CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT INTRODUCTION
You will find that there are different names used for improvement programs in industry today i.e. Operational Excellence, World Class Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, Lean Thinking etc.
Regardless of the title given for an improvement program to be truly effective it must be sustainable rather than just a “burst of brilliance”.
To become and remain competitive in today’s marketplace it is essential to embark on a Continuous Improvement program that focuses on eliminating all forms of waste.
We at Contours recommend implementation of Lean Thinking tools and techniques. Why?
Lean Thinking is a Continuous Improvement Process. It firstly identifies what customers value and then uses best practices to establish how to make value flow at the rate necessary to satisfy demand.
Specifically, Lean will:
- Improve the flow of material / services
- Improve the flow of information
- Increase the amount of time spent value adding
- Result in improved staff involvement and customer satisfaction
- Enable your business processes to be flexible and efficient.
Key elements of our program include:
- Leading and Managing Change
- Teamwork
- 5S
- Visual Performance Measurement
- Focused Improvement
- Quality
- Autonomous Maintenance
- Effective Maintenance
- Set Up Time Reduction
- Process Flow
- Standard Work and Error Proofing
- Safety, Health and Environment
In summary – a good definition of Lean incorporates the following:
- It is the ultimate end customer who specifies the value in an organisation
- Identify the value streams that are necessary to design, order and produce the product or service, including all paperwork and information.
- Make value flow without interruption, deviation, backflows, waiting or scrap.
- Make value flow at the pull rate of the market.
- Continually strive for perfection by relentlessly removing waste.
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