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Where Can One Reduce Process Variation? 5 Areas to Explore
Process variation is a difficult issue to deal with in some industries, while others tend to have a rather easy time with it. The problem becomes obvious when you’re working with a process that’s...
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Understanding the Tools Needed to Ensure Quality vs. Reliability
There are various ways to ensure that the processes in your organization run more smoothly and produce predictable results. However, it’s important to understand the differences between tools aimed at...
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[TED Talk] The Next Manufacturing Revolution
The US has been facing a loss of its manufacturing edge over the past few decades to other global manufacturers. The fact is that automation and innovation will be the key to success in manufacturing...
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Lean Leadership and the Competitive Edge in Manufacturing
“Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.” ~Sir Winston Churchill There has been much made about America losing its competitive...
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Voice of the Customer (VOC): Get Strategic and Get Results
“The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you are making people happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you.” ~Derek Sivers, Founder of CD Baby...
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[VIDEO] Winning With Exceptional Customer Service
In the U.S., poor customer service costs brands $83 billion every year. A study by management consultancy Bain & Company and Harvard Business School found increasing customer retention rates by 5...
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Process Reliability vs Process Capability: The Differences
There is a lot of talk about process reliability and process capability in lean circles, and while many leaders believe that they have a firm grasp on both concepts, the reality tends to be a bit...
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5 Important Considerations for Implementing Six Sigma Within Supply Chain...
Not everyone understands what Six Sigma really is. Essentially it is a project that is data driven and designed to improve any processes within your supply chain management by simply identifying and...
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Heijunka Leveling Production Over Time
After value streams have been solidified and embedded, Heijunka is a crucial process implementation in every successful lean organization. Heijunka quickly and elegantly helps organizations meet...
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[VIDEO] Heijunka Brings Customer Demand In Line
Heijunka is the Japanese term for leveling. It is a technique for reducing unevenness (Mura) which in turn reduces waste (Muda). It is crucial to the development of production efficiency in Lean...
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Six Sigma Best Practices in Mission Critical Organizations
Six Sigma is a broad methodology that can be easily applied in a variety of fields and contexts, and while this makes it a powerful tool, it can also lead to some confusion among newcomers to the...
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5 Cost Reduction Strategies for Your Restaurant
Operating a restaurant will often demand more elbow grease and innovation than is needed to run other kinds of service businesses. The costs are much higher as the inputs have short shelf lives,...
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How to Target Pricing Operations with Six Sigma (and Why)
Today, many companies have managed to get the balancing act of getting costs down and handling manufacturing inefficiencies right. This can mostly be attributed to the adoption of Six Sigma...
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Saluting Our Heroes on Memorial Day
On Memorial Day, we honor all the men and women who have fought in our armed forces. Here at Shmula, we want to take the time to think about what Memorial Day really means, and honor all of our...
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Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ): Using it to Drive Business Improvement
Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) investigates the costs that result from the provision of poor quality goods and services in order to find ways to improve business processes and quality. It is a...
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Applying Six Sigma to Your Company’s Pricing Strategy
There are many factors that can contribute to a defective pricing strategy. Of these the most fundamental are poorly designed processes or those which are not clearly specified. Still, even in the...
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Demand Management Creates a Balance Between Supply and Demand
Demand Management allows an organization to create a more efficient supply chain. The best way to create efficiency is through transparency and simplicity. From the largest to the smallest,...
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[VIDEO] The Challenges of Demand Management
The function of recognizing all demands for goods and services to support the marketplace. It involves prioritizing demand when supply is lacking. Proper Demand Management facilitates the planning and...
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Taguchi Methods and How They Apply to Manufacturing
The Taguchi methods can be seen in many industries nowadays, and they’ve become an integral part of the optimization strategies of many companies. And yet, despite the fact that they tend to be so...
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Basic Principles of a Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) Program
A reliability-centered maintenance program is a useful tool in contexts where the long-term viability of a product or system is of critical value, and the main focus in its maintenance is supposed to...
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