately, maximize the profit margins of a business, and…
Tony Ferraro | February 5, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement | 3 min read
Panda Express – The Relationship Between Speed and Quality In Business
We live in a rapid fire world. Orders come in from online storefronts only to be packaged by assembly line robots and shipped out with computer tracking. In some industries, be they highly computerized or not, production teams can barely keep up with demand and a literally constant flow of goods is pumped out day…
Tony Ferraro | February 4, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement | 4 min read
Three Ways To Cut Non-Value Adding Processes From Your Business
When running any business, it’s important to trim the fat so-to-speak by minimizing wasted costs, materials, and labor hours. In many cases, however, it can be hard to identify areas in which things can be cut without stepping on the toes of your customers by compromising the value they receive. The key, then, becomes eliminating…
Tony Ferraro | January 29, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean | 3 min read
Why A Scorecard Is Not A Dashboard
Many businesses today use visual or progress indicators to help keep track of how operations are running. Some of the more popular methods involve using scorecards and dashboards to keep abreast of current happenings. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but they have some distinct differences that are definitely worth noting. In this blog…
Tony Ferraro | January 23, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean | 3 min read
8 LEAN Tools You Should Already Be Using
LEAN tools and strategies focus on improving production efficiency and reducing waste, both in terms of time and physical inputs. While the term LEAN and the thinking behind it is fairly well-known, there is still a natural (though somewhat perplexing) resistance to change that keeps business owners from implementing these strategies once they’re set in…
Tony Ferraro | January 21, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Lean | 3 min read
Calculating Your Downtime Costs – And Avoiding Them
For most businesses, some downtime is inevitable. Machines break, one process or lack of materials bottlenecks the others, and things just happen. Most of the time, this is written off as what something that simply goes on without major consequence and no further exploration is done. However, I recently came across a professional discussion on…
Tony Ferraro | January 14, 2014 | Lean | Reducing Downtime | 3 min read
How Simple Visibility Improvements can Improve Efficiency & Reduce Waste
Over the years, I have learned that one of the biggest mistakes individuals and companies make is always looking for the big changes to reduce waste or improve efficiency. They keep focusing on finding the next big, innovative move that will result in dramatic improvements to the bottom line. While these are great when they…
Tony Ferraro | January 10, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Improve Efficiency, Reduce Waste | 5 min read
Business Performance Measurement Methods & Their Effectiveness
When it comes to running a business, one has to keep a careful watch on what’s being produced, how quickly it’s happening, and whether a factory is producing goods at a speed that can keep up with demand. By extension, this means that employees must be monitored to ensure that they are working efficiently and…
Tony Ferraro | January 9, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement | 3 min read
