Business Vault

Just reading though an article (again) in the UK Manufacturing Review and felt compelled to quote James Selka (CEO of The Manufacturing Technologies Association). I have to say James is spot on with his comments. “We are living through an explosion in the potential of technology, and…

It’s easy to feel like a factory tour is something that happens once every couple years, but in reality it’s something that should happen every day. When you walk your factory floors there are nine items to get an accurate first impression of how lean you are.…

Recently I started a discussion regarding SMEs and their websites, the discussion started with this quote “an interesting observation this week whilst working, how many SMEs lack an all singing all dancing website. What’s the reason, with 90+% of people now looking on line this should be…

A Good Place to Start for Productivity Improvements OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) is one of the main measures I use within a Manufacturing Business, but it can be adapted to service as well. Does your production have bottlenecks you’re not aware of? Could one machine be dragging down…

What is the product lifecycle? Many of us have heard of the Boston Matrix, “cash cows” “rising stars” and so on, however whilst we understand the principle do not build it in to our day to day business. Managing the product lifecycle and using your understanding of…

Standardise In standardising a process you want to be able to see the Abnormal from Normal conditions. When the process is disrupted by an obstacle or issue, you can see it. The Standardise, Do, Check, Act cycle. Stabilise Now you can begin to systematically simplify, Combine, Eliminate…

Leadership teams still operate in silos. Commercial don’t talk to operations and vice versa, individual objectives are not aligned to the business needs, Quality stands alone. Your business may have a company vision but is this realised/disseminated throughout the organisation and most importantly of all, is your…

When it comes to Customer Service, my opinion is first impressions count. Recently I visited a Training company, their offices are based on a retail park that has two/three main car dealerships. Upon leaving the offices I decided to look around one of the dealerships used car…

In today’s uncertain financial times it is becoming more and more imperative that businesses look at their activities and focus in on minimising unnecessary costs, reducing waste and improving inefficient procedures. A large part of any business are the administration costs which represent a significant element of…