I DON'T KNOW What's Wrong! Are you faced with a confusing number of reasons why your business is experiencing a particular problem/s? It can be a challenge to drill down and identify the 'real' problem and see solutions. With YOUR problem in mind, select the link below that best fits your problem. Note: Campaign,...
READY TO PLAY A GAME? SIMULATE YOUR PROFIT GAINS. Throughout 12Faces we talk about several different Workflow and Inventory Models. The Simulation Dice Game will quickly give you an impression of HOW these models work in practice. Think that YOUR business doesn't have a Production Line? That this doesn't apply to YOUR business? Restaurant...
Throughout the 12Faces, we talk about several different workflow and inventory models and their respective merits. You can quickly gain an impression of how these models work in practice by playing a simulation game with a set of dice. This will demonstrate the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various models...
A good Inventory Management System can dramatically improve the profitability of the business by streamlining production. This applies to not only a manufacturing business but any business that has a workflow process.
Eight Types of Waste The well-known Toyota car company identified seven types of waste that had an impact on Productivity and Profit. An eighth has been added more recently. By gradually reducing these wastes, you can improve the Productivity and Profit of your business. In Japanese, this is referred to as reducing "muda" (pronounced Moo-da). This article discusses how...
There are merits to reducing the size of the batches you manufacture and/or hold in stock at any point in time. This might sound counter-intuitive because of the oft-quoted 'economies of scale' and the time cost of pulling down tool set-ups and changing them to manufacture another project. But, in...
Kanbans are a tool for structuring how work flows into the work-in-progress queues so that workers do not get overloaded and can use their time most effectively. Kanbans, and variations on them, are widely used in software projects (e.g. Scrum and Agile) and manufacturing (e.g. Lean and Six Sigma). Blue...
In a manufacturing or retail environment, having too much inventory of products your customers don't want and/or too little inventory on hand of what products your customers do want will cost you money and, consequently, profit. Many service businesses also have inventory even if it is items like stationary incidental...