business improvement

Takt Time vs. Cycle Time: Understanding the Heartbeat of Your Factory

Posted on by Adam Payne

Every factory has a rhythm. Sometimes it’s a frantic, chaotic scramble. Other times, it’s a smooth, predictable pulse. If you’ve ever walked onto your shop floor and felt that sense of barely controlled chaos, the constant hum of expediting and last-minute changes, then you know what I’m talking about. The problem often isn’t that your people aren’t working hard enough. The problem is that the work has no heartbeat.

This is where Takt Time comes in. Think of it as the metronome for your entire operation, set perfectly to the rhythm of your customer’s demand. It’s the beat you need to hit. Cycle Time, on the other hand, is the actual rhythm your team is playing. It’s the time it takes to complete one piece at any given station. When those two rhythms are out of sync, you get noise instead of music. You get late orders, bulging inventory, and stressed-out team leaders.

For us here in the UK, this isn’t just a nice to have manufacturing theory. We’re dealing with volatile demand that can swing wildly from one month to the next. We’re facing skills shortages that make throwing more people at a problem a nonstarter. And the pressure from customers on lead times? It never lets up. In this environment, understanding and aligning your factory’s heartbeat isn’t an academic exercise. It’s a fundamental tool for survival and growth.

So, let’s cut through the jargon. In this post, I want to give you some practical, no-nonsense definitions, a few simple formulas you can use tomorrow, and some real examples from the kind of shop floors I walk through every week. We’ll look at how to use these two simple metrics to bring a sense of calm, predictable flow to your production.

The Core Concepts: Getting the Language Right

Before we start timing things with a stopwatch, we need to be crystal clear on what we’re actually talking about. Takt, Cycle, and Lead Time are often used interchangeably, and that’s where the confusion starts. To be honest, I’ve seen entire improvement projects go off the rails because the team wasn’t speaking the same language. Let’s fix that right now.

Takt Time: The Customer’s Rhythm

Takt is a German word, from Taktzeit, which translates to ‘cycle time’ or ‘beat’. It’s the rate at which you need to complete a product to meet customer demand. It is not a target set by a manager. It is not an engineering standard. It is a direct calculation based on two things and two things only: how much time you have available to work, and how many units the customer wants in that time.

The basic formula is beautifully simple:

Takt Time = Available Production Time ÷ Customer Demand

This is the heartbeat. If a customer wants 100 widgets per day, and you have 500 minutes of production time available, your Takt Time is 5 minutes per widget. This means a finished widget needs to roll off the end of your production line every 5 minutes to keep the customer happy. It’s a powerful concept because it links your shop floor directly to the marketplace. It’s the ultimate expression of customer pull.

Cycle Time: Your Process’s Rhythm

If Takt Time is what you need to do, Cycle Time is what you’re actually doing. It’s the total time it takes for a process to complete one unit from start to finish. You might measure the cycle time of a single operator at a workbench, a CNC machine, or an entire assembly cell. It’s the “click to click” time of the stopwatch.

Crucially, Cycle Time includes all the work that goes into one unit: the value adding time (drilling, welding, assembling) and the non-value adding time that’s part of the process (walking, picking up tools, waiting for a machine). What it doesn’t include are things like waiting for parts to arrive from a previous process or sitting in a queue. It’s the time that process is actively engaged on a single part.

Lead Time: The Whole Journey

Just to complete the picture, let’s briefly touch on Lead Time. This is the big one. It’s the total time a customer waits, from placing an order to receiving the goods. It includes all the process cycle times, but also all the waiting time in between. The piles of work in progress (WIP) sitting between stations? That’s all Lead Time. You can have super-fast cycle times at every station, but if products wait for days between each step, your lead time will be enormous. Aligning your cycle times to the Takt Time is one of the most powerful ways to slash that waiting time and dramatically reduce your overall lead time.

Calculating and Measuring: From Your Desk to the Shop Floor

Okay, theory is one thing. Let’s make this real. How do you actually figure these numbers out in a typical British factory?

How to Calculate Your Takt Time

Let’s imagine you run a single day shift at your facility in the Midlands. Your team is contracted for an 8-hour day.

First, you need your Available Production Time. This is not just the total shift time. You must be realistic.

  • Total Shift Time: 8 hours = 480 minutes
  • Less Morning Break: 15 minutes
  • Less Lunch Break: 30 minutes
  • Less Afternoon Break: 15 minutes
  • Less Team Briefing / Start up Checks: 15 minutes

So, your Net Available Production Time = 480 – 15 – 30 – 15 – 15 = 405 minutes.

This is the time you actually have available to make things. Now, you need Customer Demand. Let’s say your sales orders for the week show a consistent demand for a particular product family of 90 units per day.

Now you can do the calculation:

Takt Time = 405 minutes ÷ 90 units = 4.5 minutes per unit

Or, to make it easier to track on the shop floor, that’s 270 seconds per unit. This number is your North Star. Every 270 seconds, a finished product needs to be completed.

How often should you recalculate this? It depends on your demand stability. If your demand is pretty steady, a monthly calculation might be fine. But for many high mix UK manufacturers, demand can change weekly. In that case, you should probably recalculate it every Monday morning based on the new order book. It keeps the whole team focused on what the customer needs this week, not last month.

How to Measure Cycle Time on the Floor

This part requires leaving your desk and heading out to the gemba, the shop floor. The best tool for the job is often the simplest: a stopwatch and a clipboard.

Pick a process, say, a final assembly and test station. Your goal is to find out its true cycle time. Don’t just time it once. The first time you stand there with a stopwatch, I guarantee the operator will move like lightning. You need to get a representative sample. I’d suggest timing the full process for at least 10 to 20 consecutive units if you can.

Be transparent. Explain to the operator what you’re doing. “Hi Dave, we’re just trying to understand the process rhythm. Just work at your normal, safe pace. We’re timing the process, not you.”

Record the time for each unit. You’ll see variation. Maybe one unit needs a little rework. On another, the operator fumbles a part. A battery needs changing in a power tool. This is all part of the real cycle time. Don’t edit it out. After you have your samples, calculate the average.

Let’s say you timed 10 units at that assembly station and got these times in seconds: 280, 295, 270, 310 (a tricky one), 285, 275, 290, 280, 320 (a tool jam), 275.

The average cycle time for this station is the total of those times (2880 seconds) divided by 10 units, which equals 288 seconds.

Now we have our two critical numbers:

  • Takt Time (The Need): 270 seconds
  • Cycle Time (The Reality): 288 seconds

And right there, you’ve found a problem. A very important problem.

Spotting the Gap: Where the Music Goes Wrong

The ideal relationship is simple: every process in your value stream should have a cycle time that is equal to or, ideally, slightly less than the Takt Time. Never, ever greater.

When you compare the Takt Time to the cycle times of each station, you create a picture of your factory’s capacity and flow. I love doing this on a big whiteboard where everyone can see it. Draw a horizontal red line across the board representing your Takt Time of 270 seconds. Then, for each process step—cutting, machining, assembly, test, pack—you draw a vertical bar representing its average cycle time.

What you’ve just created is a line balance chart. And it tells you everything.

When Cycle Time is Greater Than Takt Time

In our example, the assembly and test station has a cycle time of 288 seconds, but the Takt Time is 270 seconds. This station is a bottleneck. It physically cannot keep up with the pace of customer demand. Every 270 seconds, the line needs a product, but this station takes 288 seconds. It falls behind by 18 seconds on every single unit.

The consequences? They’re probably all too familiar. A mountain of work in progress builds up before this station. The operators on the bottleneck station are constantly under pressure, probably skipping breaks or working unpaid overtime to catch up. Downstream processes are starved of work, waiting for parts. And ultimately, you miss your delivery promises. Your whole operation is dictated by the speed of its slowest point.

When Cycle Time is Far Less Than Takt Time

What about the other stations? You might find your cutting process has a cycle time of only 150 seconds. Great, right? Well, maybe not.

If a station is working much faster than the Takt Time, it leads to one of the deadliest wastes in manufacturing: overproduction. That cutting operator can produce a part every 150 seconds, but the next process only needs one every 270 seconds. So what happens? They keep working at their own pace and build up a huge pile of WIP.

This isn’t just inefficient; it’s dangerous. That excess inventory hides defects, costs a fortune in tied up cash, takes up valuable floor space, and creates a false sense of security. The business looks busy, but it’s busy creating waste.

By visualising the cycle times against the Takt Time, you can see instantly where your problems are. The bars that poke up above the red Takt line are your bottlenecks, and they are where you must focus all your improvement energy. The bars that are significantly below the line are opportunities for rebalancing work or multi skilling operators.

A Quick Story: Stabilising a Factory’s Heartbeat

I remember working with a medium sized engineering firm in the Northwest. Their on-time delivery was hovering around 75%, which was causing some serious friction with their key customers. The place felt manic. The production manager was a master firefighter, constantly juggling jobs and expediting orders. WIP was everywhere, stacked on pallets, clogging up the gangways.

The team felt they were at maximum capacity. “We can’t possibly make any more,” the manager told me.

Our first step was simple. We took their biggest product family and calculated the Takt Time. It came out at around 8 minutes per unit. Then we went out and measured the cycle times for the five main stages of production.

The results were a revelation for the whole team. We drew it up on a whiteboard. Three of the processes had cycle times of around 4 to 6 minutes, well below the 8-minute Takt. But one process, a complex manual assembly stage, had an average cycle time of over 11 minutes.

There it was. The bottleneck, clear as day. The entire factory, with all its expensive machines and skilled people, could only produce at the speed of that one overloaded assembly station. The other stations were overproducing like crazy to “keep busy,” which just buried the real problem in piles of inventory.

We didn’t need a massive investment. We focused all our attention on that one station. We did some simple 5S to organise the workspace. We created better component kits so the operator wasn’t searching for parts. We moved one small sub assembly task, which took about 2 minutes, to one of the under loaded upstream stations.

Within two weeks, the cycle time at the bottleneck station was down to 7.5 minutes, just under the Takt Time. And the effect was transformative. The flow of work smoothed out almost overnight. The piles of WIP started to shrink. The production manager went from firefighting to managing the flow. Three months later, their on-time delivery was at 98%, and they had freed up so much cash from the reduction in WIP that it paid for the next stage of their improvement journey. They had found their heartbeat.

Getting Started: Your First Steps

This all might sound great, but where do you begin? The key is not to try and boil the ocean. Start small, get a win, and build momentum.

Here are three quick wins you can try next week:

  1. Calculate Takt for One Key Product Family: Don’t try to do the whole factory. Pick one important value stream. Get the sales data, calculate your available time, and find your Takt Time. Write it on a whiteboard for everyone to see.
  2. Map the Cycle Times for a Single Line: Grab a stopwatch and walk that one value stream. Time each major process step. Don’t aim for perfection; aim for a good enough picture. Plot the cycle time bars against your Takt-Time line.
  3. Trial an Hour by Hour Board: At your newly identified bottleneck station, put up a simple board. Mark it out with the hours of the day. The target for each hour is simply 60 minutes divided by your Takt Time in minutes. At the end of each hour, the operator marks down the actual quantity produced. It makes the Takt visible and creates a simple feedback loop for the team.

Once you’re comfortable with these basics, you can move on to more advanced tools like full Value Stream Mapping to identify waste between processes, or more detailed bottleneck analysis. But the foundation is always the same: know the beat you need to hit and know the beat you’re actually hitting.

Listening to your factory’s heartbeat is the first step to controlling it. Takt Time and Cycle Time are not just numbers for engineers; they are the fundamental tools for creating a calm, predictable, and profitable manufacturing environment. They give you a shared language and a clear focus for improvement. So go on, find your rhythm.

And if you feel you need a guide to help you read the music and get your whole team playing in time, our lean coaching and mentoring programme is designed for exactly this journey. We can help you take these concepts from the page and make them a powerful reality on your shop floor.

The £50,000 Question Kevin Didn’t Ask: Why Your Lean Program is Failing in Silence

Posted on by Adam Payne

The CNC machine whirs, spitting out another finished component. Kevin, the operator, picks it up and runs the callipers over it, just like he has a hundred times today. He frowns. It’s close. It’s probably fine. But it’s not right. It’s at the very edge of tolerance, and he knows that by the time this batch gets to assembly, a few of them are going to cause a headache.

He looks over at his supervisor, Dave, who’s hunched over a spreadsheet, looking stressed. The board on the wall shows they’re slightly behind schedule. Stopping the line now would mean a difficult conversation, a lot of paperwork, and a definite earful about hitting their numbers. Everyone saw this coming. The tooling has felt off for a week, but the last time someone mentioned it, they were told to just keep an eye on it. So, Kevin puts the component in the ‘pass’ bin, takes a deep breath, and lets the machine run. He keeps his mouth shut.

This tiny, silent moment is where Lean methodologies go to die. It’s where safety risks are born, where quality defects multiply, and where your continuous improvement culture grinds to a halt. The missing ingredient isn’t a better tool or a more colourful board. It’s something a lot more human. It’s called psychological safety.

In the simplest terms, psychological safety is the shared belief that it’s safe to speak up. It means people feel they can flag a problem, question a process, admit a mistake, or even float a half-baked idea without fear of humiliation, embarrassment, or being labeled a troublemaker. It’s not about being soft. It’s about being smart. It’s about creating an environment where people feel empowered to contribute their full potential without fear of negative consequences.

What Psychological Safety Is (and Isn’t)

Psychological safety isn’t about lowering standards or creating a fluffy, everyone-gets-a-trophy environment. It’s the opposite. It’s the foundation of high performance. It’s the team climate that allows people to meet high standards. How can you expect perfect quality if people are afraid to point out defects? How can you improve processes if workers don’t feel safe suggesting better ways? You can’t. You just get silence. And silence, in manufacturing, is expensive and dangerous.

This isn’t just opinion. Amy Edmondson at Harvard Business School has studied this for decades, proving its link to learning and performance. Google’s ‘Project Aristotle’ famously found that the number one predictor of a high-performing team wasn’t who was on it, but how they interacted. The most important factor? Psychological safety. More than free lunches or fancy perks, it was the shared feeling that “I can take a risk and speak my mind without being humiliated.”

Psychological safety isn’t about being nice. It’s about fostering respectful, candid, and fearless interaction. It’s the difference between a team that just follows instructions and one that actively solves problems. One is compliance. The other is commitment. As a manufacturer, you know which one you’d rather have.

Psychological safety also doesn’t mean avoiding accountability. In fact, it’s the opposite. It creates an environment where accountability thrives because people feel safe enough to take ownership of their work, admit mistakes, and learn from them. It’s about creating a culture where people are encouraged to bring their best ideas forward, even if those ideas challenge the status quo. It’s about fostering a sense of shared responsibility for outcomes, where everyone feels invested in the success of the team.

When psychological safety is present, teams are more likely to innovate, adapt, and perform at their best. It’s not just about avoiding mistakes; it’s about creating an environment where people feel empowered to take risks, try new approaches, and learn from failures. This is especially critical in manufacturing, where the ability to adapt to changing conditions and continuously improve processes can mean the difference between success and stagnation.

Why Your Lean Programme is Stalling Without It

You’ve invested in Lean. You’ve done the 5S audits, put up visual management boards, and trained people on A3 problem solving. But is it really working? Or has it become a performance? A kind of compliance theatre?

The boards are updated just before the manager’s Gemba walk. Team huddles are one-word updates with everyone staring at their shoes. The suggestion box is full of cobwebs. Performance improved for a while, but now it’s plateaued.

This happens when you implement the tools of Lean without building the underlying culture. Lean isn’t a set of tools; it’s a set of behaviours.

  • Surfacing problems: Visual systems like Andon cords or SQDCP boards make problems impossible to ignore. But someone has to pull the cord or put a red magnet on the board. That’s an act of vulnerability, saying, “Something is wrong, and I need help.”
  • Running experiments: Continuous improvement involves trying new things, many of which will fail. If failure is met with blame, no one will volunteer to try something new. People will stick to the old, inefficient ways because they’re predictable.
  • Suggesting improvements (Kaizen): The best ideas for improving processes come from the people doing the work. But suggesting an improvement is implicitly a critique of the current process, which might be one their manager designed. It takes courage to say, “I think there’s a better way.”
  • Learning from failure: A Lean culture asks, “Why did the process allow this to happen?” A blame culture asks, “Who did this?” One leads to learning and improvement. The other leads to hiding mistakes.

Without psychological safety, your Lean tools are just wallpaper. People will go through the motions, fill out forms, and update boards, but they won’t engage their brains. They’ll do the bare minimum to stay out of trouble. Your Lean initiative, meant to unlock potential, becomes another box-ticking exercise.

Lean is fundamentally about people. It’s about empowering the people closest to the work to identify problems, suggest improvements, and take ownership of solutions. But without psychological safety, this empowerment is impossible. People won’t speak up if they fear being blamed, ridiculed, or ignored. They won’t take risks if they believe failure will be punished. And they won’t engage in continuous improvement if they feel their ideas won’t be valued.

The Warning Signs and Costs of Silence

How do you know if you have a psychological safety problem? It’s rarely dramatic. It’s a collection of small, subtle signals. It’s the silence where there should be a question. It’s the workaround where there should be a root cause analysis.

Common warning signs include:

  • Quiet Meetings: You ask, “Any problems?” and are met with silence. You know there are issues, but no one voices them.
  • Blame Finds a Person, Not a Process: A defect gets through, and the first question is, “Who signed this off?” instead of, “What part of the system failed?”
  • Shooting the Messenger: Someone raises a concern and is met with defensiveness or told, “We don’t have time for this.” They learn not to bother next time.
  • The Hero and the Workaround: An operator is celebrated for keeping an unreliable machine running with workarounds. No one asks, “Why don’t we fix the machine?”

These aren’t just ‘people problems.’ They directly impact Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost and People (SQDCP):

  • Safety: Near misses go unreported. That wobbly pallet rack or small oil leak everyone steps over? People see them but don’t report them until they cause an accident.
  • Quality: Kevin’s silence about the CNC machine translates into rework, customer complaints, and damage to your reputation.
  • Delivery: Small issues grow into big ones that stop the line, causing unplanned downtime and missed deadlines.
  • Cost: Rework, accidents, and downtime add up. So does employee stress, burnout, and turnover.
  • People: People who don’t feel heard will leave, taking their skills with them.

The costs of silence are not just financial. They’re also cultural. A culture of silence breeds disengagement, mistrust, and apathy. It erodes morale and undermines teamwork. It creates an environment where people feel like cogs in a machine, rather than valued contributors to a shared mission. And over time, it drives away your best people—the ones who care enough to want to make things better.

How to Build Psychological Safety: Practical Steps for Leaders

This isn’t something you can fix with a memo or a poster. It’s built, conversation by conversation, by leaders on the shop floor. It’s about behaviours.

  1. Frame the Work as a Learning Problem: Acknowledge complexity. Say, “We’ve never done this exact run before, so we’ll need everyone’s eyes on it,” or “This is tricky; we’ll likely run into issues, and that’s okay.” This gives people permission to speak up.
  2. Respond to Bad News with Curiosity, Not Anger: If an operator says, “I think I’ve scrapped a pallet of parts,” fight the urge to react with frustration. Instead, say, “Thank you for telling me. Let’s look at it together.” This signals that bad news is valued.
  3. Model Fallibility: Admit when you don’t know something or make a mistake. Saying, “I messed that up, my apologies,” shows it’s okay to be vulnerable.

Embed these behaviours into existing Lean routines:

  • On Gemba Walks: Use them to listen and learn. Ask, “What’s getting in your way?” instead of, “Why is this a mess?”
  • In Daily Huddles: Ask, “What did we learn yesterday?” or “What’s one small thing we could fix today?”
  • During Problem Solving: Focus on the process, not the person. Use the 5 Whys to find systemic causes.

Simple Starting Moves for Your Factory

This can feel like a big cultural shift, but you can start small:

  1. Weekly ‘No Blame’ Improvement Huddle: Pick one team. Spend 15 minutes discussing what went wrong that week, with a strict no-blame policy. The leader’s job is to listen, say thank you, and ask, “What’s one small thing we could try next week?”
  2. Visible ‘Bugs & Ideas’ Board: Create a board with two columns: “Things That Bug Us” and “Ideas to Try.” Leadership must review it daily and act on what’s there.
  3. Instil the ‘Thank You’ Habit: Train supervisors to say, “Thank you for speaking up,” whenever someone raises a problem or idea.

Start in one area. Measure the number of issues raised and improvements implemented. As safety increases, so will contributions. Use this data to spread these practices across the facility.

The Foundation You Can’t Ignore

Psychological safety isn’t a ‘soft skill.’ It’s the hidden infrastructure of operational excellence. You can have the best tools and processes, but if people are afraid to speak up, you’re operating with one hand tied behind your back.

Your people see problems and opportunities before you do. Unlocking that intelligence is your biggest competitive advantage. It starts with making it safe for them to speak.

Take a walk around your factory floor tomorrow. Look at the conversations happening—and the ones that aren’t. Ask yourself:

Where are people staying silent, and what is that silence costing us?

If you’re not sure of the answer, or don’t like the one that comes to mind, we can help. Our Lean Coaching and Mentoring Programme helps leaders foster a culture where problems are surfaced early, ideas are shared freely, and continuous improvement becomes a reality—not just a slogan.

3 Daily Habits That Shift Your Factory from Reactive Chaos to Proactive Control

Posted on by Adam Payne

You’ve been in the factory an hour, but you’re already on your third coffee and your second crisis. The phone rings. It’s your biggest customer, chasing that urgent order that was meant to ship yesterday. At the same time, your shop floor supervisor grabs you because Machine 3 is making that noise again, the one that usually precedes a very expensive silence. A key member of the assembly team has called in sick, and the materials for the next big job haven’t arrived.

Your day, which was supposed to be about planning for next quarter, is now a frantic game of whack-a-mole. You’re pulling people off jobs to fight fires, rejigging the schedule on the back of a scrap of paper, and making promises you’re not entirely sure you can keep. By the end of the day, you’re exhausted. You’ve worked incredibly hard, your team has performed heroics, and the big crisis was averted… just. But you know, deep down, that you’ll be doing it all again tomorrow.

This is the daily reality for so many leaders in small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses. It’s a state of constant, stressful, reactive chaos. We’re so busy dealing with the urgent that we never get a chance to tackle the important.

The core problem isn’t that you or your team aren’t working hard enough. I’d bet you’re all working flat out. The problem is the absence of a simple, daily rhythm. A rhythm that gives you visibility of what’s really happening, a clear set of priorities everyone understands, and a structured way to solve problems before they become full-blown emergencies.

What if I told you that you could fundamentally change this dynamic? That you could shift from firefighting to factory control, not with a massive, expensive six-month Lean transformation project, but with three small daily habits. Habits that take no more than 10 to 15 minutes each. Sounds too simple, right? Stick with me. Because these three routines, when done consistently, create an operating system for your shop floor that delivers proactive control, one day at a time.

The Two Worlds: Reactive Chaos vs. Proactive Control

Before we get into the habits, let’s quickly paint a picture of these two different worlds. I think you’ll recognise the first one.

The reactive factory runs on adrenaline and heroics. Surprises are the norm. The first you hear of a problem is when it’s already a crisis. The schedule is more of a hopeful suggestion than a plan. Information lives in people’s heads or on scattered spreadsheets, and communication happens in panicked phone calls or rushed conversations by the water cooler. The heroes are the people who can pull a rabbit out of a hat at the last minute, the master firefighters. The trouble is, when your factory needs heroes just to get through a normal Tuesday, your system is broken.

The proactive factory, on the other hand, feels different. It’s not silent or devoid of problems, that’s not realistic. But it is calmer. There’s a clear plan for the day that everyone understands. Issues are visible early, when they are small and manageable. Problems are discussed in a structured way, and there’s a disciplined follow-up to make sure they actually get solved. It feels less like a frantic scramble and more like a well-drilled team executing a game plan.

The crucial difference between these two worlds isn’t about multi-million-pound software systems or armies of consultants. I’ve seen huge companies with all the latest tech that are still utterly chaotic. And I’ve seen small, 30-person workshops that run like clockwork. The difference comes down to a few repeatable daily routines. A simple operating system that aligns your people, your information, and your decisions every single day.

These three habits are that operating system.

Habit 1: The 10-Minute Daily Stand-Up

When I say meeting, erase the image of stale biscuits, lukewarm coffee, and a rambling hour-long discussion that goes nowhere. This is not that.

A daily stand-up, sometimes called a huddle or a toolbox talk, is a short, sharp, focused communication burst at the start of the shift. It’s time-boxed, usually to no more than 10 or 15 minutes. And critically, everyone stands. Standing keeps the energy up and the conversation brief. Nobody gets comfortable.

The agenda is ruthlessly simple and always the same. It’s focused on three things: how we did yesterday, what the plan is for today, and what might get in our way. It is a pulse check for the factory, not a deep dive strategic review.

Why does this simple act work so well in a busy manufacturing environment?

For a start, it demolishes communication silos. The person from assembly hears directly from the fabrication team about a potential delay. The quality inspector can give a heads-up about a recurring issue before it affects the whole batch. It replaces the slow, unreliable grapevine with fast, direct, and accurate information. How many times has a problem festered for hours simply because the right people didn’t know about it? The stand-up kills that stone dead.

It also makes problems visible, early. It creates a safe, structured moment for people to raise their hand and say, “I think we’re going to have an issue with…” Spotting a problem at 8 AM when you still have the whole day to deal with it is infinitely better than discovering it at 4 PM when it’s too late. It’s the essence of proactivity.

Finally, it creates powerful alignment. When everyone hears the same plan and the same priorities from the same person at the same time, it focuses the entire team’s effort. There’s no ambiguity. Everyone leaves that 10-minute huddle knowing exactly what winning looks like for today.

This is a core tenet of Lean thinking. It’s all about making performance and problems visible, every single day, so you can continuously improve.

How to start tomorrow:

Don’t overthink it. Don’t spend weeks designing the perfect format. Just grab your key team members, find a space on the shop floor, and give it a go.

Here’s a simple script to get you started:

  1. Yesterday: “Morning everyone. Quick look back at yesterday. What went well? Where did we fall short of the plan? Any key learnings?” (2 minutes)
  2. Today: “Right, looking at today. What are the top 3 priority jobs? Are there any known bottlenecks or risks we need to manage?” (4 minutes)
  3. Blocks: “Okay, what could stop us from having a great day? Any issues with machines, materials, or people that we need to tackle? Who is going to own that fix?” (4 minutes)

That’s it. Ten minutes.

Hold it at the same time, in the same place every day to build the routine. Make sure you have one person facilitating to keep it on track and on time. And most importantly, write down the actions. Which brings us neatly to habit number two.

Habit 2: One Visual Board Everyone Can See

A conversation is temporary. It exists in the air for a few minutes and then it’s gone. Memories fade, interpretations differ. The single most powerful tool to support your daily stand-up is a visual management board.

What is it? It’s simply a “single version of the truth.” A physical whiteboard, or maybe a large screen, that lives on the shop floor where everyone can see it. It’s the anchor for your stand-up meeting. It’s the scoreboard for your day. It is not a nice-to-have display of corporate fluff; it’s a working tool.

Why is a visual board so much more effective than just talking, or using a spreadsheet hidden away on a manager’s laptop?

Our brains are wired to process visual information incredibly quickly. A red circle on a chart tells us there’s a problem instantly, without needing a single word of explanation. A simple graph showing output trending down is far more powerful than someone reading out a list of numbers. Visuals cut through the noise and make priorities and performance obvious at a glance, even to someone just walking past.

It also drives a powerful sense of accountability and shared ownership. When the plan, the performance metrics, and the problems are up there in black and white (and red, amber, and green) for all to see, it’s no longer “management’s data.” It’s the team’s data. It encourages people to engage, to ask questions, and to take ownership of the numbers. You can’t ignore a problem when it’s staring you in the face every morning.

How to build a simple version:

You don’t need fancy software. You need a whiteboard, some marker pens, and maybe some magnetic tape to create a grid. That’s it.

Here’s a basic layout that works for almost any small factory:

  • Section 1: Today’s Plan. List the key jobs or work orders for the day. Include critical information like quantity and the due time or date.
  • Section 2: Yesterday’s Performance. Track a few simple, vital metrics. Start with three at most. Things like Output vs Target, On-Time Delivery Percentage, and maybe a simple quality metric like First Time Pass Rate or Number of Defects.
  • Section 3: Top Issues / Actions. Create a space to list the top 3 problems or blocks that were identified in the stand-up. For each issue, include an Owner (the name of the person responsible for the fix) and a Due Date.

Use colour coding to bring it to life. Green for on track, amber for at risk, red for off track or problem. The board becomes a living document, updated every single day during the stand-up. It’s the focal point of the conversation.

Habit 3: The “One Problem, One Action” Rule

So, you’re having a daily stand-up. You’ve got a visual board. Problems are being raised. This is fantastic progress. But now you have to avoid the most common trap of all.

I call it the “problem admiration society.” It’s where you get really good at identifying and talking about problems. The same issues come up in the meeting, day after day, week after week. Everyone nods sagely, agrees it’s a problem, and then… nothing happens. The conversation ends, and everyone goes back to firefighting the exact same issues that were caused by the problem you just admired.

The solution is to turn problem-solving into a daily micro habit. And the rule is beautifully simple: every stand-up meeting must end with at least one problem being assigned one concrete action, with one owner, to be completed that day.

The key is that it is a specific, tangible action, not a vague intention like “look into the problem.” It’s something that can be physically done and completed. By taking one small, proactive step to solve one problem every single day, you start to change the game. The cumulative effect of this is staggering. Five small problems solved this week is 20 problems solved this month. That’s 20 fewer fires you’ll have to fight next month.

Making progress visible:

Track it on your visual board. Your “Issues / Actions” section is where this lives. When a new action is agreed, it goes up on the board with its owner and a due date (usually “end of day”). The next morning, the first part of the stand-up is reviewing the open actions from yesterday.

When an action is complete and the problem is solved, you get the immense satisfaction of marking it as done. A big green tick. A line through it. Whatever works for you. This visual proof that you are not just talking about problems but actually closing them is huge for team morale. It shows people that their input matters and that things are getting better.

As a leader, make a point of celebrating these small wins. This positive reinforcement is what builds a proactive, problem-solving culture. It builds momentum.

Putting It All Together: Your Next 7 Days

Reading about this is one thing. Doing it is another. I know it can feel daunting to introduce new routines into a busy, high-pressure environment. So let’s make it easy.

Don’t try to roll this out across the entire factory at once. Pick one area. One production line, one assembly cell, one team. The one that’s causing you the most headaches is often a good place to start.

Then, set yourself a simple 7-day challenge.

  • Monday: Hold your first, slightly awkward, 15-minute stand-up. Just use the simple script. Get a tatty old whiteboard and draw the three sections on it with a marker pen. It doesn’t need to be pretty. Identify just one problem and agree on one action.
  • Tuesday: Do it again. This time, start by reviewing the action from yesterday. Update the board.
  • Wednesday: By now, it should feel a little less strange. Keep the discipline. Keep it short. Keep it focused.
  • Thursday: You might notice something interesting. People might actually start bringing issues to the meeting, instead of you having to drag them out of them.
  • Friday: Hold your fifth stand-up. At the end of the day, get the team together for five minutes and look at the board. Look at the five actions you’ve completed. Ask them: Did this week feel any different? Were we more in control? Did we solve anything useful?

My bet is that the answer will be a resounding yes. You will have had a calmer, more controlled week. You’ll have had fewer nasty surprises. You will have solved a handful of annoying little problems that have been bugging you for months. You will have taken your first, decisive step out of reactive chaos.

What’s Next?

These three habits, the daily stand-up, the visual board, and the one problem one action rule, are not rocket science. They are simple, practical, and cost almost nothing to implement. But their combined effect is transformative. They create a daily rhythm of communication, clarity, and continuous improvement that puts you back in the driver’s seat.

This isn’t just theory. This is the basic blocking and tackling of operational excellence, and it works.

If you find you want help embedding these routines, training your team leaders to facilitate effectively, or linking your daily metrics to your overall business goals, that’s the next step. Our structured workshops or a hands-on coaching can help you lock in the gains and build a true, sustainable culture of proactive control. But it all starts with that first, 10-minute huddle. Why not try it tomorrow?

Is Your Factory Floor Trying to Tell You Something? Five Signs It’s Time for a Lean Intervention

Posted on by Adam Payne

I’ve spent more time than I can count walking through manufacturing plants across the UK. From gleaming, state of the art aerospace facilities to gritty, third generation metal fabricators. And you know what? You can often feel when something isn’t quite right. It’s not always something you can put your finger on immediately. It’s a certain kind of organised chaos, a low hum of inefficiency that hangs in the air.

The term ‘lean manufacturing’ gets thrown around a lot. Sometimes it sounds like another piece of corporate jargon, a consultant’s buzzword designed to sell you a complicated new system. But when you strip it all back, lean is just common sense. It’s about creating more value for your customers with fewer resources. It’s about respect. Respect for your employees’ time, respect for your materials, and respect for your customers’ trust.

The thing is, the symptoms of an inefficient operation are often hiding in plain sight. They become part of the daily grind, the “that’s just how we do things here” mentality. But these small, persistent problems are like slow punctures. They gradually drain the energy, profit, and potential from your business. This isn’t about pointing fingers. It’s about learning to see your own operations with fresh eyes. So, let’s walk through your business together, virtually, and see if any of these five signs feel a little too familiar.

1. The Ever-Growing Pile of Defects and Rework

You know the area I mean. Every factory seems to have one. It might be a designated corner, a set of red bins, or just a pallet that everyone avoids making eye contact with. This is the rework pile. It’s where products with defects go to be fixed, stripped for parts, or, let’s be honest, sometimes just to be forgotten about for a while. A few defects are inevitable, of course. Nobody’s perfect. But when that corner starts to feel less like a temporary holding bay and more like a permanent department, you have a problem.

I remember visiting a precision engineering firm in the Midlands. They were proud of their skilled team, and rightly so. But their lead times were slipping. When we walked the floor, we found their ‘quality control’ area was actually a full blown rework station. Two of their most skilled engineers spent most of their day correcting mistakes made earlier in the process. They were brilliant at it, but what a waste. Their best people were effectively papering over the cracks.

Every item that lands in that pile represents more than just a mistake. It’s wasted material. It’s wasted labour. It’s a disruption to the production schedule. Worse, it’s a gamble. Because for every defect you catch internally, you have to wonder, how many are slipping through to the customer? That’s when the real costs start to mount. Customer returns, warranty claims, and the slow, painful erosion of your reputation. The trust you’ve worked so hard to build can be undone by a few bad batches. A lean approach tackles this at the source. It’s not about getting better at fixing mistakes. It’s about building processes that make it almost impossible for the mistake to happen in the first place.

2. That Warehouse Full of ‘Just in Case’ Stock

Now, let’s take a look at your warehouse or stockroom. Is it a well organised, fluid space where materials and finished goods move through with purpose? Or does it look more like a long-term storage unit? I’m talking about pallets of raw materials gathering dust, components bought in bulk ‘on a good deal’ two years ago, and towers of finished products waiting for a home.

Many businesses see a full warehouse as a sign of security. It feels safe, right? We’re prepared for anything. In reality, excessive inventory is one of the classic wastes in lean thinking. And for good reason. All that stock is, in essence, cash. It’s your working capital, sitting on a shelf, doing nothing. It can’t be invested in new machinery, it can’t be used for research and development, and it can’t pay your team’s wages. It just sits there.

Beyond tying up cash, that mountain of inventory is hiding other, deeper problems. If you have weeks of stock on hand, you don’t feel the immediate pain of a machine breakdown or a supplier delay. The problem gets masked by the buffer. You only realise the true impact when you finally burn through the pile, by which time the original issue is long forgotten. It creates a disconnect between cause and effect.

The lean philosophy flips this on its head with concepts like ‘just in time’ production. Now, this isn’t about running on fumes and having nothing in stock. That’s a common misconception. It’s about creating a system so reliable and a supply chain so responsive that you only need to hold what you need for the immediate future. It forces you to fix the underlying problems because there’s nowhere for them to hide. It’s a brave step, I’ll admit, but the reward is a business that is agile, responsive, and financially much, much healthier.

3. The Unpredictable Rhythm of Stop and Start

Think about the sound of your factory floor. Is it a consistent, productive hum? Or is it a jarring symphony of stops and starts? A machine runs for an hour, then it’s down for twenty minutes for a tricky changeover. A production line flows smoothly, until someone realises they’re waiting on parts from another department. These frequent disruptions and repeated periods of downtime are a massive red flag.

This isn’t just about catastrophic breakdowns, though those are obviously a problem. It’s more about the small, accepted stoppages that bleed your productivity away minute by minute. Each time a machine stops unexpectedly, your plan for the day takes a hit. Lead times become a matter of guesswork rather than a confident promise. Unplanned maintenance costs creep up, and your team’s frustration levels rise with them. You end up in a constant state of firefighting, lurching from one crisis to the next.

What’s often at the heart of this? A lack of standardised work. When every operator has their own ‘special’ way of setting up a machine, or there’s no clear process for replenishing consumables, you introduce variation. And variation is the enemy of predictability. Lean thinking introduces rigour and standardisation. Not to turn people into robots, but to create a stable, reliable foundation. When the basic processes are documented, understood, and followed by everyone, you eliminate a huge source of self-inflicted downtime. It creates a calm, controlled environment where problems are the exception, not the rule.

4. The Agony of Another Missed Delivery Deadline

This is where all those internal issues, the rework, the stock hunting, the downtime, finally break out of your four walls and impact the one person you can’t afford to disappoint: your customer. Missing delivery deadlines is a horrible feeling. It’s the awkward phone call, the apologetic email, the sense that you’ve let someone down. Do it once, and most customers will be understanding. Do it repeatedly, and you’re putting your most valuable contracts at risk.

Late deliveries are rarely the result of a single, dramatic event. They are the slow accumulation of all the small inefficiencies we’ve been talking about. A shipment is late because a batch had to be reworked, which pushed it back a day. That delay was compounded because a key machine was down for half a day. And finding the right packaging took an extra hour because the storeroom is a mess. Sound familiar? Each step adds a little bit of friction, a little bit of delay, until your schedule is in tatters.

Your reputation is built on your ability to deliver what you promise, when you promise it. When that starts to crumble, everything else becomes harder. You lose negotiating power. You get overlooked for new opportunities. You might even lose long term clients to competitors who are simply more reliable. Lean helps by forcing you to look at your entire process, from order entry to final dispatch, as a single, connected flow. By mapping this ‘value stream’, you can identify the bottlenecks and the delays. You can streamline scheduling and create a production flow that is smooth and predictable, allowing you to quote lead times with confidence, not just hope.

5. That Sinking Feeling: Low Morale and Resistance

This last one is perhaps the most important, and the most human. You can have the best machines and the cleverest processes in the world, but if your team isn’t on board, nothing will stick. What does low morale look like? It’s a lack of engagement in meetings. It’s the high staff turnover you can’t seem to get under control. It’s the cynical sighs and the ‘here we go again’ attitude whenever a new initiative is announced.

Often, this resistance isn’t because people are lazy or stubborn. It’s because they’re burnt out. They’re tired of working within broken systems that set them up to fail. They’re frustrated by seeing the same problems crop up again and again with no real solution. They’ve been asked to fight fires for so long that they’ve forgotten what it’s like to do anything else. When management then comes in with a “new way of working”, it can feel like just another burden.

This is where so many improvement initiatives fail. They are imposed from the top down, without respecting the knowledge and experience of the people on the factory floor. The most powerful secret of lean, I think, is its fundamental principle of ‘respect for people’. A true lean transformation isn’t about telling people what to do. It’s about empowering them. It’s about giving them the tools and the permission to solve the problems they face every single day.

When you start asking the operators, “what frustrates you about this job?” and “what would make it better?”, you unlock an incredible source of innovation. Involving your team in building the solutions creates ownership. Morale improves not because of a pay rise or a company outing, but because people feel heard, valued, and trusted to make their own work better. This positive engagement becomes the engine that drives continuous improvement long after any consultants have gone home.

It’s Time to Listen to What Your Business is Saying

So, there you have it. The overflowing rework bin, the cash tied up in the warehouse, the constant stop start of the production line, the dreaded late delivery calls, and the quiet resignation on the faces of your team. These aren’t just minor operational headaches. They are clear, loud symptoms that your business is carrying too much waste and that its processes are working against, not for, your people.

Recognising these signs is the first, most critical step. If you found yourself nodding along to one, or maybe even all five of these points, please don’t be discouraged. It simply means there is a huge, untapped potential for improvement waiting to be unlocked in your business. It’s time to stop normalising the inefficiencies and start a conversation about how a lean, common sense intervention could transform your operations from the ground up.

Which of these signs feels most pressing in your business right now? I’d be genuinely interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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WINNING the Margins Game for Smart UK Manufacturers

Posted on by Adam Payne

Right then, let’s talk shop. If you’re in manufacturing in the UK right now, you don’t need me to tell you it’s a tough gig. It feels like you’re being squeezed from all sides. You have global competitors with lower costs, supply chains that have become ridiculously unpredictable, and energy prices that make you wince every time a bill comes through. It’s a constant battle. And in that battle, just staying afloat isn’t the goal, is it? The goal is to thrive, to grow, and to build something resilient.

The real secret to not just surviving but actually boosting your profit margins isn’t some mythical silver bullet. I have seen it time and again. It lies in something you already control: your processes. It’s about looking at how you do what you do, day in and day out, and asking, “Can we do this better?”. This isn’t just about cutting costs, though that’s a happy side effect. It’s about building a sustainable competitive advantage. It’s about becoming smarter, faster, and more efficient. Over the next few minutes, we’re going to walk through some innovative, yet practical, ways to improve your processes and, ultimately, your bottom line.

Why Process Innovation is Your Strongest Play

Let’s be honest, the term “process innovation” can sound a bit corporate and vague. Like something a consultant would put on a PowerPoint slide. But all it really means is finding new and better ways to get from raw material to finished product, and from a customer order to a happy delivery. It’s the ‘how’ of your business. And in manufacturing, the ‘how’ is everything.

For years, many of us manufacturers competed on quality, a sort of “Made in Britain” stamp of excellence. That’s still hugely important, of course. But today, it’s not enough on its own. Your customers expect that quality, but they also want it at a competitive price and with reliable delivery times. This is where your processes become your secret weapon. When you innovate your processes, you’re directly tackling the things that eat into your profit margins. Think about it. Every minute of wasted machine time, every product rejected by quality control, every hour an employee spends searching for a tool, that’s money walking out the door.

Improving your processes helps you reclaim that money. It reduces waste, cuts down on errors, and speeds up production. The knock-on effect is huge. Your market position strengthens because you can offer better prices, faster lead times, or both. Your capacity increases without necessarily needing to invest in a whole new factory wing. And maybe most importantly, your business becomes more resilient, better able to handle the shocks and surprises the world seems so fond of throwing at us lately. It’s about moving from a reactive position, constantly firefighting, to a proactive one where you are in control.

The Big Levers: Tech, Lean Thinking, and Your People

So, where do you start? It can feel overwhelming. I think the best approach is to focus on three core areas that provide the biggest bang for your money: technology, a lean philosophy, and empowering your team. They all feed into each other.

First up, let’s talk about automation and digitisation. For some, this conjures up images of giant, expensive robots replacing entire workforces. And while robotics are certainly part of the picture, that’s a very narrow view. Automation today is much more accessible. Think about using cobots, or collaborative robots, that work alongside your skilled staff to handle repetitive, strenuous tasks. Or what about quality control driven by AI? Imagine a camera system that can spot microscopic defects far more accurately and consistently than the human eye, 24 hours a day.

The benefits are pretty clear. You reduce costs tied to manual labour and human error. You increase throughput because machines don’t need tea breaks. I’ve seen companies slash their defect rates by over 90 percent simply by automating their inspection process. That’s a direct boost to the profit margin. It’s not about replacing people, it’s about elevating them. Let the machines do the dull, dangerous, and dirty work, and free up your skilled team to solve problems, innovate, and handle more complex, valuable tasks.

Next is lean manufacturing. This isn’t a new concept, but its power is timeless. At its heart, lean is simply a relentless war on waste. And waste is anything that doesn’t add value for the customer. This could be excess inventory sitting in a warehouse, tying up cash. It could be the time spent moving components from one side of the factory to the other. It could be overproduction, making more than you have orders for. The “just in time” production model is a classic example. Instead of stockpiling parts, you get them delivered exactly when you need them. This frees up an enormous amount of capital and space. I remember working with a mid-sized engineering firm implementing lean, something they fully embraced. Their shop floor was so clean and organised it felt more like a laboratory. They had cut their lead time from six weeks to just two, not by working their people harder, but by eliminating all the wasted steps in between. That’s how you win.

But here’s the thing. Neither amazing tech nor a perfect lean system will work without the third, most critical element: a culture of continuous improvement. Your best asset for spotting inefficiencies isn’t a high-priced consultant. It’s the person doing the job every single day. You need to empower your frontline workers to be your eyes and ears. Create systems where they can easily flag problems or suggest better ways of doing things, without fear of blame. Tools like Kaizen, which is really just a structured way of making small, incremental improvements, are fantastic for this. It’s about creating a mindset where everyone, from the CEO to the apprentice, feels responsible for making the business a little bit better, every single day. When your team is actively engaged in improving their own work, the results are transformative.

Smarter Structures for Growth and Stability

Once you start getting the factory floor in order, you can look at the wider business structure to find more opportunities for margin growth. This is about working smarter, not just harder.

A big one is outsourcing non-core activities. Ask yourself, what business are we really in? You’re in the business of manufacturing excellent products. You’re probably not in the business of being world class IT maintenance experts, or logistics gurus, or payroll administrators. These are vital functions, no doubt, but they aren’t your core competency. Outsourcing them to specialist firms can often be cheaper and more effective. More importantly, it frees up your time, your capital, and your best people to focus on what truly drives your competitive advantage: designing, making, and selling your products.

Hand in hand with this is standardising your core processes. This is where Standard Operating Procedures, or SOPs, come in. I know, SOPs can sound a bit rigid and bureaucratic. But a good SOP isn’t a straitjacket. It’s a recipe for success. It documents the best, safest, and most efficient way to perform a task. This has a massive impact on quality and consistency. It ensures every product that leaves your factory meets the same high standard, regardless of who was on shift. It’s also crucial for compliance and for scaling your business. If you want to train new staff or open a second production line, having well documented processes makes it a thousand times easier.

Don’t forget about the commercial side either. You can improve margins without even touching the production line by getting better at upselling and cross selling. Your relationship with a customer shouldn’t end when the product is shipped. That’s often just the beginning. Are you training your sales and service teams to proactively offer maintenance contracts, spare parts, or training packages? These after sales services often carry much higher profit margins than the original product. It’s about seeing every customer interaction as an opportunity to add more value, for them and for you.

Finally, think about strategic partnerships. In a complex world, you can’t do everything alone. Collaborating with key suppliers can lead to better raw material costs or joint innovation on new components. Partnering with distributors can open up new markets you couldn’t reach on your own. And what about technology partners? Working with a university or a tech startup could give you access to cutting edge R&D without the massive upfront investment. A joint venture might be the perfect way to develop a new product line and share the risk and reward. Strong partnerships build an ecosystem around your business that makes everyone in it stronger.

The Roadmap: From Idea to Reality

Okay, this all sounds good in theory. But how do you actually make it happen? Here’s a simple, practical roadmap.

First, you have to analyse. You can’t improve what you don’t understand. Start by mapping out one of your key processes, from start to finish. Get the team involved. Use brown paper and sticky notes if you have to. Identify every single step, every handover, every delay. This alone is often a massive eye opener.

Second, identify the bottlenecks and waste. Where are things getting stuck? Where is time or material being wasted? Use data where you can. Measure cycle times, defect rates, and inventory levels. This is where you pinpoint the biggest opportunities for improvement.

Third, brainstorm and implement solutions. This could be anything from rearranging a workstation to investing in a new piece of software. Start small. Pick one or two high impact, low cost improvements to build momentum. This is crucial for getting team buy in. When people see that their ideas are being heard and that change is actually making their jobs easier, they get on board.

Fourth, monitor and measure. This is where Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, come in. Track metrics like Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), cost per unit, on time delivery rate, and, of course, your overall profit margin. You need to see if your changes are actually working. This isn’t a one time fix. It’s a continuous cycle. You analyse, you improve, you measure, and you do it all over again.

It Starts with a Single Step

Transforming your manufacturing processes to build a sustainable competitive advantage is a journey, not a destination. It won’t happen overnight. It requires commitment, a bit of investment, and a willingness to challenge the old “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset.

But the payoff is immense. We’ve talked about embracing technology and lean principles. We’ve covered the importance of building a culture where everyone contributes. We’ve looked at smarter ways to structure your operations and partnerships. Each of these strategies is a powerful tool for boosting your profit margins and securing your place in a competitive market. You don’t have to do it all at once. The most important thing is to start. Pick one area, one process, and take that first step.

The future of UK manufacturing belongs to the businesses that are agile, innovative, and relentless in their pursuit of being better. By focusing on your processes, you’re not just cutting costs; you’re building a stronger, more profitable, and more resilient company for the future.

Now, I’d love to hear from you. What are the biggest process challenges you’re facing in your business? What successes have you had? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

And if you need help getting started give us a call or contact us here.

Beyond Machinery: Unlocking Human Potential in UK Manufacturing

Posted on by Adam Payne

In the bustling heart of the UK’s manufacturing sector, staying competitive isn’t just about modern machinery or cutting-edge technology. It’s about the people behind the processes, the efficiency of operations, and the culture that drives continuous improvement. If you’re a manufacturer looking to propel your business forward, embracing Lean Coaching and Mentoring could be the game-changer you’ve been searching for.

Imagine shaving weeks off your project timelines, cutting costs significantly, and fostering an environment where every team member is committed to excellence. This isn’t a distant dream—it’s the reality for many manufacturers who have harnessed the power of Lean Coaching and Mentoring. In a landscape where the slightest edge can set you apart from competitors, Lean methodologies offer a transformative approach to streamline operations, enhance quality, and boost employee satisfaction.

As someone who has walked the factory floors, engaged with teams at every level, and witnessed the profound impact of Lean Coaching, I can attest to its potential to revolutionise manufacturing processes and business culture. Let’s delve into how this personalised approach not only optimises efficiency but also cultivates a culture of continuous improvement, giving you a significant competitive advantage in the market.

Supercharge Project Performance and Efficiency

Time is money in manufacturing, and delays can cost more than just capital—they can erode customer trust and market position. Implementing Lean principles through 1-2-1 coaching can dramatically enhance project performance.

Projects Finish Over 20% Faster with Lean Coaching

When coaching is tailored to individual needs, it can identify bottlenecks that generic training often overlooks. For instance, during a recent engagement with a mid-sized manufacturer in Birmingham, we implemented Lean Coaching that reduced their average project completion time by 25%. By focusing on specific pain points, we eliminated unnecessary steps, allowing projects to move forward swiftly. This approach not only accelerates timelines but also instils a sense of ownership and accountability among team members, as they see the impact of their contributions.

Cost Savings Exceed 10% Compared to Conventional Management

Lean isn’t just about speed; it’s about doing more with less. By scrutinising every aspect of the production process, Lean Coaches help you identify and eliminate non-value-added activities. In my experience, manufacturers often discover surprising areas of waste—be it overproduction, excess inventory, or redundant processes. One client saved over 15% in operational costs within six months by streamlining their supply chain and reducing overstock. These savings can then be reinvested into other areas of the business, such as research and development or employee training, further enhancing the company’s competitive edge.

Identifying and Eliminating Non-Value-Added Activities

Non-value-added activities are like weeds in a garden—they choke the life out of productive processes. Through Lean Coaching, team members learn to spot these activities and address them proactively. For example, unnecessary movement of materials not only consumes time but also increases the risk of damage. By reorganising the factory layout for a client in Warwickshire, we reduced material handling time by 30%. This not only improved efficiency but also reduced the physical strain on workers, contributing to a safer and more ergonomic workplace.

Reduced Inventory Overhead, Overtime, and Lead Times

Lean coaching emphasises just-in-time production, which minimises inventory costs and ensures resources are utilised efficiently. A manufacturer we worked with was struggling with high inventory costs and frequent overtime. After implementing Lean practices, they saw a 40% reduction in inventory overheads and eliminated overtime in peak seasons, leading to happier employees and a healthier bottom line. This shift also allowed the company to be more responsive to market demands, as they could adjust production schedules without the burden of excess inventory.

Foster a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Implementing Lean isn’t a one-time fix—it’s about instilling a mindset of perpetual growth and enhancement throughout your organisation.

Building a Lean Culture Focused on Learning and Critical Thinking

A culture that values continuous improvement encourages employees to think critically about their work processes. By fostering an environment where questions are welcomed and experimentation is encouraged, you tap into a wellspring of innovation. In a recent project, we introduced daily stand-up meetings where team members shared insights on process improvements. This practice led to over 50 incremental enhancements within a year. These small, consistent changes accumulate over time, leading to significant improvements in efficiency and quality.

Developing Employee Skills and Boosting Satisfaction

Investing in your employees through coaching not only enhances their skills but also increases their engagement and satisfaction. Employees who feel valued and empowered are more productive and loyal. I recall a team leader who, through 1-2-1 lean mentoring, developed such confidence in problem-solving that they were promoted to operations manager within a year. This personal growth not only benefits the individual but also strengthens the organisation as a whole, as skilled leaders are better equipped to guide their teams through challenges and drive innovation.

Creating an Environment of Clear Expectations and Systematic Processes

Clarity is crucial in manufacturing. Lean coaching helps establish well-defined roles and expectations, reducing confusion and errors. By standardising processes, you ensure consistency and quality. At a facility in Ellesmere, the introduction of standardised work procedures decreased defects by 35%, directly impacting customer satisfaction. This consistency also builds trust with customers, as they can rely on the company to deliver high-quality products on time, every time.

Establishing Sustainable Improvements Through Embedded Learning

The goal of Lean Coaching and Mentoring is to make continuous improvement second nature. By embedding Lean principles into the fabric of your organisation, improvements become sustainable. One company I worked with integrated Lean training into their onboarding process, ensuring that every new employee contributes to the culture from day one. This approach not only accelerates the learning curve for new hires but also reinforces the company’s commitment to excellence and innovation.

Gain a Competitive Edge in the Market

Standing out requires more than just a quality product—it demands excellence at every operational level.

Producing Higher-Quality Products Faster

Lean methodologies focus on quality at the source, minimising defects and rework. By empowering employees to identify issues in real-time, you enhance product quality while reducing waste. A manufacturer in Coventry improved their first-pass yield by 20% after implementing Lean, leading to increased customer satisfaction and repeat business. This focus on quality not only strengthens customer relationships but also reduces costs associated with returns and rework.

Reducing Lead Times and Improving Customer Service

Customers value reliability and speed. By streamlining processes, you can reduce lead times significantly. One of our clients managed to cut their delivery times in half, which not only satisfied existing customers but also attracted new ones who required quick turnaround times. This agility in responding to customer needs can be a decisive factor in winning new business and retaining existing clients in a competitive market.

Driving Innovation Through Optimised Workflows

Lean isn’t just about cutting waste—it’s about creating space for innovation. By removing unnecessary tasks, employees have more time to focus on creative solutions and improvements. In one case, a team’s workflow optimisation led to the development of a new product line that opened up additional revenue streams. This ability to innovate and adapt quickly to market changes is a key advantage in today’s fast-paced business environment.

Enhancing Decision-Making and Overall Performance Through Engaged Leadership

Leadership plays a pivotal role in the success of Lean initiatives. When leaders are engaged and lead by example, it motivates the entire organisation. I worked with an executive team that participated in Lean training alongside their employees. This united approach broke down barriers and improved communication, resulting in faster decision-making and an increase in overall productivity. Engaged leaders also foster a culture of trust and collaboration, which is essential for sustaining long-term improvements.

Key Takeaway(s)

The manufacturing landscape in the UK is more competitive than ever, but with challenges come opportunities for those willing to adapt and evolve. Embracing Lean Coaching and Mentoring isn’t just about tweaking processes—it’s about transforming your entire operation.

By supercharging operational performance and efficiency, you unlock immediate benefits in cost savings and speed. Fostering a culture of continuous improvement ensures that these gains are not just temporary boosts but part of a sustained trajectory of growth. And by gaining a competitive edge in the market, you position your company not just to survive but to thrive amid industry changes.

From my own experiences working with manufacturers across the UK, the most remarkable transformations occur when companies invest in their people as much as their processes. Lean coaching empowers teams, breaks down silos, and cultivates leaders at every level.

So, if you’re ready to unlock success and transform your manufacturing operations, consider the profound impact that Lean project coaching and mentoring can have. The journey towards excellence is ongoing, but with the right guidance and commitment, the rewards are unparalleled. By embracing this approach, you not only enhance your operational capabilities but also build a resilient organisation poised to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The future of manufacturing is bright for those who dare to innovate and invest in their most valuable asset—their people. As the industry continues to evolve, those who prioritise continuous improvement and employee development will find themselves at the forefront of innovation and success. IF you’d like to know more about our Lean Coaching and Mentoring Programme – Click Here

Embedding Lean Manufacturing: A Blueprint for Manufacturers’ Success

Posted on by Adam Payne

As a manufacturing professional in the UK, you’re likely all too familiar with the constant pressure to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and stay competitive in an increasingly global marketplace. Over the years, I’ve worked with numerous British manufacturers who have faced these challenges head-on, and time and time again, I’ve seen one approach stand out as a game-changer: lean manufacturing.

Lean manufacturing isn’t just another buzzword or passing trend. It’s a proven methodology that has transformed industries worldwide, and it’s particularly relevant for UK manufacturers looking to thrive. In this post, we’ll explore the essential steps to embed lean manufacturing in your business and highlight why so many manufacturers are embracing this approach. We’ll also look at some inspiring success stories that demonstrate the transformative power of lean principles.

Essential Steps to Implement Lean Manufacturing

Implementing lean manufacturing is a journey, not a destination. It requires commitment, patience, and a willingness to challenge the status quo. Here are the key steps you’ll need to take to successfully embed lean principles in your organisation:

a) Align your organisation around lean principles

The first and perhaps most crucial step is to ensure that everyone in your organisation understands and buys into the lean philosophy. This means educating your team about the core principles of lean manufacturing, such as:

  • Identifying and eliminating waste
  • Continuous improvement (Kaizen)
  • Respect for people
  • Creating flow in processes

In my experience, resistance to change is one of the biggest hurdles in implementing lean. That’s why it’s essential to communicate the benefits of lean manufacturing clearly and consistently. Emphasise how it can make everyone’s job easier, more satisfying, and more secure in the long run.

b) Map the value stream to identify waste

Value stream mapping is a powerful tool that helps you visualise your entire production process, from raw materials to finished product. By creating a detailed map, you can identify areas of waste, inefficiency, and bottlenecks.

I once worked with a UK-based casting manufacturer who was struggling with long lead times. Through value stream mapping, we discovered that components were spending an average of 15 days in various queues throughout the production process. By addressing these queues, we were able to reduce lead times by over 50%. (Reducing Lead-time Case Study)

c) Create flow and pull systems for smoother operations

Once you’ve identified areas of waste, the next step is to create flow in your processes. This means arranging your production line so that work moves smoothly from one step to the next, without unnecessary stops or delays.

Pull systems, such as Kanban, can be particularly effective in creating flow. Instead of pushing products through the system based on forecasts, pull systems produce items based on actual customer demand. This reduces inventory, improves cash flow, and ensures you’re making what customers actually want.

d) Utilise lean tools like 5S, Kanban, and Six Sigma

Lean manufacturing offers a variety of tools and techniques to help you improve your operations. Some of the most effective include:

  • 5S (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain): A method for organising workspaces for efficiency and effectiveness.
  • Kanban: A visual system for managing work-in-progress and scheduling production.
  • Six Sigma: A data-driven approach to eliminating defects and reducing variability.

e) Foster a culture of continuous improvement

Lean manufacturing is not a one-time project; it’s an ongoing process of continuous improvement. Encourage your team to constantly look for ways to eliminate waste and improve processes. Implement a system for collecting and acting on employee suggestions.

f) Implement technology and automation to enhance lean processes

While lean manufacturing originated before the digital age, modern technology can significantly enhance its effectiveness. Consider implementing an Manufacturing Execution Software (MES) systems like FactoryIQ to improve visibility across your operations, or explore how Industry 4.0 technologies like IoT sensors and data analytics can support your lean initiatives.

Why Manufacturers Embrace Lean Manufacturing

Now that we’ve covered the ‘how’, let’s look at the ‘why’. There are compelling reasons why manufacturers across the UK are embracing lean principles:

a) Significant improvements in efficiency and productivity

Lean manufacturing can lead to dramatic improvements in efficiency and productivity. By eliminating waste and streamlining processes, you can produce more with less. I’ve seen manufacturers increase their output by 30% or more without adding additional resources.

b) Substantial cost reductions through waste elimination

Waste is expensive. By identifying and eliminating the eight types of waste (defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilised talent, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra-processing), lean manufacturers can significantly reduce their costs. This is particularly crucial for UK manufacturers facing increased competition post-Brexit.

c) Enhanced customer value and satisfaction

Lean manufacturing isn’t just about cutting costs; it’s about delivering more value to your customers. By focusing on what the customer truly values and eliminating everything else, you can improve quality, reduce lead times, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.

d) Environmental benefits from reduced resource consumption

With the increasing environmental awareness, lean manufacturing offers significant sustainability benefits. By reducing waste and improving efficiency, you’ll naturally reduce your consumption of energy and raw materials. This not only helps the environment but can also improve your company’s image and appeal to environmentally conscious customers.

e) Competitive advantage in the marketplace

Being lean can give you a significant competitive edge. The ability to deliver high-quality products quickly and at competitive prices can help you win new customers and retain existing ones.

f) Increased employee engagement and morale

When implemented correctly, lean manufacturing can significantly improve employee satisfaction. By involving employees in problem-solving and continuous improvement, you empower them and make their work more engaging. This can lead to higher retention rates and a more motivated workforce.

Real-World Success Stories

Let’s look at some inspiring examples of companies that have successfully embedded lean manufacturing principles:

Caterpillar Inc.’s lean journey and results

Caterpillar’s lean journey offers valuable lessons for manufacturers of all sizes. The company began implementing lean principles in the early 2000’s and has since seen remarkable results. Including the formalisation of its Caterpillar Production System which launched in 2005, and a strategic initiative to establish an enterprise-wide lean vision in 2012.

John Deere’s efficiency gains through lean principles

Another global manufacturer with operations in the UK, John Deere, has been on a lean journey since the 1990s. The company has reported significant improvements in productivity, quality, and employee satisfaction. In one facility, John Deere reduced the time to manufacture significantly through lean principles.

General Electric’s inventory reduction and quality improvements

GE’s adoption of lean principles, combined with Six Sigma, led to substantial improvements across its diverse business units. The company reported saving billions of dollars and significantly improving product quality.

While these are large multinational companies, I’ve seen similar results in smaller UK manufacturers. For instance, a medium-sized automotive parts manufacturer in the Midlands implemented lean principles and saw a 40% reduction in lead times and a 25% increase in productivity within 18 months.

Toyota’s pioneering lean practices

Toyota is often credited with pioneering lean manufacturing through its Toyota Production System (TPS). The company’s focus on continuous improvement and respect for people has led to unparalleled efficiency and quality. Toyota’s lean practices have been emulated by manufacturers worldwide, proving that lean principles can be adapted to various industries and scales.

Rolls-Royce’s lean transformation

Rolls-Royce, a renowned UK manufacturer, has also embraced lean manufacturing. By implementing lean principles, Rolls-Royce has achieved significant improvements in production efficiency and product quality. The company has reduced lead times, cut costs, and enhanced customer satisfaction, solidifying its position as a leader in the aerospace industry.

Conclusion

Embedding lean manufacturing is indeed a transformative process that can revolutionise your manufacturing operations. In following the key steps outlined – aligning your organisation, mapping value streams, creating flow, utilising lean tools, fostering continuous improvement, and leveraging technology – you can achieve significant improvements in efficiency, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction.

The benefits of lean manufacturing are clear and compelling. From improved productivity and reduced costs to enhanced customer value and environmental benefits, lean principles offer a pathway to long-term success and competitiveness.

As you embark on your lean journey, remember that it’s not about achieving perfection overnight. It’s about making consistent, incremental improvements that add up to significant results over time. Start small, celebrate your wins, learn from your setbacks, and keep pushing forward.

In the face of global competition and economic uncertainty, lean manufacturing offers UK manufacturers a proven approach to not just survive, but thrive. By embracing these principles, you can position your company for success in the years to come, driving innovation, efficiency, and growth in the ever-evolving manufacturing landscape.

Remember, the journey to lean manufacturing is challenging, but the rewards are well worth the effort. So, are you ready to start your lean journey and transform your manufacturing operations? The time to act is now. Embrace lean manufacturing and unlock the full potential of your business. By doing so, you will not only enhance your operational capabilities but also ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for your company in the competitive global market.

Hoshin Kanri: The Strategic Planning Process that Drives Growth and Performance

Posted on by Adam Payne

How many times have you sat in a boardroom, looked at a beautifully crafted five-year strategy, and felt a genuine spark of excitement, only to see that spark fizzle out somewhere on the journey to the shop floor? It’s a story I’ve seen play out in manufacturing businesses across the UK. The ambition is there. The intelligence is there. But the connection between the grand vision and the daily grind of production targets, quality checks, and maintenance schedules gets lost in translation.

This isn’t a failure of ambition. It’s a failure of process. We create strategies in one room and expect them to be executed perfectly by people in another, often without a clear map connecting the two. It’s like giving someone a destination without a GPS, or even a paper map. They might get there eventually, but the journey will be inefficient, frustrating, and probably take them down a few wrong turns.

This is where a concept called Hoshin Kanri comes in. It’s a Japanese term that roughly translates to “compass management” or “shining metal pointing the way.” It’s a strategic planning and deployment methodology that was honed by companies like Toyota to create a direct, unbroken line from top level objectives to the everyday actions of every single employee. It’s not just another corporate buzzword. It’s a proven, structured way to make sure your strategy actually happens.

So, What Exactly is Hoshin Kanri?

At its heart, Hoshin Kanri is a systematic approach to ensure that the goals of a company are the driving force behind the actions of every person within it. It originated in post war Japan, a time when companies had to be incredibly resourceful and focused to rebuild and compete globally. They couldn’t afford wasted effort or internal misalignment. They needed a way to point everyone in the same direction, and Hoshin Kanri became their compass.


It’s built on a few core principles that, frankly, just make sense.


First, there’s alignment. This is the big one. Hoshin Kanri creates a clear cascade of objectives. The company has a long-term vision, which is broken down into a handful of critical “breakthrough” objectives for the next three to five years. These are then translated into specific, measurable annual objectives. And those annual objectives are then broken down further for each department, each team, and ultimately, each individual. Everyone can see how their work directly contributes to the bigger picture. The person calibrating a machine on the night shift understands how their precision impacts the company’s goal of becoming the market leader in quality.


Second, there’s engagement. This isn’t a top-down dictatorship. One of the most powerful parts of the process, which we’ll get to, is something called “Catchball.” It’s a back-and-forth dialogue. Senior leadership proposes the objectives, but then they toss them to the teams who have to deliver them. Those teams toss back their feedback, their ideas, and the resources they’ll need. This dialogue ensures that goals are realistic, and more importantly, it creates a deep sense of ownership. People support what they help create.
And third, there’s continuous improvement, or Kaizen. Hoshin Kanri isn’t a “set it and forget it” plan. It’s a living, breathing system. You are constantly checking your progress against your targets through regular reviews. This isn’t about blaming people when things go off track. It’s about asking “why?” and learning from the process. It builds a culture where problems are seen as opportunities to get better, not mistakes to be hidden.

The 7 Steps to Making Strategy Happen

Okay, so how does this actually work in practice? The Hoshin Kanri planning process is often broken down into seven steps. It looks like a lot on paper, but think of it as a logical flow from a big idea to daily reality.

  1. Establish Your Organisational Vision: This is your North Star. Where do you want your business to be in ten years? This shouldn’t be a fluffy mission statement. It needs to be a clear, compelling picture of the future. Something like, “To be the UK’s most trusted supplier of high precision aerospace components, known for zero defect quality and on time delivery.”
  2. Develop Breakthrough Objectives: You can’t do everything at once. Based on your vision, what are the three to five game changing things you need to achieve in the next three to five years? These are your “breakthroughs.” They should be bold. Examples could be: launching a fully automated production line, reducing lead times by 50 percent, or entering a new European market.
  3. Set Annual Objectives: Now you break it down. To make progress on that 50 percent lead time reduction, what do we need to achieve this year? Maybe the annual objective is to “Reduce average order fulfilment time from 20 days to 15 days by December 31st.” It’s specific, measurable, and time bound. You’ll have a few of these, each one directly supporting a breakthrough objective.
  4. Cascade Objectives (The ‘Catchball’ Process): This is where the magic happens. Senior management doesn’t just email these annual objectives out. They present them to their direct reports, the department heads. They ask, “Here’s what we need to achieve. How can your department contribute, and what do you need from us?” The production manager might say, “To hit that 15-day target, I need to reduce machine changeover time. I think we can get it down by 10 percent this year. To do that, I’ll need a budget for new tooling and two days of training for my team leaders.” This conversation, this negotiation, and coaching, goes all the way down the organisation. It’s a game of catch, not a command.
  5. Implement and Execute: Once the objectives are agreed upon at all levels, it’s time to get to work. Because of the Catchball process, everyone knows what they need to do and why they are doing it. The plan isn’t some abstract document; it’s a shared commitment.
  6. Monitor Progress (PDCA): This is the heartbeat of Hoshin Kanri. You use regular, structured reviews to check your progress. Many teams use the Plan Do Check Act cycle. You had a Plan (reduce changeover time). You Did the actions (bought the tools, ran the training). Now you Check the data. Did changeover time actually decrease? If yes, great. If not, you move to the final step.
  7. Reflect and Learn (The ‘Act’ part of PDCA): If you missed the target, you don’t just try harder. You analyse what happened. Was the training ineffective? Was the new tooling wrong? You adjust your approach based on what you’ve learned. This is how you embed continuous improvement. If you hit your target, you standardise the new, better process and look for the next improvement. This cycle of review and adjustment happens monthly, sometimes even weekly.

Why This is the Key to Real Growth

I’ve worked with manufacturers who had brilliant engineers and dedicated teams, but they were spinning their wheels. Different departments were pulling in different directions, often with good intentions. The sales team would promise a quick turnaround to win a big order, not realising the strain it would put on a production team already struggling with an outdated machine. Hoshin Kanri fixes this.

It creates organisational focus. Suddenly, everyone is rowing in the same direction. When a new project or request comes up, you can hold it up against the Hoshin plan and ask, “Does this help us achieve our annual objectives?” If the answer is no, it’s easier to say no, or to at least question its priority. It stops the organisation from getting distracted by “flavour of the month” initiatives.

The engagement it fosters is transformative. I saw this at a mid-sized engineering firm in the Midlands. They were struggling with morale and high staff turnover on the factory floor. After we implemented the Hoshin Kanri concept, and specifically the Catchball process, team leaders started contributing ideas that management had never even considered. They felt heard. They felt valued. Within a year, their productivity metrics had improved by over 15 percent, but more importantly, their staff retention shot up. People weren’t just coming to work for a pay cheque; they were coming to work to help the company win.

This leads to measurable, sustainable improvements. Because everything is tied to data and regular reviews, you move beyond guesswork. You know what’s working and what isn’t. One of the classic examples is the Danaher Corporation, a global science and technology conglomerate famous for its operational excellence. They built their entire legendary business system around the principles of Hoshin Kanri. It allowed them to acquire companies and rapidly deploy their improvement methodology, driving incredible growth and shareholder value year after year. They live and breathe by the data, and it all starts with their strategic deployment process.

The Tools That Make It Work

This all sounds great, but how do you manage it all without drowning in spreadsheets? There are a few key tools that help.

The most famous is the Hoshin Kanri X-Matrix. It looks a bit complicated at first, but it’s a brilliantly simple one-page document. It visually connects your long-term breakthrough objectives, your annual objectives, the specific improvement priorities for the year, and the key metrics you’ll use to measure success. It even shows who is responsible for what. It’s a powerful tool for showing the entire plan on a single sheet of paper, making the connections obvious to everyone.

The other core tool is the PDCA Cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act). This isn’t just a Hoshin tool; it’s the foundation of all modern continuous improvement. But within Hoshin, it provides the engine for the review process. Each improvement initiative, from the departmental level down to a small team project, is managed through this cycle. It ensures that you aren’t just “doing stuff,” but are doing it with a clear hypothesis (Plan), testing it (Do), measuring the results (Check), and then learning and adapting (Act).

Overcoming the hurdles is crucial. The biggest challenge is always leadership commitment. If senior leaders aren’t driving the review process and living by the plan, it will fail. It can’t be delegated to the quality department. Another common issue is poor communication during the Catchball process. It needs to be a genuine dialogue, not just a briefing. Finally, reviews can become inconsistent. If you start skipping the monthly reviews because you’re “too busy,” the whole system falls apart. The discipline of the review process is non-negotiable.

The key to overcoming these is to start small. Maybe pilot the process in one department. Get some quick wins, show people how it works, and build momentum from there. And be patient. This is a cultural shift, not an overnight fix. It takes time to build the habits of data driven review and open dialogue.

Your Compass for the Future

Implementing a system like Hoshin Kanri is a serious commitment. It requires discipline, honesty, and a willingness to change how you think about strategy itself. But the transformation is profound. It’s the difference between having a strategy that sits on a shelf and having a strategy that lives and breathes in the daily actions of your entire workforce.

It aligns your people, focuses your resources on what truly matters, and builds a resilient culture of continuous improvement that becomes your ultimate competitive advantage. In a world of volatile supply chains, skills shortages, and intense global competition, having a reliable compass to guide your organisation isn’t just a nice to have. It’s essential for survival and growth.

If you’re ready to stop letting your strategy get lost in translation and start driving real, measurable performance, it might be time to look at Hoshin Kanri.

To see how we can help you implement a robust strategic planning process in your organisation, click here to see our Strategic Deployment Programme.

Manufacturing and The Internet of Things

Posted on by Adam Payne

The Internet of Things – IoT (Wikipedia) is the network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, which enables these objects to collect and exchange data.

The IoT has created a lot of conversations, some stating it’s all hype, some questioning it’s benefits more of something for the future and obviously the ones in support.

Now let’s not pretend here, the IoT is already here, we have smart houses, apps for lights, heating, music, etc. Recently, my neighbours installed a security system which allowed them to view, check, and switch their alarm on and off accessed from internet, this also alerted him to security issues around the property (the most important aspect). So we can’t say it’s not here already.

Now put this into the manufacturing environment.

Some renowned manufacturers have already started investing in hardware, software, and networking systems. Build the IoT infrastructure now to capitalise on its benefits.

I read in an article recently that GE anticipates $19 trillion in profits and cost savings projected over the next decade.

One major area I can see the benefit is Energy Efficiency. To be able to track all facilities, machines energy consumption on a granular level, this visibility will give feedback on a machines abnormal to normal status, something that we can action, countermeasure, control. It will highlight our waste, our areas for improvement, and better understanding of our costs and how to control them. And as stated this has to be a major benefit for manufacturing, something I certainly wanted as an Exec.

The ability to benchmark similar machines/resources, predict maintenance issues with surges in unusual energy consumption, highlighting the out of hours energy waste and being able to control and manage this. All of these will have a direct impact on the bottom line and this is just scratching the service.

The connectivity within production processes is another example, let’s say a machine is not running at optimal performance, this machine would send an alarm highlighting it’s situation to the production team, it could then slow itself down (as not to self-destruct) communicate with its upstream and downstream processes and slow them down limiting the amount of lost production and or downtime and controlling the standard in process stock.

Bosch’s Stefan Ferber stated “The Internet of Things allows for a new way of organising industry production: by connecting machines, warehousing systems and goods, we can create smart production systems that basically control each other without requiring any manual intervention.”

I will always remember the saying “ the Data will set you free” by allowing you to make “Informed Decisions”, can’t get much better than real time data, and that’s the possibility with IoT.

The Internet of Things global economic impact is massive. Approx. 25% of Global Manufacturers are already using IoT technology, this is expected to grow to 80% by 2025. In reading different articles/surveys most cannot put a definitive figure on the potential impact but the range is between $1.9 to $14.4 trillion dollars on the global economy.

Digital Manufacturing Stats from ASQ:

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) surveyed manufacturing companies that have digitised their processes and found astounding results:

  • 82% increased efficiency
  • 49% experienced fewer product defects
  • 45% increased customer satisfaction

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Manage Time as a Resource

Posted on by Adam Payne

If your managing time in all sectors of the business, from Sales, Product Development and Production it will result in shorter planning and development cycles, as well as less process time in manufacturing.

Whether you’re a manufacturer making computer components, tin cans, widgets or an individual working in a purchasing department producing orders, reports, or budgets you are still producing an output, an output that someone wants.

We all have our processes (inputs) and transform them into something someone wants (outputs).

Time is the key element to control within our processes, for this we use standard work.

The establishment of time based standardised processes is the greatest key to creating consistent performance. Only when the process is stable you can begin the creative process of improvement.

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