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
5 Easy Rules For Kanban Success
Have you ever heard of Kanban? This LEAN principle was developed specifically to help achieve a Just-In-Time, or JIT, production cycle. In a JIT cycle, products and goods are produced in exact accordance with observed demand, rather than predicted demand. This means that instead of projecting how many widgets you need to produce in a…
Tony Ferraro | January 30, 2014 | Kanban | Continuous Improvement, Lean | 3 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
Andon Lights 101 – How to Use Andon to Improve Production Communication
In Japanese, the word ‘andon’ means a traditional paper lamp or light. Toyota, however, incorporated the word to also be the default term for a type of lean signaling process used on work floors; that’s what we’re going to learn about today. What Is An Andon Light? In many production facilities, Andons are usually cylindrical…
Tony Ferraro | January 27, 2014 | Safety Products | Andon, Continuous Improvement | 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
Making Your 5S Project An Act of Charity – And Why You Should Do It
Capitalism has a strange relationship with charity. On the one hand, businesses are perpetually encouraged to reinvest their profits, minimize monetary leaks, and carry forth in a manner that keeps them squarely in the black. On the other side of things, nothing benefits corporate image more than a genuine act of charity, or a project…
Tony Ferraro | January 17, 2014 | 5S | 5S, Continuous Improvement | 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
Holacracy – An Industry of the Self-Governed?
In one of the bigger business-related news pieces of the past week, online shoe mega-retailer Zappos has announced that it will be switching up its leadership by…. not having any. Actually, what’s been announced is that the company plans to shift to a “holacracy” system by the end of 2014. A holacracy is a setup…
Tony Ferraro | January 8, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Improve Productivity | 3 min read
The Paperless Warehouse – How & Why
What do bank statements, purchase receipts, and (now) your own business records have in common? They can all be paperless. Not only that, but they can be improved by going paperless. Businesses have been converting their records to an electronic format for a number of years now, and it’s not too late to jump on…
Tony Ferraro | January 7, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Improve Efficiency | 3 min read
How Safety & Lean Go Hand In Hand
Over the years, factories, warehouses, and even offices have gotten safer and safer over ongoing concern for worker health and well-being. As a result, working conditions have focused increasingly on following workplace rules and keeping employees out of harm’s way for the past century. On the other side of things, businesses are constantly striving to…
Tony Ferraro | January 6, 2014 | Lean, Safety Solutions | Continuous Improvement, Workplace Safety | 5 min read
Helpful Tools to Make Layouts for a Production Line
Businesses are rarely setup in the most efficient configuration from the very beginning. If you happen to be one of the keen and lucky few to have the foresight to do so, congratulations. If not, you might be looking for advice on how to re-organize your production line in a more lean manner. While the…
Tony Ferraro | December 5, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement | 3 min read