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
Introduction Centurion Safety Products Ltd experienced a sudden increase in demand for its respiratory products due to a competitor withdrawing from the marketplace. This was putting their traditional manufacturing process under unsustainable strain. WLP were asked to help them overcome their capacity constraint. What We Did: trained key members of the manufacturing team in relevant lean
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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
The company produces electronic pager and pager systems worldwide to armed forces, medical and rescue organisations. Following restructuring of their manufacturing, they wanted to apply lean principles to their factory layout. They also wanted to start developing an involvement and ownership culture. We developed and led a workshop to facilitate the factory management group in
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Steve Palmer on
Allaway Acoustics design, manufacture and install noise control systems across the world. They needed to improve the competitiveness of their business by reducing the cost of their manufacturing operation. What We Did: Trained a mixed group of Directors, Managers, Team Leaders and Shop-Floor Staff in Lean Processing Implemented Visual Product Planning, Balanced Flow and Kanban Management
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Steve Palmer on
One of the UK’s leading food coatings companies experienced a poor wheat harvest and a healthy order book. This pushed demands beyond their manufacturing capacity, meaning they needed to change how they managed operations. Our consultant developed Value Stream Maps for three sites to understand business, worked with customer service teams to map their processes and identify time
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Steve Palmer on
One of the best methods of measuring how well a production line is running is Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). To help explain how OEE works, below is an example. Example I have a plant that I know runs at 10 tes per hour when everything is great. It runs 24 hours a day. That means in theory I
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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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