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Operational Excellence

Maximizing and optimizing the operational and functional areas of your organization are a part of growing to the next level and achieving your strategic vision.

Reduce Cycle Time: Assessing the steps in a manufacturing or transactional process using the Lean Methodology involves identification and elimination of those activities which are not resulting in value-added benefit to the customer. If a lean assessment has not been done within the last 5 years, there are likely opportunities to substantially reduce a process’ cycle time in the first round of improvement.

Reduce errors, Improve Quality, Reliability, Durability, and Life Cycle Performance: The Lean tools can be applied to mistake-proof actions, reduce errors and improve quality.  Typical reliability analysis can be used to understand what the infant mortality, steady-state failure and wear-out rates will be and how well they match the warranty and maintainability goals. Durability, Life Cycle Performance and Voice of the Customer studies assist design activities by understanding and applying the optimal level of engineering effort that will result in a balance between production cost, level of desired functionality/performance and the costs to sustain that over the projected Life Cycle.

FMEA / Risk Mitigation / Elimination: The ISO9001:2015 standard has brought a new emphasis on risk reduction and mitigation.  Due to that emphasis, harmonized methods for performing Failure Mode and Effects Analysis have been introduced (especially AIAG-VDA FMEA 5th Ed., 2019), making improved analysis and decision-making possible.  The result is a greater ability for design engineering to develop a superior design in a shorter time with greater assurance that all key elements of risk have been addressed.

Reduce Costs, Resource Consumption, Leverage Supply Chain: Many designs of products or processes can leverage parts/components/equipment that are standard (or with minor modifications) from external suppliers resulting in reduced lead times and less investment in expensive, limited-use tooling. If this design approach is adopted from the outset, it can dramatically impact time-to-market and initial startup costs.

Improve Flexibility of Large Capital Assets: Reducing set-up/changeover times from hours to minutes allows for smaller batch sizes, reduced warehouse inventory, fresher stock and greater ability to match the mix of product that is readily available to customers’ varying demands. Reducing complexity/rationalizing families of product allows for greater productivity of a wider variety of product with no additional large capital expense.

Reduce Inventory while keeping same or better service levels: Analyzing the mix of sales, various customer expectations of service levels, and applying proven statistical algorithms allows inventory levels to be lowered while maintaining service levels as good as or better than before.

Lean out Processes, Improve Productivity and Capacity with no additional Capital: Leaning out a process results in substantially fewer steps, and because these steps are no longer performed, costs are reduced, quality is improved, flexibility of the process is greater, and the productivity as well as the capacity of the process is greater. Common outcomes are a decrease of 50% or more, of non-value-added steps, and a reduction of up to 15% in cost.

Detail and Improve Flow, Balance the activities based on Takt Time: Understanding the details of production steps and balancing the process flow increases production capacity at no additional cost, plus it gives greater flexibility in answering customer demand per the Takt Rate.

Quality Management System integrated with Product Lifecycle Management: There are several approaches to design and implementation of a QMS. Probably the most effective and scalable is a combination of PLM and QMS, with the QMS playing a major role in the long-term success of PLM.  The QMS, whether an elementary approach involving only Document Control, Non-Conformance, Training and Audit, or more comprehensive with Control Plans, Supplier Quality Management, Change Management, Risk Management, Feedback Management, and Calibration of Measuring Instruments & Methods, is the fundamental means for Operations Monitoring, Control and Recording all of the key activities essential for the organization’s success.  The most effective way a QMS can support a PLM is in an integrated system.

Design for Lean Six Sigma + Toyota Product Design Process: Most are familiar with the Toyota Production System (aka Lean) but are not aware of the Toyota Product Design System and the parallel design process routines associated with it.  The result is a new product or component which is only released when the technology maturity for all aspects are above threshold measures. The Design for Lean Six Sigma methodology and tools work well to complement the TPDS and give superlative products in the initial launch with the desired functionality and durability. The framework guides the design efforts and often results in a launch in record short time.

Quality Function Deployment: QFD is a structured method for gathering and applying the Voice of the Customer (to any or all of the 4 phases: development, production, utilization, and disposal) and converting it into terms that engineers, scientists and technicians understand, can measure and design to.  QFD enables design of products and systems which meet customer expectations in the initial design.  This reduces the amount of re-engineering and re-design needed for a successful product/system introduction…results in greater, on-target output from a given design team, plus a rational system of metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the design.

Design for X: Design for Manufacturability, Design for Maintainability, Design for Durability are just some of the Design for ‘X’ methodologies which can be used selectively to standout in a crowded marketplace.  It results in a product design which competes in a new way that is different and superior from the other offerings.  The same approach works well when designing new services that more fully leverage recent technologies.

Rationalize Product Lines, Reduce Complexity of Offering, Shrink Concept to Cash Cycle Time: The “Stage Gate” Design and Development Process’ success and productivity can be enhanced by reducing the number of design projects being worked at one time, modularizing the product, and rationalizing the product families such that the entire set of target markets can be serviced well with a limited number of distinct models that have built-in “hooks” for customizing where needed.

For more information on how you can enhance the operational and functional areas of your organization, in meaningful ways to improve your quality, service, and bottom-line, reach out to Scott Romeo at romeo@thestrategyexpert.com and we would be glad to discuss your specific situation.