Over the last several years, many of our Small-to-Medium size prospects and clients have been trying to achieve greater profit maximization by fine tuning their full scale production facility. Each has endeavored to reap wider profit margins by executing lean events and performing six sigma analyses. Yet, many have failed to reach their ultimate goal. When examining why these organizations have ultimately not yet achieved their goal, we have found one common theme. Each began their operation as a small 'job shop' servicing either one very large customer or many small customers. Moreover, each has systems, people, and processes in place that worked well when the facility was a 'job shop.' The implication of applying this template onto a ‘large scale’ repetitive production facility is an increase in employee friction and inefficiency.Because an organization’s departments are intertwined, companies foolhardily attempt to ‘lean’ a function or department such as purchasing or inventory only to find that the rest of the operation will not cope or align themselves with the change. The outcome is an erosion of profit maximization.
By Sal Mistry and Francisco Aguilera Iborra, President, TMG-IMC, North America