Summary.   Toyota has fared better than many of its competitors in riding out the supply chain disruptions of recent years. But focusing on how Toyota had stockpiled semiconductors and the problems of other manufacturers, some observers jumped to the conclusion that the era of the vaunted Toyota Production System was over. Not the case, say Toyota...

This post What Really Makes Toyota’s Production System Resilient appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

This article courtesy of theleanmag, a content partner of the Operational Excellence Society. Ah, so before you get started your first question is “when will we be done?” Seriously, that’s how you think? If it is then my advice is don’t even start. You obviously don’t understand what the term “lean” means so all you...

This post How Much Time Does It Take To Complete a Lean Transformation? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Back in the middle of 2017, as Tesla was ramping up the production of the Model-3 and the company was worth only $63.5 billion (as opposed to $1 trillion today), Elon Musk famously stated that he was entering “Production Hell“.  Evidently, he made it through just fine. But people reading this might think; “Isn’t Musk...

This post Welcome to Production Hell appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Packaging is everywhere.  Almost everything that we buy comes packaged in some form.  New cars are packaged in protective films for transport.  The jeans on the store shelf came in a corrugated paperboard box.  Even the fresh fruit at the farmer’s market arrived in a box, and you took it home in a bag. The...

This post Unpacking Packaging Costs appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Yes, I’m broaching a hot topic. This article is deliberately not exhaustive, leaving plenty of room for further discussion. My intent: to encourage constructive, informative conversation among my many LinkedIn supply-chain experts. I have done my best to ensure that I have supported all my assertions with facts, analysis and calculations. Here is my theme: Forecast-to-actual demand variation has no...

This post Should Safety Stock Include Demand Forecast Error? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

This is a big and touchy topic, I know. I intend only to begin a dialog, not present an exhaustive treatise. First, let me define what I mean by “safety stock,” or SS: Not the restrictive, MRP-specific adder to gross requirements, but the general concept of buffer inventory. SS, determined correctly and optimally, protects against random variations...

This post Safety-Stock Calculations Are Risky – Demand, Lead Time and Service Level appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

At a high level, a supply chain’s structure defines critical factors affecting optimal target inventory levels – factors such as replenishment lead time and variation, customer demand and variation, and replenishment frequency. Supply-chain structure is fundamental to optimal overall financial performance. Still, to achieve target service levels reliably with minimal inventory and expediting, we must...

This post 5 Keys to Establishing and Maintaining Optimal Target Inventory Levels appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

When I was a child, I remember the prices on products at the store were merely stickers with a currency value on them.  Sometimes, there were several stickers – one on top of the other – and you could see if the price had changed upwards or downwards. And when I was 19 (in 1982 for...

This post RFID; Ubiquitous in America – and Coming Soon to the EU appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Recently, whilst working with the Global Planning Team of a major oil company, we were asked, “What is the cost of complexity and what is the effective range on this cost?”  At one level, the answer is easy; “It is the cost associated with having more than one customer and product.  The more complex the supply chain,...

This post The Cost of Complexity appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

One of the primary objectives of Lean is to achieve smooth continuous flow of material through the process.  If there are bottlenecks within your process, they can inhibit flow, cause inventories, and prevent throughput from matching customer demand (Takt). In order to make progress towards Lean goals, bottleneck resources must be identified, managed and improved. From a...

This post Finding & Managing Bottlenecks in Process Plants appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.