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What is Excellence in Manufacturing?

By Peter Follows, President of Carpedia International

Excellence in manufacturing is achieved when a desired quantity of a product is produced at the level of quality expected by customers and is consistently delivered by a required date at a minimum cost. For these criteria to be met, the effective use and management of available resources such as material, equipment, space and people is essential.

Manufacturing companies can be either process-oriented (e.g. mining) or fabrication and assembly-oriented (e.g. car manufacturers).  In process-oriented environments, management must schedule resources and output around the limiting constraints (process bottlenecks). In fabrication and assembly operations, management must schedule and adjust available resources to match the fluctuations in customer demand.

What can go wrong?

As operations grow and get more complex, scheduling becomes increasingly difficult. Production is often not effectively scheduled, or controlled, based on the specific tasks required from input to output in terms of labour and machine hours (Enterprise Resource Planning systems are rarely used as they are designed). The result of this breakdown in scheduling coordination is low productivity, extended cycle times and an inability to consistently meet scheduled shipping dates.  Many manufacturers work off rush, short and late lists, with the supervisors trying to push work through the plant in a reactionary mode. 

What do the best Manufacturers do well?

Companies who excel at manufacturing do the following better than their competitors:

Product
  • Standardize product parts as much as possible to simplify processing.
  • Sales and production work together to maximize both revenue and service.
Process
  • Divide  products into value streams and schedule each per demand patterns.
  • Flow work through the process according to a well-balanced schedule. 
System
  • Manage customers’ demands to protect the integrity of the production schedule.
  • Work schedule is based on achieving volume through key process constraints.
  • Control execution at the front-line through visual feedback boards that let people know how they are performing.
  • Schedule, productivity, quality and service are measured against the plan daily.
Behaviour
  • Managers set clear expectations to employees in terms of output, quality and time. They provide the necessary coaching support, tools and training.
  • Employees are well-trained and proud of the quality of their work.

Peter Follows is the President of Carpedia International Ltd, a leading implementation-based management firm headquartered in Oakville, with offices in Atlanta. Carpedia has worked with many leading retailers including Black’s Photo, Dack’s Shoes, and Rogers Video. Peter is a graduate of OTHS and Harvard University. He can be reached through www.carpedia.com