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Tips For Executing Your Improvement Plans
You have gone through the effort of identifying opportunities for improving your plant’s operation. You have given thought to how long it will take and who is in the best position to make things happen.
Read MoreAssessing Your Current Operation
When faced with the task of continuously improving our manufacturing operations, we must first understand how we are currently performing. I have found some basic questions to be helpful in this regard.
Read MoreWhat Differentiates Today's Successful Manufacturers
As a person who spends a great deal of time working with manufacturers of all types, I am often asked what differentiates successful manufacturers from “everyone else. ” Rather than point to one or two surefire reasons for success in today’s highly competitive manufacturing arena, I would like to identify some of the characteristics I have witnessed lately in the manufacturing companies that are indeed doing well (and there are a lot of them).
Read MoreThe Advantages Of “Machine-Owned” Tools
One concept I have been advocating of late is machine-owned tools, or community ownership of the specific tools required for machinery and equipment. There are many ways to manage this type of program, but the most effective means I have found is a shadow board.
Read More5S And Quick Changeovers Work Hand-In-Hand
Two concepts that work so well together in streamlining production processes are the 5S System of workplace organization and quick changeover. These concepts are so interrelated that it’s hard to imagine anyone significantly reducing setup times without having a good understanding of how to achieve an organized workplace.
Read MoreOrganizing Machines Into Cells
Many companies have realized significant benefits from implementing manufacturing cells in their plants. They include: supporting manufacture of small, or as needed, quantities allowing operators to perform multiple processes on a part in a localized area reducing part throughput time minimizing part handling and travel from the start of the process to the end faster discovery of quality problems.
Read MoreChange Must Happen From Within
Those of us who work with companies to help them do things better know one thing for certain: We are only messengers of change. We can offer new ideas and share what others have done in similar situations.
Read MoreContinuous Improvement In Practice
At Century Die Company in Fremont, Ohio, continuous improvement is more than just a buzzword—it is a critical strategy for operating a business. Century Die is a successful manufacturer of custom molds and dies used in a variety of industries.
Read MorePulling Orders Through The Shop
I often talk about minimizing waste in a manufacturing operation by only producing what you really need. Of course, this, in itself, is a concept that is difficult for many to understand.
Read MoreStandard Work Procedures
One of the first steps in improving any manufacturing operation is identifying the best way of performing a particular task, then developing a standard work procedure for everyone to follow. A standard work procedure is the result of organizing tasks in the best sequence of steps to make the best use of people, equipment, tooling and materials.
Read MoreWhat Companies Should Be Measuring Today
In today’s highly competitive environment, continuous improvement is necessary just to maintain the business you have. Yet how do we know whether or not we are getting better? What should we be measuring in our manufacturing operations? The following are those measures I believe are the most important to today’s manufacturers.
Read MoreCommitment Key To Lean Manufacturing Transformation
I & W Industries, LLC was formed in 1998 when W. Dodd Russell and his two partners, Jerry A.
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