Since the development of modern factory systems, much has been done to try to ensure efficiency, but the roots of contemporary Business Improvement philosophy, especially in relation to the process industries, lie in the remarkable work carried out over decades within Toyota, which used revolutionary Business Improvement techniques to drive itself from a minor Japanese manufacturer to a major global force. Toyota's principles have been much adapted in recent years, and the resulting, proven methodology has transfomed much of British industry under the terminology of Lean Manufacturing. Improve quality, eliminate waste, reduce time, reduce total costs - these are the four fundamental aims of a Lean Manufacturing programme and will be central to any training provided by Qualitrain to improve your business performance or streamline your organisation. To remain competitive in today's aggressive markets, most businesses have accepted that Lean principles are not just desireable, but essential. Qualitrain can deploy Lean tools such as Value Stream Mapping, Five S, Six Sigma, and SMED to promote a more even work flow, perfect first time quality, virtually no waste, and a better trained, more adaptable and involved work force. How Lean is my Business? You will probably already have some concept of where your business could most benefit from improved perfomance, but Lean teaches us to think creatively and build in changes to our thinking and workplace culture which have immediate and long term effects. You may feel that all you need is more sales, but if your margins were doubled by the elimination of wasted effort and beter performance on quality - would you need more sales? Waste is another useful way of thinking about how your business could improve. Lean identifies seven types of waste, all of which consume resurces (time, space, energy, budget) but do not add value to your end product:
Transport (unnecessary movement of materials) Inventory (excess stock not directly required for current orders) Motion ( inefficient layout creating non-essential movement of employees) Waiting (inactivity due to poor planning) Over Production (continuing production when orders have stopped) Over Processing (rework and reprocessing) Defects (quality failures) Which of these could be improved or eliminated in your organisation? For most of us some element of improvement could be made in every area, and so it can be seen that, following accurate and detailed initial analysis of your business processes, Qualitrain can quickly identify the means to improve performance and profitability, as well as providing the bespoke training solutions which can empower your staff tp pull beneficial change through the business. Lean Manufacturing is a broad and complex field and we will serve your business best by coming to understand your particular production and trading environment. Call or email our experts for an initial discussion and begin the process of tranforming your business performance.