Lean manufacturing principles help people break through their mindset by helping people challenge what they perceive is an absolute. Beside equipment upgrades, how long has your group been doing what they are doing without any changes or refinements to the methods in other areas besides the...

If you are like me, you spend the later part of the year setting goals for the coming year and planning how to accomplish them. For those who work for me, I always set goals, metrics, and participate in a conference on how we are going to achieve what we want together. Over the last few months,...

It has taken many years, but the component industry has finally caught onto the practices of lean manufacturing and applied them to truss and wall manufacturing. An example is the huge turnout at the sponsored seminars by Todd Drummond Consulting at the 2016 BCMC show of “The Path of Least...

Many of today’s Component Manufacturers are considering some measure of Lean implementations.  Most are based on a series of what are essentially isolated Kaizen-based waste reductions projects.  In selecting areas in their operations, a CM will look at the perceived...

It is an all too common problem for too many managers and sales staff; hours are spent wasting so much time trying to find up-to-date information for any given project being processed by the company. Ask yourself one simple question. How much time each day do you spend looking for information...

At its core, Lean means no waste. The original Lean (Six Sigma) concept defines 7 wastes (Muda) that exist in business. All process waste is categorized into one or more of these categories. The rules for these wastes apply in both manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries. Defining and...

An often repeated statement made by many managers this year has been that they do not have enough time or people to accomplish their stated goals, so in other words, they face time constraints. These time constraints are causing delayed improvements in processes, which negatively affect every...

Smart Manufacturing You have probably read articles, heard this term used by an equipment manufacturer, and even heard it at a Chamber of Commerce meeting or other local group. Smart Manufacturing covers a broad category of manufacturing with the goal of optimizing the process from concept,...

Two very distinct aspects of the bidding calculation could be costing your company tens of thousands of dollars. If you were shown a better bidding method, would you allow your pride to prevent you from testing it and, if it works, taking the time to embrace it to improve your company’s...

A lot of people have been talking about production tracking lately, so now is a good time to talk more in depth about some of the issues involved. With increased demand for the handling of metrics, levels of complexity and ever-changing conditions, manufacturers have been moving toward more...