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Category Archives: Supply Chain

Financial Transparency - Is it important?

Steve Fonseca asks an interesting question on
The Whiteboard.
Are lean companies really transparent with their customers and suppliers as to cost/profits. Is this a lean principle or not, or to what extent?
I am going to offer an opinion, then perhaps other readers can chip in.
First, there is no real definition of what is, or is [...]

The Importance of Heijunka

My friend Tom poses an interesting question to production managers:
“If I ask you to produce different quantities and types of products every day, what quantity of people, materials, machines, and space do you need?”
Of course the answer is usually, at best, inarticulate and, at worst, a blank stare. There isn’t any way to know. [...]

Why I Don’t Like Two-Bin Systems

On the surface, a “two bin system” seems a great, simple solution to a part resupply process that could otherwise get complex.
And, on the surface, I don’t argue with that.
But two-bin has some limitations. And because it is so simple to set up, those limitations are frequently not understood or taken into account.
What is “Two [...]

A Systematic Approach to Part Shortages - Part 3

The third element of this organization’s successful drive to eliminate part shortages was a systematic approach to problem solving. They made it a process, managed just like any other process, rather than something people did when they had time. Even though this is “Part 3″ of this series, in reality they put this into [...]

A Systematic Approach to Part Shortages - Part 2

For kanban to work well, there has to be a solid foundation under it. That foundation is production leveling or heijunka.
Before I get to far into this, though, I would like to point something out: At the mention of leveling, people who are only just learning about kanban will point out all of the good [...]

A Systematic Approach to Part Shortages - Part 1

The short story of assembly problems is lack of parts. Part shortages drive all kinds of waste, including: juggling the schedule; expediting; bigger lots or batches - and all of these things end up causing shortages later on in a self-reinforcing death spiral.
So how did an assembly shop which built about 10 units / day, [...]

Supplier Selection: Beyond Quality, Delivery, Cost

Do you have a responsibility to make sourcing decisions on anything other than Quality, Delivery, Cost? This
news item about a mass-fatality industrial fire in China opens up some interesting thoughts about sourcing over here.
For future reference after the link dies, the lead of the story is:
A fire at an illegal shoe factory in eastern [...]