09/07/2011 by Andrew Nicholson.

In previous posts we’ve looked at the “technical” side of increasing output - the tools and techniques. Now let’s look at the “people” side of things - how to get more from employees.

Most of us want to know what’s expected of us, we like to have something to aim for and we like to feel we’re making progress towards a worthy goal.

Usually, it’s not difficult to provide all of those things in the workplace. But too many of us don’t. Here’s how:

1. Agree on two or three important objectives that are relevant to the work team - probably based around quality, productivity and service.
2. Find some simple ways to measure them.
3. Agree on regular targets - monthly, weekly, per shift, per hour.
4. Make sure they’re visible to everyone in the work area.
5. Display actual performance regularly and visually (electronic display or hand-written whiteboard).
6. Recognise good results immediately.
7. Train, help and encourage the team to solve any performance problems.
8. Find ways to recognise and reward those who contribute the most. Be creative!
9. Actively manage the performance of those who don’t contribute.
10. Lock in the improvements
11. Celebrate success
12. Keep at it!

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03/05/2011 by Andrew Nicholson.

Recent surveys of manufacturers confirm what we’re seeing at the moment - many are struggling to meet increasing orders. We’re being called in by more and more clients who simply can’t keep up! Sounds like a great problem to have you might say, but if you don’t take the right actions immediately to increase your manufacturing output you can find that you quickly run out of your customers, your cash and your sanity!

Time for some home truths.

Many manufacturers throw money and resources at the problem and end up killing their profits and running out of cash. We run a great factory simulation exercise - Factory of the Future - that illustrates this perfectly. Everyone’s working flat out but costs go up, quality goes down and delivery performance goes out of the window. Sounds crazy but those of you who’ve taken part will smile as you remember seeing it with your own eyes.

So how do you get it right?

Well, let’s not get into the finer points of Theory of Constraints at this point - let’s just keep it simple.

First of all we need to look at what’s holding us back. We need to identify our true bottlenecks. We all know that a bottleneck is that part of the process where the capacity / throughput is lower than anywhere else. But we often jump to conclusions about where the bottlenecks are, usually because we see lots of work building up behind them.

I’ve seen six-figure sums spent on increasing the capacity of “bottlenecks” that aren’t really bottlenecks at all so if you want to save your money - and perhaps your job - please read on…

I can’t emphasise this next point enough - WE MUST MEASURE THE TRUE THROUGHPUT at the activity / operation. Many times we find that we do in fact have sufficient capacity and that the problem is not one of capacity. 

The next step is to look at how much time is available at the activity / operation and how much of this time is given to useful productive work. Then we can look in detail at the non-productive time, find the root causes and tackle them. Often we find that these revolve around poor planning of labour or poor production scheduling.

In a future post we’ll look in more detail at next steps. In the meantime if you’d like to read up on bottleneck management you might enjoy the classic book “The Goal” by Goldratt, written in the form of a story rather than a textbook. If you’re a UK manufacturer and would like our help have a look at our website page on how to  increase factory output.

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23/03/2011 by Andrew Nicholson.

Real help for hard-pressed manufacturers in Yorkshire and the Humber!   If you need to get real results quickly, immediately and at low cost – and who doesn’t these days - I’ve got some great news for you. 

From 1^st April 2011 we can offer MAS Support for short, sharp high-impact projects. This is probably the best value proposition you’re likely to see for a long while.  

Imagine what you could achieve with 3-10 days of on-site expertise completely focused on improving your business.  Imagine if you only had to pay 50% of the cost. 

You know how difficult it is to find time to tackle all of those projects on your list. Why? Because – as one of our clients put it “you have to do it on top of the day to day s***”.  I know – I’ve been there!  

These days though I can spend all of my day in your business doing nothing else but focusing on those projects. Take 10 minutes now to think about what you could get done, then give me a call. 

But don’t wait too long – MAS funds are limited and will be prioritised.  The first round of projects has already started!Don’t miss out on the best offer you’ll get this year – call me now on 07768 376 580 or email an@nicholsonconsultancy.com.

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15/03/2011 by Andrew Nicholson.

Expert on-site assessment offered to owner-managed manufacturing companies in Northern England. To book your Free Factory Audit now visit FreeFactoryAudit.com - it does what it says!

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02/02/2011 by Andrew Nicholson.

The UK Government is asking “Manufacturing Stakeholders” to help shape the future of the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) -

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10/12/2010 by Andrew Nicholson.

Do you know it’s “Plain English Day” today?  The Plain English Campaign is a group who fight against the use of jargon and gobbledygook in public information from private and public service organisations.

We try very hard to be jargon-free, but how should you define jargon?  Surely one man’s jargon is another’s everyday language, particularly when related to the industry you work in?  In the business improvements sector there are lots of opportunities to use specialist vocabulary.  Words like:

5S      CANDO      Kaizen      Kanban      Muda      SMED      and lots more besides.

They are common enough terms in our day-to-day operations, so are they considered “jargon”?  (If you’re really keen to know what they are, you can consult the Lean Glossary of Terms!)

We consider jargon to be meaningless phrases - phrases that use lots of words where one or two will do; language that confuses the message, rather than clarifies it.  So what meaningless phrases would you get rid of?  What makes you cringe when you hear it?

Here’s a selection of our most annoying jargon:

“at the end of the day”
“at this particular moment in time”
“telling it like it is”
“thinking outside the box”
“it’s not rocket science”
“I personally think …”
“I always give 110%”

… but I bet I’m guilty of using some of them!

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05/12/2010 by Andrew Nicholson.

Congratulations again to James H Heal!  Shortly after their successful Excellence in Business Award 2010 from the Yorkshire Post, they’ve won the “Manufacturer of the Year” award organised by the Halifax Evening Courier.  This award honours Calderdale’s strength and expertise as a centre of manufacturing excellence and the winner had to demonstrate the following:

• A modern and efficient approach to manufacturing and marketing
• A commitment to excellence in its products and service
• A highly successful trading performance, preferably based on new and improved products as well as established lines
• A strategy to reach new markets and improve reach within existing ones
• Where applicable, a commitment to research and development

 Congratulations to everyone as you continue on your Lean Journey! http://textile-testing.blogspot.com/

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10/11/2010 by Andrew Nicholson.

Congratulations to everyone at Analox for reaching the finals of the Orange Business of the Year Awards - well done!

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15/10/2010 by Andrew Nicholson.

Congratulations to our client James H. Heal & Co. for winning the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards - SME Manufacturer of the Year, sponsored by the Manufacturing Advisory Service. Well done to all of the team!

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/custompages/CustomPage.aspx?pageID=78916

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30/09/2010 by Andrew Nicholson.

Saw a really good example of this at one of our clients earlier this week. Their Marketing Manager and Designer went out to vist a representative sample of their customers and end-users. They saw exactly how their products were used, met with the various people involved in specifiying, buying and using the product and asked loads of questions. They found out all sorts of useful information and loads of things that they can do to improve the product, better their competitors and do more business. As per the Kano model (see the earlier blog post) there were one or two “dissatisfiers” - little things that really anoyed the end-users. There were some simple changes that will improve the product and make the customer happier. We even brainstormed some ideas of how we could delight the customer. Over the next year this will undoubtedly lead to happier customers and more sales. It’s all about using the Lean approach to add more value for your customers and it’s a great win-win.

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