Daily management is a structured approach to running an operation. In a nutshell, daily management is the constant application of the PDCA cycle to a production process. Daily management consists of: Planning: Daily management requires an understanding of what demand will be, and of the capabilities of the organization. It Read more…
Days sales outstanding is a measure of how effective an organization is at getting paid. DSO indicates how many days of sales are still left uncollected. Obviously, an excessively high number means a lot of cash is tied up in the cost of producing and shipping products. On the surface, Read more…
Days sales of inventory (DSI) is an accounting measure that gives an idea of how much inventory is on hand in a company. A large number means the company is generally inefficient at turning raw materials into profit. The formula for DSI is: The average inventory is calculated as follows: Read more…
When using drawers to store equipment, one expression stands out: Out of sight, out of mind. Things in a drawer tend to get piled up, misplaced, and forgotten about. Drawers take time to open and close, and slow down processes. They hide things. Bottom line: Drawers are fine for storage, Read more…
A Design of Experiment (DOE) is the process of determine the interaction of KPIVs (Key Process Input Variables) on the output of a process. It attempts to quantify the relationship of the variables in order to optimize the settings for that process. A key point of the design of experiment Read more…
Businesses have an incredible amount of information flowing into them. It is often impractical for people to process the data and make quick assessments and corrections to the business without some sort of simplification tool. One such tool is the dashboard. It is simple view of the key metrics of Read more…
The Decision Matrix Template is used to simplify the decision-making process and prevent emotional, gut decisions. In short, a decision matrix template helps users grade a set of options against a set of criteria. This template, like most decision matrix templates, includes a weighting system. It puts additional value on Read more…
When companies operate in silos, different groups do what is best within the confines of their own world. Design engineers may create products that are appealing to the customer, look amazing, and may even be built like a tank with bulletproof quality. But this otherwise outstanding design may be extremely Read more…
The Daily Management Worksheet is a tool to help you update your production board. It has tabs for planning your demand and staffing. This information is automatically added to the production board worksheet to help you manage your day. The production board is the cornerstone of daily management. It is Read more…
The Deming Cycle, also known as the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle is a standardized problem solving approach. It is widely taught as part of most companies’ Lean training. PDCA is built into nearly all structured problem-solving tools, such as kaizen projects, A3 reports, policy deployment, and countermeasures. The Deming Cycle is Read more…
The DMAIC cycle takes the DMAIC process one step further. It links the end of one project, the Control step, to the beginning of the next one (the Define step). The rationale behind linking DMAIC cycles together makes a lot of sense. When controls are applied to processes, deviations become Read more…
The define step of DMAIC is where the problem statement is created, the project is scoped, and the team is formed. The define step lays the foundation for the success of the project. A central part of the define step is to build a business case. That simply means gaining Read more…