Not long ago, QRM was heralded as the new Lean, and now we are bombarded with DDMRP as the panacea for all our problems. It seems as if the different schools, in their hunger to sell more books, software, and / or advice, put more energy into highlighting the differences than celebrating what unites them. Meanwhile, they leave many an...
Recently, one of my customers stated that ‘the total supply chain inventory says as much about the health of a company as weight says about the health of a person’. If you look at it like that, then my colleagues and I have once again had the privilege of helping a considerable number of ‘seriously overweight patients’ to slim down healthily...
It will be difficult to find a manager in any professional organisation in the western world who would dare to claim that employees should not be empowered. Effective managers can get great results from their teams if they ensure that the targeted output is crystal clear, without dictating how exactly this output should be achieved. Most employees...
Not too long ago I spoke with a couple of planners at a manufacturing company. With a certain despair they confided that the planning they created had to be changed continuously. It was certainly no exception that the planning was changed at least 50 times between creation and execution. Even next day’s planning was subject to frequent changes.
Over the last decades we have witnessed the arrival of a large variety of new process improvement methodologies and philosophies. For many years our options were limited to MRP, LEAN and TOC, but these have been augmented by TPM, TQM, WCM and Six Sigma and now we can even choose QRM and DDMRP. Even better, we also have RFS, sDBR, CCPM, ESP,...
I’ve recently read “The Rosie Project” by Graeme Simsion. A hilarious novel that currently can be found in large piles in every bookstore. The leading character is a genetics professor, named Don Tillman, who researches Asperger’s syndrome and shows, without being aware of this fact, quite many symptoms of this syndrome himself. Without...
Competition is more global and fiercer than ever. Not many companies are able to dominate the market and hence for most companies cost price is a ‘qualifier’. If your product is too expensive, you’re out. Efficiency is a necessity. On the other hand the market requires more and more service. Product ranges are widened, product life cycles are...
In our consultancy practice we find that large numbers of manufacturing companies are struggling with the decision whether to use a Cyclic or Non-Cyclic production system. Cyclic production is often regarded as an inflexible way of production; a pre-defined cycle reduces degrees of freedom in the production schedule. However, cyclic production...
Recently I was invited by a production company in the south of The Netherlands. The reason was chronic lack of grip on the production process. This was far from a new problem. However, increasing pressure on cost and reliability, forced the plant manager to take action soon. All efforts to date, including attempts to introduce Lean and Six...
It’s two minutes to twelve, and we continue navel gazing!” said one of the participants during the S&OP mini-seminar recently held at ArlaFoods in Nijkerk. Just before Lourens Schouwink, CFO Samsung Benelux, had talked about their ambitions and approach. Leaving part of his audience behind in wonder and despair. Samsung continues on the...