PDCA Cycle Tips
Useful Tips to Help Implement PDCA One of the most effective ways to implement changes in a facility is by using the PDCA cycle. PDCA, which stands for Plan Do Check Act is a system that has been used for years by many different types of industries. It is simple enough to use that it…
Tony Ferraro | November 17, 2015 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Gemba, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing | 5 min read
Kaizen Continuous Improvement – Ten Tips
Ten Tips to Help You with Your Kaizen Continuous Improvement Strategy The Kaizen methodology encourages ongoing efforts to ensure continuous improvement throughout a facility. This improvement can come in many forms including waste elimination, improved efficiency, safer work environments and much more. To simply say that a facility is employing Kaizen strategies, is essentially meaningless…
Tony Ferraro | September 21, 2015 | Kaizen | 5S, 6S, Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Kaizen, Six Sigma | 6 min read
Quality, Value, & Grade – An Exploration
Is Higher Quality Always Better? You don’t have to be in the business world to feel that, intuitively, that better quality, is, well better. Phrases like “quality over quantity” and “you get what you pay for” drive this point home for just about everyone from a young age, but have we ever stopped to think…
Tony Ferraro | September 19, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing | 4 min read
What is Lean Management?
Lean Management – A Guide To Starting Out Right Much like anything over-used and spread before those singing praises have done a lot of research, Lean is a concept that sometimes, despite the best of intentions, misses its mark. Lean principles aren’t particularly tricky, but with many offshoots and brands of the ideology, it can…
Tony Ferraro | June 20, 2014 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency | 4 min read
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, Kanban, Lean Manufacturing | 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 | 5 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, Kanban, 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 | 5S, Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, Kanban, Lean Manufacturing | 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 | Barcoding, Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Labeling, Organized Workplace, Safety Signs | 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
