Steve Palmer on
When “the way we have always done it” isn’t causing any problems and the system is coping, there’s very little incentive to make changes. But when things start to go wrong and no one is sure why, it’s time to review the processes and look for improvements. This is a common situation that WLP are
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Steve Palmer on
In my last blog post, I talked about three steps to improving productivity in made-to-order manufacturing environments. These steps were: Establish standard processes using standard inputs Ensuring information and manufacturing flows Automate or Autonomate In this article I want to explore the step carried out prior to any of these, that was briefly touched upon
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Steve Palmer on
All the talk at present is about productivity and how we can’t, as a nation, afford to pay ourselves more as productivity has not improved. The productivity being talked about is the value we create per individual. Within a production environment we can define value add as the new margin (sales value minus direct costs
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Wilson Lee on
A national fleet provider of a mixed vehicle fleet identified that their fleet maintenance scheduling system was not providing effective or consistent planning of the MOT, LOLER / PUWER or vehicle maintenance events. Hence potentially placing their customers O Licence certification at risk! Using Lean Six Sigma methods our consultant worked closely with the client’s
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Steve Palmer on
It’s a problem-solving technique with proven results, yet Six Sigma is sometimes equated with using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. However, if you get to grips with working inside its structure and understand the tools it employs, Six Sigma can transform the performance of your business. So, how does it work? There are three
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Steve Palmer on
It can be deeply frustrating to run a business knowing that the operation itself is flawed and costing you time, money or compromising quality. The good news is that there are ways to make changes that significantly reduce and, hopefully, eventually eradicate such problems. There are a range of strategies out there. Here at WLP,
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Steve Palmer on
5S is one of many Lean tools out there. Often misinterpreted as “just housekeeping” it is one of the foundations of Lean. The overall aim of 5S is to reduce waste, optimise productivity and increase profitability. Do you work in an area that is used by more than just yourself? How frustrated do you get when you want
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Steve Palmer on
I recently spent time with a client who had quite a few problems! Most businesses have problems, but these were costing a lot of money. Just to help these problems seemed to occur in a random manner. Many attempts to solve them had appeared to succeed (until they recurred), and some of them had disappeared
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Steve Palmer on
The client develops seed coating technology and processes customers’ seed to enhance its planting and germination properties. They were experiencing significant growth and issues of capacity, product quality and consistency all need to be improved. We used our considerable experience in implementing Lean Six Sigma as an improvement process and tool box. The company trained a
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Steve Palmer on
The company has manufactured flexible containers since 1970. The process used is quite unique and the growth in the business has placed the challenge to improve productivity to meet the growing order book, and to maximise the available resources. Working with the Managing Director and the Operations Manager we established a measure of the effectiveness
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