Synopses for the July 2008 Manufacturer

 

Malcolm Wheatley                                                                                           

Leadership & strategy                                                           Lean accounting

Very often the lean transformation appears to be going really well, waste is being removed from the plant and supply chain, and yet the looked for savings don’t appear in the company accounts.  The temptation is for the board to deduce from this that the lean transformation is a failure. Such a conclusion is hugely damaging to morale across the plant, and can halt the lean movement in its tracks.

This article will ask: how does lean accounting address this problem?  What is the essence of lean accounting? What does it consist of? How is it introduced and managed and what does it deliver?  By examining the experiences of manufacturing companies who have conquered lean accounting, we will attempt to answer the question: Is it worth the effort and cost involved?

 

 

Brian Davis                                                                                                      

Design & innovation                                                               Design software

New product design and introduction is a highly collaborative process which should involve all departments from design, production and marketing to finance. Use of product lifecycle management (PLM) systems is far more established in some sectors like the auto industry, aerospace and leading consumer product manufacturers. For truly effective design for market companies are also advised to use design simulation, analysis and product data management (PDM). How near is the hype to the reality for companies in different manufacturing sectors? Are the systems really offering faster time to market and 'right first time' new product introduction? Do companies still feel out priced by all-singing, all dancing PLM? And what design IT systems give small and medium companies the edge - whether or not it's called PLM or digital design?

 

Jayne Flannery                                                                                                 

World class manufacturing                                                                    Agility

The ability to respond quickly to changes in the marketplace, or to unexpected customer needs can provide the all-important competitive edge, but recognising bottlenecks and improving productivity and capacity in this environment can require a very different set of tools to those used in the mass production environment.  This article will explore how agile companies - those producing bespoke or rapidly changing products – can monitor the efficiency of their manufacturing processes, identify value streams, create process maps and improve productivity and capacity.

 

 

Ruari McCallion                                                                                              

Skills & productivity                                                            Managing change

Managing change is possibly the single most challenging task facing manufacturing managers, and change management is necessary, whether while implementing new IT systems, integrating the operations of merged companies, or introducing new products and processes. By talking with some manufacturers who have effectively managed change in their operations, we will identify the main stumbling blocks to change, and deduce the most effective ways of overcoming them.

 

 

Malcolm Wheatley                                                                                           

IT in manufacturing                                Business/manufacturing intelligence

The use of business/manufacturing intelligence software is said to be set for rapid growth, as companies strive to gather together data from across their businesses - from shopfloor through to the supply chain - and turn the knowledge into a business advantage. But poorly managed and implemented IT can do far more damage than no IT at all. By looking at the operations of a series of manufacturing companies that have successfully implemented business intelligence software, this article will focus on the preparation that companies have do before implementation begins, and how this can prevent many of the common problems from occurring.  How, for example, does the company clearly define its intelligence requirements, and then how does it link these with its strategic plan?  Also, how does the company ensure that the analysis and reporting clearly and succinctly benefits all levels of the business and aids decisions? The risk is that it can cloud the issue with poorly targeted or excessive information. 

 

 

 

Colin Chinery                                                                                                   

Logistics & supply chain                                                               Outsourcing

Deciding what to manufacture and where to manufacture it is critical to the future of business.  Those who get it right are building a long-term business with staying power, those who get it wrong are likely to disappear. How are the best companies how planning their global manufacturing footprint? This article will look closely at the overall strategic questions that need to be asked, and the key elements that should be taken into account when making these decisions?  For example how do you structure your manufacturing network and supply chain? What should be outsourced and what should you manufacture yourself - and where should you be doing all of this?  What part should be played by the move towards low carbon operations, and finally, with such a fast moving global manufacturing environment, what review processes should companies be putting in place? For example the fastest growth area at the moment is Vietnam, but should we yet considering the manufacturing capabilities of Africa?

 

Operations & maintenance                                                                      TPM

This will be a ‘hands-on’ case study of how to implement and manage total productive maintenance (TPM) successfully.

 

Debbie Giggle                                                                                                   

Energy & environment                                                     Water management

Manufacturers are on average spending 4.43% of turnover on buying water and disposing of waste water/effluent, and for food and drink manufacturers this figure rises to nearly 8%.  This article will look at how some of the most forward thinking manufacturers in the food and drink sector are identifying new methods for reducing their water consumption across their manufacturing processes, and how they are, for example, cleaning and recycling water to slash the costs of waste water disposal.