Think Tank
With the publication of Speed to Market: How to Cut Lead Time and Increase Profits in Job Shops and Custom Manufacturing Environments in 1998, Delta Dynamics was the first to bring the job shop into the spotlight as a unique type of manufacturing enterprise with its own management requirements, different from those of mass production operations. Job shops are part of a broader category of order-driven businesses which also includes niche and custom manufacturers, engineer to order, and similar low-volume high-variety businesses which share a set of common characteristics (click on the custom vs. mass below).
Since then, we have published a second edition, Speed to Market: Lean Manufacturing for Job Shops, and continued to focus on developing products, services, and educational materials specifically for the unique problems and management issues of job shops and custom manufacturing companies. The archived Speed to Market Newsletters below contain over 50 articles on job shop themes.
Typical problem areas in job shops include how to get production planning and scheduling under control; how to constantly improve the accuracy and responsiveness of estimating and quoting; how to improve on–time delivery; how to increase cash flow and reduce the need for working capital; how to recognize and exploit new markets and increase sales; how to allocate overhead fairly; how to manage capacity with a roller coaster workload; how to achieve continuous improvement without a costly bureaucracy; how to cross–train operators and increase the flexibility of the work force; how to reduce lead time and serve customers more quickly; and more. Take a look through the following educational resources for answers to these and other questions.
Speed to
Market Newsletters
Speed
to Market September 2008
How Managing by the Seat of Your Pants Can Burn You Seat-of-the-pants
management refers to the practice of deciding a course of action as you go
along, using your own initiative and perceptions rather than a pre-determined
plan. Craft shops that are making the transition to a managed business process
often have difficulties implementing the disciplined approach necessary to
manage a more complex, process organization.
Speed
to Market August 2008
Organization Change as War The
status quo presents a formidable
barrier to the introduction of new processes, methods, policies, and
responsibilities. However, viewing
change as a war between the Forces
of Change and the Forces of the Status
Quo can add a level of insight and understanding that can be useful in
overcoming obstacles and moving the change process forward. A Threat Assessment
is a good tool for understanding individuals’ reluctance and finding ways to
address it. It’s important not to
gloss over resistance, but to take the time to understand its source and develop
viable solutions. When the Forces of
Change follow an organized approach with a program that makes sense and can be
explained to members of the organization, the Forces of the Status Quo will yield.
After all, everybody wants the same thing…an organization that can
adapt to new challenges, become more competitive, and profitable with job
security for all its members.
Speed
to Market June 2008
Excuse
Me… A frequently overlooked area of waste is the high cost of
interruptions. It is not on the list of the Toyota
Production System’s Seven Wastes,
and generally flies under the radar undetected. Interruptions are far more
frequent and costly in job shops compared to those environments in which
employees perform repetitive tasks. This article argues that employees of job
shops are knowledge workers who combine mental and physical work.
It examines the structure and
types of interruptions machinists report from their actual experience, and
offers a list of things you can do to reduce the frequency and duration of these
events. A Cost of Interruptions Calculator can be downloaded from the Delta
Dynamics website so you can see how much interruptions are actually costing
you.
Speed
to Market May 2008
Rome
Wasn’t Built in a Day A
recent Industry Week study reported that some 70% of manufacturing facilities in
the U.S. are
currently employing Lean Manufacturing as an improvement methodology, but 74% of
these companies also admit they are not making good progress with Lean. This
dismal result can be traced to a number of factors–shoddy program design, lack
of detailed implementation planning, and insufficient chronological time for the
organization to internalize and sustain change.
This article illustrates various stages in the change process, and describes what has to be done to increase the odds of a favorable program outcome. It also illustrates why implementation is so difficult and time consuming by describing what is required to design and implement a program to reduce rework. Given that the manufacturing environment continues to evolve at a rapid pace, companies can no longer accept implementation as the “weak link,” and must learn what it takes to implement change and improvement more effectively.
Speed
to Market March 2008
Waste Not Want Not. The Seven Wastes, a concept from the Toyota
Production System, has become a staple of lean manufacturing. However, not
all seven sources of waste are equally applicable in job shops, and so must be
re-interpreted before they can be applied effectively. It’s necessary to
understand both the lean concept and the job shop environment in which it is
being applied for any waste reduction effort to be effective. In addition, there
are non-production sources of waste which can be even more expensive. When
all is said and done, the waste targeted by the Seven Wastes may only be the tip
of the iceberg when it comes to all the waste that exists in your company.
Speed
to Market February 2008
Formulating Strategy for Job Shops This issue of the Speed to Market
Newsletter presents a framework for strategy development in a job
shop. Rather than follow the approach used in large corporations, we define five
essential strategies for job shops, and then use the star model to show the need
for integration. This is a more
practical, closer to the ground approach that will have a direct bearing on your
company’s performance, profitability, and continued existence.
Looking ahead is not easy to do. Hopefully,
this article will encourage Speed to Market readers to pay attention to this need, and begin an
integrated process of strategy development.
More Ways to Fail in Management A continuation of things not to do.
News and Notes Vincent Bozzone will present a series of Workshops for the American Mold Builders Association over the coming year on how to apply lean manufacturing to tool shops and similar order driven businesses. For more information, visit www.AMBA.org
Speed
to Market January 2008
Organization Design for Job Shops Is your organization consciously designed, or does it look like the house that Jack built with portions added on willy-nilly to accommodate some need at a crucial time in the company's life? Many
organizations could stand a good review and redesign because companies competing in today’s demanding business environment can’t afford to operate with a broken system and a misaligned organization. In this article, the "Star Model" is applied to a typical job shop to
reveal how strategy, processes, structure, people and rewards are brought into the design process. This approach results in an
unusual structure built around the job shop business process.
More Ways to Fail in Management Here are some typical things
managers do that undermine organization performance and frustrate
employees. If the shoe fits...
What is Speed to Market? A Speed to Market reader in Redding, California sent us an email with a simple question: “What exactly is Speed to Market?” He went on to explain there was so much material in the newsletters and STM books he was having a hard time organizing it all. We figured he might not be the only one trying to get his or her arms around STM, and so thought “What is Speed to Market?” would be a good theme for an article as a way to answer his question.
Performance & Profit Improvement Starter Package We know there are many job shops that can use our help, but don’t call until it is almost too late. There are a number of reasons for this we know…accepting the status quo even if it’s not up to par, not being fully aware of the danger of your situation, false hope, thinking you can muddle through and do it yourself, ego, dislike of consultants, fear of the cost, and afraid to “get taken.” We thought one of the ways to take some of the uncertainty out of working with Delta Dynamics would be to offer what we are calling a Performance & Profit Improvement Starter Package. This is a group of services we know from experience are required in these types of businesses to set the stage for an organized approach for improving performance and profitability. This package that is reasonable, effective, and affordable for a small shop.
Customers or Clients? Do you call them customers or clients? This is important because what you call your clientele has implications for how you see them, and how you work with them.
Forecasting in a Job Shop? Demand forecasting has traditionally been associated with mass production, build-to-stock businesses that make standard products and fill orders from finished goods inventories. Can forecasting be used in a job shop to give you a heads up when a surge in demand is imminent? If so, you can prepare for it, rather than having to deal with it at the last minute. This article investigates the possibility of using forecasting to address one of the most prevalent problems in job shops...overloading capacity and the associated chain of events that includes last-minute rushing around, taking shortcuts, making mistakes, adding to rework, increasing delays, and unnecessary costs.
Tooling Industry Survey Add your input to a research study to determine how the tooling industry is responding to increased global competition. The survey is available on line. Everyone who participates will get an executive summary of the results and conclusions.
Variations on a Job Shop Theme Speed to Market readers know we use “job shop” as an umbrella term when referring to order driven businesses, and tend to focus on their similarities rather than their differences. In this article, we differentiate among types of job shops and begin to discuss their differences and implications for management. We identify seven variations on a job shop theme, and briefly touch on some of their characteristics and management challenges. Along the way, we reference half a dozen Speed to Market Newsletter articles that have a bearing on these management challenges. You can use this article, along with those referenced, as a refresher course on managing job shop dynamics. As always, we caution you to understand the underlying architectures and requirements of different business systems before you apply canned remedies that promise to bring about performance improvement
Speed
to Market September 2007
Toyota Is Not
Lean With all the hype and mad rush to export the Toyota Production System
to every company under the sun, it may come as a surprise to learn that Toyota
is not lean. Toyota carries over $100 BILLION in finished goods
inventories on its books, and violates at least three of the five lean
principles described by Womack and Jones. This articles shows the inherent
design flaws in the organization, and how to construct a truly lean production
system for the auto industry. This is good to understand before you start off on
a lean "journey."
Speed
to Market August 2007
How Much Do Schedule Changes Really Cost? (Part 2) There is no
line item on your income statement that says “The Cost of Jumping through
Hoops to Satisfy Customers,” so it’s easy to miss the true costs of schedule
changes. In the July issue of the Speed to Market Newsletter, we pointed
out these costs include lost revenue, the cost of disruptions, and other hidden
costs over and above the cost of direct labor. In Part 2, we offer tools you can
use to examine the situation in your shop. We want to bring this to your
attention as an area for progress, and to offer some tools for analyzing the
problem and formulating strategies for improvement.
Schmald Tool & Die Continues to Improve Long-time client Schmald Tool & Die in Burton, Michigan continues to move forward in its quest to become more competitive and develop a broader range of capabilities and services. The latest initiative is a comprehensive Production Planning, Capacity Management, Scheduling, & Shop Floor Control System that integrates forecasting, planning, scheduling, capacity management, and shop floor control into an integrated flow. This article outlines the features and benefits of this system, and provides a template against which you can evaluate your own system’s capabilities.
Speed
to Market July 2007
How Much Do Schedule Changes Really Cost?
(Part 1) Extra set
ups and changeovers may be taken for granted in job shops where the production
schedule is in a state of constant flux. However, if you fail to recognize
that the
cost is far more than the direct labor involved, you will be missing a
potentially large area for performance and profit improvement. This would
be a mistake. The discussion in this article focuses on estimating the cost of
unnecessary schedule changes in make-to-order environments, and the savings that can be
gained by getting scheduling under control. Tools are provided to help you
determine the cost of schedule changes in your shop.
Speed
to Market June 2007
Job Shops are Easy to Manage…Not!
Many people, especially those coming from mass production operations,
underestimate the difficulties of managing a job shop.
Small does not mean easy to manage.
This article explores some of the unique characteristics of these types
of businesses that make them difficult to manage.
Speed
to Market Special Edition May 2007
Confusing Job Shops with Mass Production We don't
go our of our way to comment on other articles or writers who don't understand
the differences between mass production and job shops. But when something
comes across our desks that is so off the mark when it comes to lean in job
shops that it cannot be ignored, we have to speak out. This article looks
at a typical lean approach to job shops and points out the fallacies.
Speed
to Market May 2007
Avoiding a Death
Spiral In job shops, cost per hour is highly sensitive to changes in
volume. The roller coaster nature of demand in these types of businesses wreaks
havoc with standard costing systems. Reactionary price increases can lead to becoming less and less
competitive, a dynamic we term a death spiral. It’s
critical for management to keep a close eye on the volume-cost-price-profit
relationship. At Delta Dynamics, we developed a Job Shop Pro Forma Model we use to calculate costs, adjust prices and margins, and forecast financial
performance. This article
illustrates this model, and shows how to avoid creating a death spiral in your
business.
Speed
to Market April 2007
Manage With Your Intellect, Not Your Ego Bosses who tend to react and explode when problems are detected unconsciously sabotage organization performance and continuous improvement. This article reveals ways in which employees seek to defend themselves from this behavior, and suggests alternative problem solving methods.
Are you Managing with Information, or by the Seat of your Pants? Do you have the information you need to know what is going on in your business? Take this 5 minute test to see if you are managing with data or by the seat-of-your-pants.
Speed
to Market March 2007
Mining Your Quote Database. Managing with data is
essential for shops that want to survive and prosper in today’s competitive
environment. A quote database can provide management with valuable
information for evaluating performance, and strategic decision-making.
This article describes how to construct a quote database, and uses actual
examples to show the type of information that can be mined from an organized
approach for collecting and maintaining this information.
American Tooling Industry Survey A reminder to support this research project.
Client Feedback It's always gratifying to hear clients say nice things. We work hard to earn their trust and respect.
New Product Announcement We've converted the Speed to Market Videotape into a DVD and reduced the price by one third. It’s a great way to educate everyone in Speed to Market concepts and techniques for cutting lead time, and improving organization performance and profitability.
Speed
to Market February 2007
A View from the Side Nowhere is “not being able to see the forest
for the trees” more true than in organization work. A lack of perspective can
undermine the best intentions for organization improvement. This article outlines
a tool we call The Delta Edge that offers a multi-level systems perspective
useful for stepping outside one’s normal involvement and increasing the
ability to see solutions for complex problems.
American Tooling Industry Survey The job shop is gaining new respect in the academic world as a subject worthy of study and research. William Loendorf, a Ph.D. candidate at Walden University, is researching how the American Tooling Industry is responding to increased global competition. Specifically, he’s interested in learning what individual shops are doing to address the need to modernize, restructure, and reorganize in order to meet both current and future global challenges. You have an opportunity to participate in this groundbreaking research and receive an executive summary of the results.
Speed
to Market January 2007
Job Shops are Service Businesses How you look determines what you will see, and this article discusses the
advantages of seeing your shop as a service business. This enables
you to find new ways to make your company more valuable to your customers. A
structured approach for putting this perspective into action is included.
Reprinted from STM November 2005.
Thinking Clearly about Goals and Strategies When it comes to achieving objectives in any organization, the ability to think clearly about goals and strategies. is essential. But if you don’t spend the concentrated time required to determine how the goal will be achieved, the chances of your being successful in bringing about improvement are vastly diminished. This article addresses the "miss" between goals and strategies, and offers an approach we call the To:By System for linking goals to strategies.
Speed
to Market December 2006
Measuring Productivity in a Job Shop Measuring productivity in job
shops depends upon whether it’s a quick cycle or extended cycle business.
This article describes the differences, and how to approach
constructing productivity metrics in these environments.
Reducing Lost Time Frank Covich, a business acquisition specialist and productivity analyst, stresses the need to be on the lookout for ways to help operators perform better. He offers two suggestions for reducing lost time, and improving quality in a precision manufacturing environment.
A Note to Speed to Market Readers Some people have questioned why we give away so much. This note describes some of the philosophy behind the Speed to Market Newsletters.
On Time and On Budget: The Bottom Line for Job Shops If you are not able to ship on time, your customers will see you as unreliable, and will be reluctant to buy from you. And if you cannot produce within the estimated cost, your profits will erode. In either case, your business is at risk, and the problem needs to be fixed immediately. This article discusses differences between quick cycle and extended cycle businesses, and the underlying causes of this problem in each case.
Constructing a Basic Scheduling System for a Small Shop Delta Dynamics now offers a scheduling system for a small shop that is proven in practice and offered in a do-it-yourself and on-site package. If you are having scheduling problems, this may be the solution you have been seeking.
News and Notes Download individual presentations from the very informative Annual Automotive Tool, Die & Mold Seminar in Windsor and Toronto sponsored by Export Development Canada and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
China’s Impact on the U.S. Auto and Auto Parts Industries Laurie Moncrieff is a third-generation owner and President of Schmald Tool and Die, Inc. in Burton, Michigan (near Flint). She recently testified before the U.S.–China Economic & Security Review Commission on China’s Impact on the U.S. Auto and Auto Parts Industries. A main purpose of the USCC is to review the national security implications of trade and economic ties between the United States and the People's Republic of China. We felt it important enough to devote this issue of the Speed to Market Newsletter to provide broader distribution for this information among manufacturing professionals
Speed to Market September 2006
Managing Mixed Models Managing a company that includes both a job shop and a build-to-stock business is more difficult to manage than either one separately. The mental model presented in this article will enable you to think more clearly about how a build-to-stock business works, and how to manage it more effectively. A list of things you can do to improve performance and profitability is included.
Coaching for Fun and Profit Why is it that every team you can think of has a coach, except a management team? This is changing, however, as executives recognize the important role a coach can play in improving their business. For example, a study by Manchester, Inc. shows 7 out of 10 organizations currently offer coaching to their managers and executives, and the average return on investment is 5.7 times the initial investment. Is it time to consider coaching for your company?
News and Notes Vincent Bozzone will present Lean for Tool Shops in Windsor (October 17th) and Toronto, (October 18th) sponsored by Export Development Canada and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Do You Need to Rethink Your Business? Any business can find itself in a situation where sales are declining and earnings are falling even faster. The typical response is to cut costs, hoping that somehow this will rectify the situation. The problem is that cutting costs is not a solution–it’s merely a stopgap measure. If your business is declining and you have tried typical tools and techniques such as strategic planning and process improvement with negligible results, you will want to learn more about Delta Dynamics' proprietary seven-step process for repositioning a business for profitable growth.
Use a Quad Matrix to Look at Your Business Like an Analyst. This article describes how you can diagnose a business quickly by comparing the relationship between sales and profits. It will tell you when organizational limits are being pushed, or whether you can handle more volume profitably, among other things. Locating an organization in one of the quadrants provides a "quick and dirty" way to gain a basic understanding of a situation and focus improvement efforts.
Speed to Market April 2006 When Time is Short...Kurek Delivers What do you do when 95% of your business is automotive-related, your major customers are going upside down, and all you ever hear from the rest is “your prices are too high”? Well if you are Kurek Tool in Saginaw Michigan, you redouble your efforts to cut lead time, improve your on-time delivery performance, and go after quick turnaround time and materials work that pays a premium for fast service.
I'm from the Government and I'm Here to Help You Has your business been adversely affected by international competition? If so, you may be eligible for help under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, a Federal Government program that is designed to help companies compete with foreign rivals. This assistance enables a firm to make improvements to its competitive situation faster and more aggressively than it could on its own.
Carpe Diem...Seize the Day You can increase the probability a day will get off to a good start by developing and using start up and shut down checklists, and attending to potential problems before they become actual problems that interfere with production. Anticipatory problem solving is a key strategy in making operations run more smoothly and productivity. Carpe diem…seize the day…is a good philosophy that enables a supervisors to take control and bring about positive.
Job Shops are Service Businesses How you look determines what you will see, and this article discusses the advantages of seeing your shop as a service business. This enables you to find new ways to make your company more valuable to your customers. A structured approach for putting this perspective into action is included.
Where are the Opportunities for Improvement? It’s easy to get lost among all the competing theories and ideas about how to improve performance and profitability in manufacturing enterprises. This article points to Information Systems, Equipment and Skilled People, Management and Organization Infrastructure, and Paradigm Changes as critical focus areas.
Upcoming Events If you haven't signed up for Mazak’s Touch the Future 2006 Conference, it's not to late. (November 8th through the 10th in Florence, Kentucky) Vincent Bozzone’s presentation, Learning to Adapt and Prosper in a World of Change, will explore the subject of adapting from large-scale paradigm shifts to incremental improvements. The aim is to provide perspectives, concepts, tools, and learning from specific examples attendees can use in their own organizations.
Using Feedback Loops to Drive Continuous Improvement in Job Shops Although we take it for granted, feedback is a very valuable concept when applied to the management of job shops (or any business for that matter). This article outlines five application areas where feedback can be harnessed to improve performance and profitability in order-driven businesses.
Managers Not MBA's In his latest book, Managers Not MBA’s, Henry Mintzberg provides a devastating critique of MBA programs. He examines what is wrong with our current system, and concludes that MBA programs do not teach management at all; rather, they teach tools and techniques to a bunch of inexperienced people who are clueless about the practice of management. This leaves MBA graduates with the false impression they have been trained as managers, which according to Professor Mintzberg, has a corrupting effect on management itself, our organizations, and society as a whole. This "tools and techniques" approach is essentially the criticism we offered with respect to tool consultants in the July Issue of the Speed to Market Newsletter. Professor Mintzberg says it so much better; we could not resist adding this page from his book.
It's Not Too Early to Set Goals for Next Year Goal setting is an annual rite for many companies. It provides a good opportunity to take stock, look ahead, and determine how to make your business grow and prosper. This article illustrates our Earnings Estimator for job shops, a spreadsheet program that will help you zero in on an areas for improvement, set goals, and determine the potential value of improvement.
Speed to Market September 2005
The Computer is Not the Solution: A Perspective on Job Shop Scheduling We often receive correspondence from readers asking for ideas or solutions for scheduling and other job shop related problems. This one from a job shop owner in Canada, who is grappling with a way to control work in process, is typical.
Upgrading Your Weekly Performance Report: Adding "Percent Goal Achieved" All of our clients, and many Speed to Market readers who implemented a Weekly Performance Report, are finding it to be an essential tool for running their businesses. We found that adding a new column, Percent Goal Achieved, provides an accurate and powerful way to highlight whether or not your organization is on target to achieve its annual goals. This article shows you how.
Update on Closing the Loop In the April 2005 Issue of the Speed to Market Newsletter, we described a procedure for closing the loop. This refers to the critical practice of comparing estimated to actual costs on a job-by-job basis, and using this information to drive continuous improvement. In this update, we show measured performance improvement that resulted from installing this procedure.
The Ins and Outs of Job Shop Quoting Lowering your price to increase sales is such an accepted law of business that no one bothers to question it. It’s beyond truth. But what if this "law" is not true…or is only partially true? Could you be lowering your prices when you should be holding firm…or even increasing them? Could you be loading your shop with unprofitable work because you are blindly following the logic of this rule? This article explores demand and pricing in order-driven environments.
Time from Quote to Order Knowing how it takes to learn whether you won or lost an order order after you quote it is important. It will eliminate false optimism regarding potential work on the horizon that likely will not materialize, as well as help you to plan and manage capacity more realistically. This article provides a straightforward method for determining the time from quote to order in your business.
News and Notes Delta Dynamics has been invited to participate in the International Speakers Program sponsored by the Tooling Industry Forum of Australia (TIFA) in October.
Deconstructing A Myth: What Do Consultants Really Do? Ever wonder what consultants really do? You may be surprised to find ou how skilled organizational consultants approach the task of improving the performance and profitability of a business.
Meet the Delta Dynamics Team Meet the people who make up the Delta Dynamics organization.
Are You Closing the Loop? If you are not closing the loop--comparing estimated to actual performance and using variances to drive continuous improvement--you may be leaking profits faster than the Exxon Valdez leaked oil. Find out how a family-owned business that specializes in precision machining and fabricating tools, fixtures, and similar engineered products for the auto industry responded when they discovered that almost a third of the 2000+ jobs shipped during the year exceeded the original estimate, with many actually exceeding the price charged to the customer.
In Your Face Metrics Find out how one company increased sales by 15%, cut lead times from 6~7 weeks to 4~5 weeks, and boosted on-time delivery performance to the highest level in the company's history when they made performance indicators clearly visible.
An Update on A Course of Course: Advanced Techniques for Job Shop Management...We completed the first “beta” version of this course with nine people from two companies here in the Detroit Metro area. In addition to designing and installing a Weekly Performance Report in each company, participant teams worked on methods for improving capacity management, aligning pricing with costs, and improving business processes. Find out what they liked and what they thought could be improved in this revolutionary approach to performance improvement in job shops.
You Can't Put 10 Pounds of Anything in a 5 Pound Bag One of the most critical problems we constantly encounter in job shops is the inability to ship on time. This article shows that constantly shipping late is a symptom of a more fundamental set of underlying organizational dynamics, and ways of thinking, that are never adequately tackled and resolved because they are essentially invisible. These include overselling capacity, not managing work in process adequately, and relying on an organization chart model that ignores the importance of interdependencies between sales, scheduling, capacity management, and production. Improving on-time ship performance in your shop requires tackling these underlying dynamics, and making substantial changes in your organization.
A Course of Course: Advanced Techniques for Job Shop Management We have been looking for an effective way to deliver performance improvement programming to smaller job shops for quite some time, and think we may have hit upon it with this innovative course that combines job-shop-specific management education with on-site implementation to cut lead time, solve strategic and operating problems, and build the infrastructure needed to drive continuous improvement.
Contract Manufacturing: A Variation on a Job Shop Theme Contract manufacturing with its steady source of work and stability is appealing to job shops that seek relief from the ups and downs of an order-driven business. But it’s not all peaches and cream…contract manufacturing brings its own set of difficulties and management challenges that can be particularly difficult to conquer. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for because you might get it.
Closing the Loop: The Importance of Comparing Plan to Actual Results How does your computer system handle operators running multiple jobs? If you don’t know, it could cost you big time as this article reveals.
Pacific Electric Distribution Company: An Organization Design Case Example Just to show you that Delta Dynamics is not a one-trick pony, we've included a case study of an organization design project for an electrical supplies distribution company. This case study was originally published as monograph in an educational series for the Association for the Management of Organization Design (AMOD). Job shop owners and managers can benefit from the lessons learned as well.
Excerpts from an Interview with the Ohio Contractor and Manufacturer on Lean in Job Shops Delta Dynamics President Vincent Bozzone discusses how lean manufacturing differs in a job shop compared to mass production, the benefits to be realized, and how the Speed to Market books evolved.
A Towering Achievement The President of Superion, Inc. in Xenia, Ohio used a novel approach to challenge his sales team to replenish the backlog. Moving empty work in process trays into the sale office had an electrifying effect on the entire organization.
Can We Blame It All on the Chinese? A Tale of Two Shops A Detroit News article compares Interstate Tool & Die which is shutting its doors after 77 years with Ronart Industry, which is still alive and kicking. What is the difference between Interstate and Ronart? See for yourself in this article.
Changing the Ground Rules: How to Cut Lead Time in Job Shops and Custom Manufacturing Environments Job shops and custom manufacturing companies, long hammered by intense competitive pressures to cut costs and improve quality, are now being compelled by their customers to deliver faster— in effect, to cut lead time. Cutting lead time is easier said than done, however, and many companies find they have little in the way of tangible results to show for their efforts. This article outlines seven fundamental changes in your organization’s ground rules that are required if you are going to make real progress in shortening your lead time (or “customer wait time” as it might more accurately be termed).
Measuring Organization Performance In the article, we discuss Shipping Performance, and the metrics that will provide information on how well your organization is doing overall.
Will Your Business Survive? A flurry of recent articles in Detroit area newspapers paints a grim picture for the future of tool and die shops in Michigan. Find out what is going on and how you can strengthen your competitive position.
Managing by the Numbers: Assessing the Impact of a Weekly Performance Report at Kurek Tool -Readers of this Newsletter may recall previous articles describing how Speed to Market was put into practice at Kurek Tool in Saginaw. Find out how embedding Delta Dynamics’ Weekly Performance Report improved their business and became the focal point for their management team.
How Not to Manage Capacity in a Job Shop Managing capacity in a job shop is no easy task given the feast or famine nature of demand, uneven workflow, and dynamic nature of the floor. This article describes the chaos created by uneven demand in one shop, and management’s efforts to deal with it.
The Tyranny of the Dominant Paradigm Once again we explore the differences between managing mass production operations and order-driven job shops. The presumption that management concepts that apply in mass production also apply in all manufacturing environments is just not true, and is the source of many job shop problems and frustrations.
Speed to Market is Not a Program At a recent workshop we conducted, one of the participants asked how Speed to Market is sustained in an organization. Lack of sustainability is a common problem with most performance improvement programs, as evidenced by the many flavor-the-month fads that come down the pike, so this question was certainly understandable…but missed the mark.
Book Review Mind Your Own Business: A Maverick's Guide to Business, Leadership and Life is a distillation of lessons learned over a lifetime of (business) experience by Sidney Harman, founder of Harman/Kardon Corporation. As we prepare for the new year, it seemed fitting to offer some of Mr. Harman's wisdom and insights with the hope these will stimulate some reflection and critical thinking on the part of our Speed to Market readers.
The Need for Speed at Kurek Tool, Inc. Project Summary This is the last in this series written jointly with Kurek Tool describing how Speed to Market is being used to revitalize this Saginaw, Michigan Company. This project summary will give you a good idea of the nature and extent of the work undertaken, as well as provide you with a checklist for your company.
What is a Good Hit Rate? This question often comes up in discussions about the number of RFQ’s quoted and won in job shops. This article shows how to look at your situation statistically to determine if you are winning your fair share.
Level Loading in a Job Shop? Remember that Bridge in Brooklyn We've Been Trying to Sell You? The subject of level loading in job shop environments seems to be gaining a fair amount of press lately. The basic idea is that leveling the workload will improve efficiency by having a steady pace, fewer changeovers, and more production. This article explores this pitfalls of this concept, and offers another approach for managing capacity in a job shop environment.
Do You Have More than One Business Under the Same Roof? The failure to recognize and differentiate among various sources of demand in a job shop can be a significant source of problems and poor performance. This article outlines an approach for ensuring your business is properly aligned with its markets and customers. Putting this foundation in place one of the most important things you can do to position your company for profitable growth.
When Customers Try to Run Your Business: Let the Games Continue Our colleague brings us the next installment as the customer still doesn’t understand and continues to try to impose lean manufacturing on his shop.
The Need for Speed at Kurek Tool, Inc. Part II The second in a series of articles describing how Speed to Market is being implemented in a job shop that is going through a transition to the next generation of ownership.
A Job Shop is Not a Factory Virtually all management education assumes mass production to be the norm and standard manufacturing model. Little or no attention is given to job shops and custom manufacturers. This article illustrates important differences between them, and cautions against adopting t A typical question in job shops and order-driven businesses is whether to tell operators how much time they have to do a job, or to keep them in the dark. This article compares the pros and cons of each side. he latest improvement fads which originate in volume production operations.
Six Sigma in a Job Shop? Remember that Bridge in Brooklyn We Wanted to Sell You? Six Sigma, a Motorola creation, is a statistically–based scheme for limiting defects to 3.4 parts per million. So what does a goal of 3.4 defects per million have to do with a job shop that may make one, or at most a few dozen items?
The Need for Speed at Kurek Tool, Inc. This is the first in a series of articles describing how Speed to Market is being implemented in a job shop that is going through a transition to the next generation of ownership.
Horizontal Management: A Powerful Paradigm for Job Shops & Custom Manufacturers Improve the performance and profitability of any custom manufacturing business by using a process paradigm, applying the theory of delays to reduce the time from quotes to cash, and installing a weekly performance. This article will give you a new perspective on your business.
To Tell or Not to Tell? What appears to be a simple question of telling or not telling operators how much time they have to do a job has implications for a company’s competitive position, and even its future longevity.
When Customers Try to Run Your Business: Let the Games Begin One of our colleagues in the field writes about the disaster that ensues when a customer tries to impose lean manufacturing on their shop.
Where Does Implementation Go Wrong? The inability to implement is most often the weakest link in any company’s efforts to make changes that will improve business performance and profitability This article, based on our experience with some 300 organizations over the past two decades, argues that do-it-yourself programs fail because organizations typically lack five essential T’s¾ Time, Talent, Tools, Tactics, and Tenacity.
MRP in a Job Shop? We Have a Nice Bridge in Brooklyn We Would Like to Sell You. Describes how materials requirements planning systems are configured, and why they don’t work in job shops.
Is There a Public Exchange in Your Future? “Public exchange” is the term given to a new breed of Internet-based service companies that match buyers and sellers of commercial products and services. Describes how it works and how job shops may benefit. With a link to “A Collaborative Businesses Model for the Tool and Die Industry” a study sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)
How Do You Measure Improvement? Speed to Market generates value in many ways. This article offers two methods for measuring the financial value of improvement that results when Speed to Market is implemented in an organization.
Guru Speak A critical assessment of Larry Bossidy’s big idea: Execution is a systematic process of rigorously questioning, and tenaciously following through. Nice theory from on high, but how does it play on the ground? What’s missing?
Sound Familiar? A lament by a VP of Manufacturing who is unable to make quantifiable improvements that show up on the bottom line in a machine shop, even after 23 years with Motorola and extensive training in JIT, Six Sigma, TPS, Kanban, Lean, Continuous Improvement, and some Black Belt courses.
How Do You Measure Lead Time? Given the critical importance of cutting lead time as a business strategy, it makes sense, to pay attention to how you are measuring it. This article outlines three approaches for measuring lead time.
Is Now the Time to Sell Your Business? We were curious to know what is going on in the business transfer market, and so asked three leading merger and acquisition specialists to share their observations and insights.
Smartnership Formed Description of a smart partnership that enabled a designer and maker of molds, fixtures, and gauges to expand its product line into tools and dies with a minimal investment. It’s a good example of the type of innovative thinking that is necessary for smaller companies to compete effectively in today’s challenging economic environment.
