TPM

Total Productive Maintenance or TPM is a program that aims to combine the increase of production and the improvement of employee morale. TPM is predominately a program for those who are incorporating newly developed concepts into the plant. The key to TPM is the maintenance portion. Although maintenance has long been regarded as a non-profit activity within the business, more and more business professionals are realizing just how vital maintenance process are to the survival of a profitable business. Scheduled maintenance can be planned and accounted for in the transactions of the day. Emergency maintenance on the other hand is neither predictable in when it occurs nor how long the plant is hindered because of it. A little maintenance planning goes a long way to reduce the amount of unscheduled maintenance and costly downtime.

Optimizing materials and time

Whether you are running a manufacturing company, a grocery store or a peanut stand, you have one goal in mind and that is to make money. The better you can use your time and the more you can get out of the materials you have the more you will have left in your wallet at the end of the day. Optimizing materials and time is the goal of a manufacturing process called, lean manufacturing.

Lean manufacturing is a type of manufacturing system that aims to eliminate waste in all of its forms. Waste is defined as activities that add no value to the overall production of a good or service. The less you waste, the more you can save and ultimately the more profitable your company is going to be. But, you are not only one who wins in this arrangement. The customer benefits from the lean manufacturing system by benefiting from the cost savings that the manufacturer can pass on to the consumer and also by receiving a product that is free from defect or fault, as is the objective of a waste free system.

TPS, how to help your managers begin to use it

TPS refers to the Toyota Production System, which is a sytem designed by Toyota in order to streamline its manufacturing process. It works to organize elements of manufacturing and logistics as well as the relationship between customers and those who supply the vehicles. It is thus a total industry method that tries ot pull together all the different aspects of a manufacturing business to help it run more efficiently. A more recent version of the TPS method that has been very popular is known as the lean manufacturing method. One of the most popular elements of the method is the way it works to eliminate waste in the total manufacturing process. TPS identifies areas of waste that do not contribute to the total value of the finished product that the customer pays for. For example, if machines are left on all night, or if extra packaging is added to a product it costs the customer something they don't need to pay for. It also can increase the total cost to the company of producing a good. In TPS these sorts of areas of waste would be eliminated. TPS also works to make the production process smoother, with fewer interuptions. A company that might have several stages in their production process could collapse them into far fewer stations. This might save a great deal in terms of energy and total cost. It could also speed up the process and ensure fewer manufacturing errors.

Streamline to improve profits

If you are a business owner you are probably looking for ways to improve the efficiency of your business. In many cases businesses are running on old production methods that might have worked well twenty or thirty years ago. If the business has been profitable as it is, most managers just keep doing things in the same way. They would love to increase profits but lack the knowledge, energy, or time necessary for making real changes. Making a business more efficient often seems like a daunting task when you are faced with the normal problems of running a business. Efficiency might also seem like it would be too expensive; don't efficient changes cost thousands or millions of dollars? In many cases people think that making a business more efficient involves investing in brand new machines or hiring a new workforce. Although these things might increase efficiency, there are some other things you can do to make your business much more efficient. Streamlining is a technique used to eliminate waste in a business and to decrease costs.

Tracking process flow to improve production speed

If you work in any part of a manufacturing plant then you have probably thought about production speed at least once or twice, if you are higher up in management then production speed has probably crossed your mind quite frequently. The reason that people in manufacturing businesses think about production speed is that production speed is tied directly to the company's profit. What this means is that if you can improve your company's production speed or increase the production speed then you are going to have a higher rate of production which will mean you will end up with a higher profit. And everybody knows that the higher the profits the better benefits for everyone, including the company. But what you might be wondering is how you can improve your production speed. One of the best ways to improve your production speed is through tracking your process flow.

But before you can begin to understand how tracking your process flow can improve your production speed you are first going to need to understand what process flow is, so let's take a moment to discuss process flow. In manufacturing process flow is the steps of a procedure that are used in making, delivering, or accomplishing a product or service. And process flow is also how the steps impact the layout of your company and your decisions about technology, not to mention how your company works together. When it comes to building a strong company that is going to have a competitive edge you need to realize that process flow is going to be a very strong aspect. Something else that you need to know about process flow is that when applying the concept of process flow a given procedure can be classified as either a job shop or a flow shop. Basically a flow shop is not a flexible procedure and uses specialized resources, while a job shop is very flexible and uses general resources.

Tracking process flow to improve production speed

If you work in any part of a manufacturing plant then you have probably thought about production speed at least once or twice, if you are higher up in management then production speed has probably crossed your mind quite frequently. The reason that people in manufacturing businesses think about production speed is that production speed is tied directly to the company's profit. What this means is that if you can improve your company's production speed or increase the production speed then you are going to have a higher rate of production which will mean you will end up with a higher profit. And everybody knows that the higher the profits the better benefits for everyone, including the company. But what you might be wondering is how you can improve your production speed. One of the best ways to improve your production speed is through tracking your process flow.

But before you can begin to understand how tracking your process flow can improve your production speed you are first going to need to understand what process flow is, so let's take a moment to discuss process flow. In manufacturing process flow is the steps of a procedure that are used in making, delivering, or accomplishing a product or service. And process flow is also how the steps impact the layout of your company and your decisions about technology, not to mention how your company works together. When it comes to building a strong company that is going to have a competitive edge you need to realize that process flow is going to be a very strong aspect. Something else that you need to know about process flow is that when applying the concept of process flow a given procedure can be classified as either a job shop or a flow shop. Basically a flow shop is not a flexible procedure and uses specialized resources, while a job shop is very flexible and uses general resources.

What is production leveling?

Production leveling, which is also referred to as production smoothing or heijunka (Japanese term), is the technique that was discovered by the Toyota Production System that is used to reduce the amount of waste in the production system so that your company can improve their production efficiency. More often than not, you see production leveling being used in lean manufacturing. The basic idea of production leveling is to produce goods at a constant rate so that you can allow further processing to be carried out at a constant and predictable rate.

Ideally, production can easily be leveled where demand is constant, but what happens in the real world is that the actual customer demand fluctuates. To deal with the customer fluctuations two approaches have been adopted in lean manufacturing, which are demand leveling and production leveling. These approaches have been adopted to help prevent the fluctuations in production, which is done by trying to keep fluctuation in the final assembly line to zero. How production leveling works in manufacturing is that you are never doing the same product repeatedly, as you would do with mass production. Instead, you use small batches of products. For example, Toyota never assembles the same model of car in a batch. How Toyota works is production is leveled by making first one model, then another, etc until the batch is completed. With production leveling, it can refer to leveling by volume or leveling by product mix or type.

Visual control a key component of production improvement

ompanies that implement lean manufacturing often use visual control in the form of heijunka boxes or the kanban method. Visual control is simply a visual way to help employees understand where things go, where to find things, and what to do with wastes. Visual control will make the processes easier because employees can focus on a specific color to identify a problem. Visual control quickly conveys a message to employees without having to hold a meeting.

Lean implementation focus on reducing wastes and improving production. Using visual controls as part of your lean manufacturing process will help your company maintain a certain level of consistency. Using visual controls, your employees can compare the products that have come off the assembly line to another one that is correct. This will help you make sure that all the products being shipped to your customers are the same.

Tracking process flow to improve production speed

If you own or manage a manufacturing company, you have probably thought about your company's production speed at one point or another. Usually the higher up in management you are the more often you will think about production speed. The main reason that people who work in manufacturing think about production speed is that the company's production speed is directly tied to a company's profits. If you can improve your company's production speed you will end up with a higher rate of production, which means you will end up with a higher profit. Everybody in the business world knows that the higher the profits the better it is for everybody involved, especially the company. Even if you do think about production speeds that do not mean that, you know what you can do to improve your production speeds. One of the best things that you can improve your production speed is through tracking your process flow.

In order to begin tracking your process flow the first thing that you will need to do is fully understand what a process flow is. In manufacturing, the process flow is the stapes of a procedure that are used in making, delivering, or accomplishing a product or service. The process flow also includes the steps that influence the layout of your company and your decisions about technology, not to mention how your company works together. In order to build a strong company that has a competitive edge you need to realize that your process flow is a very strong aspect of how your company performs. You also need to realize that when applying the concept of process flow to a given procedure it can be classified as a job shop or flow shop. A job shop is very flexible and uses general resources, where a flow shop is not a very flexible procedure and only uses specialized resources.

Rapid TQM

Total Quality Management, or TQM, is the method where employees can become involved in the continuous improvement of the production of goods and/or services. The TQM process involves eight key elements that need to be maintained in order for the process to work for the company. The biggest drawback to TQM is that in order for it to be effective it is going to take time to maintain it and for it to achieve its full potential. This is where rapid TQM comes into play. Rapid TQM takes TQM and tweaks it so that it is 20 to 30 times faster than the original TQM.

With rapid TQM, your organization will be able to implement changes in weeks, and you will be able to realize the full potential of TQM in months. However, in order to achieve rapid TQM your company is going to have to become more efficient in problem solving. The reason for this is that rapid TQM asks that you solve the right problem and not use the data that you have collected to solve what might be the wrong problem. The best way to find out what problems need to be solved is through conversations with your employees or through rapid data collection.

Keeping accidents at a minimum and production at a maximum

Safety should always come first. There are simple steps employers can take in order to ensure that the workplace is safe for employees. The first thing that you can do to help minimize accidents at work is to do routine checks or the workplace environment and access any dangers that may exist. You should lookout for possible dangers. Some of the items you should consciously be on the lookout for are frayed cables or cords, slip and fall hazards, equipment not working properly, and areas where employees might not be able to be seen or call for help.

In addition to your routine walk through, you should also perform job hazard analysis for each of your employees. This analysis would look at hazards the individual may face, the employees attitude towards safety, whether proper protective gear is being provided and worn by the employee, and finally if the employee has the proper skills and abilities to work in a safe manner at their current station. Try implementing behavior-based safety in your plant to determine if your employees are in danger of accidents because of the way they are working. The information gathered in your analysis and implementation can help to preempt any dangers, indicate areas of improvement and provide insight into possible changes in personnel.

How to improve output

Outputs and profits have a direct relationship. The more a company is capable of outputting within a short period of time, the more successful that company is. More output equals more profits. Here are some basic tips and tricks in helping to assure that your manufacturing company can increase its output and increase its profitability.

Tip #1: Make sure you have a system in place to help you identify inefficiencies and problems. The better your system is at identifying problems, the quicker you are able to correct them. Continuously solving these inefficiencies and problems helps to improve the process and increase outputs. Your system could involve technology or be human driven.

Increasing multi-tasking = increased lean production

Very simply put, lean production is production that takes place with as little waste as possible. Waste can be in the form of materials, resources, time, effort, etc. As you know, multi-tasking is a management technique where several things can be done at once for the sake of increased efficiency. When multi-tasking is used, naturally there are improvements and increases in the leanness of the production process.

Some individuals are naturally gifted with the ability to multi-task, while others struggle to do two things at the same time. Luckily, you do not have to have your employees struggling with the same kind of juggling act. Multi-tasking involves more strategies than doing two things at once. Below are a few examples of how you can increase your multi-tasking and increase lean production in an orderly, sensible, and efficient manner.

How to handle globalization as a manufacturer

Introduction

Globalization has been defined as the integration of economic, political, and cultural systems across the globe. As the manner in which businesses are conducted has changed dramatically in recent years, it has become increasingly more important to adapt strategies to remain competitive. Globalization is to be approached with an offensive tactic. This means that globalization should not be looked on as a challenge or a threat to your operations but rather as an opportunity to advance on a global scale.

Using acoustic insulation to improve your plant

You can use acoustic insulation to improve your plant. Noise is a huge problem in nearly every manufacturing plant. It can cause a variety of issues ranging from lower production to employee injuries. If you can reduce the noise as much as possible you will be able to improve your plant in a variety of ways.

In addition to the noise being created from the plant you have noise coming from the outside. Roads, railways, airplanes, and other machines outside the plant create a lot of noise. Acoustic insulation inside the plant can deter these noises from interrupting operations.

One reason to install acoustic insulation is to separate the offices from the production floor. Often the offices have a much different work environment than the production areas. This separation from the noise is necessary to hold meetings and conduct day to day business. The acoustic insulation will give you a chance to `hear yourself think'.

How anti fatigue floor matting improves productivity

Anti fatigue floor matting improves productivity in the work place and improves morale. Slips and falls are the second most common cause of injuries at work. Employees who stand on hard work surfaces such as concrete, tile, or linoleum for an entire shift often suffer from fatigue and discomfort. The fatigue will translate into lost productivity as the shift progresses.

Cushioned industrial floor matting is a low-cost preventive for foot and lower leg aches, pains, and muscular cramps. Additionally, the matting but has the added advantage of improving workplace safety by greatly reducing the potential for slips and falls. The anti fatigue floor provides an abrasion resistant cushioned surface that permits items like oil and other fluid to drain through.

How to improve productivity and efficiency in your manufacturing

This article will describe the basics of lean manufacturing and the possible implications for your company or business.

How to implement reforms that increase your manufacturing quality and speed

This article will discuss how you can delight your customers through the quality and speed of your manufacturing and other processes.

How to keep accidents low and product high

In any manufacturing plant you will want to keep your accidents low and keep your product high. This will help your manufacturing plant make money and keep your employees safe. In order to do this you will need to train your employees on accident prevention. Training your many employees on the correct way to work on the floor and avoid any accidents will also help you in keeping your product inventory high.

You will want to invest in a good training program for all of your employees. Accidents can happen anywhere in a company so all employees should be required to attend this meeting. Keep the accident training program in place for any and all of your new hires. Train other employees on how to teach the accident prevention class or classes.

Managing waste at your manufacturing plant

"Lean" manufacturing has long been a manufacturing technique that manufacturers strive to embody. No one wants waste in their business. Wasting resources means throwing money out of the window and subjecting your company poor press especially if your waste has any negative association with environmental protection. Managing waste at your manufacturing plant has only advantages when it can be done efficiently and as cost effectively as possible. Do not be fooled into thinking that all of your waste problems can be solved in a matter of weeks, months or even years. Many manufacturing plants spend their entire time operating striving to have less and less waste. Although it may seem like your company will never full be rid of all kinds of waste, there are small things that can be done on a daily basis to make small improvements consistently over time.

How to have fewer defective finished products

Introduction

No one likes defective products, especially the manufacturers of those defective products. Making a product that no one is willing to buy means wasting precious resources of time, effort, and money with absolutely no prospect of return. Defective products can quite literally take a business with great ideas and turn it into a business that has no hope of making money (or recovering lost costs) and must ultimately close its doors. A defective finished product is a detrimental error that can fortunately be eliminated.

Instructions

It takes time and resources to perfect your production line. So although occasional defects are to be expected, all must be done to prevent the same defect from happening twice. Recognizing and learning from points in the production process that consistently yield unsatisfactory results is a good place to start when working towards having fewer defective finished products.

How to cut down on your waste

Introduction

In the manufacturing business cutting down on waste is really an easy of cutting down on wasted money. When you can cut down on wasted money, you see higher profits and higher profits mean taking your business to the next level. Wasted material resources also become economic issues as more and more pressure is being but on manufacturers especially to clean up their operations.

Instructions

There are a variety of different ways that you can cut down on the waste that you have at your manufacturing plant. The process of cutting down waste is often referred to as Lean Manufacturing. Below you will find some points in the lean manufacturing process as well as some additional ideas that will help you to better control, reduce and eventually eliminate waste.

Understanding Production Flow: Extended Entry

Production flow is often call mass production, repetitive flow production, or series production. Production flow uses production lines to continually move large amount of items through the production process. Each product will have the same amount of time dedicated to it on the production line in order to keep the process moving smoothly. This also means that once one product has been produced, the next product must begin production immediately following the completed one.

Quite often production flow is used for car manufacturing where the doors, wheels, bonnets, and engines are all added to a chassis as it moves along an assembly line. Production flow is used for companies who want to produce a high volume of the same item. Henry Ford used production flow when he produced the Ford Model T car in the early 1900's.

In fact, Ford was a late developer of production flow. Production flow was first developed in Venice hundreds of years earlier. The Venice Arsenal used production lines to assemble nearly one ship a day. This made the Venice Arsenal the world's first factory. Production flow became increasingly popular when Johannes Gutenberg published the Bible on a printing press in the mid 1400's. Guns were mass produced during the American Civil War by the Springfield Armory. Also during this time, watches were mass produced as well. As you can see, production flow has been around for hundreds of years.

Production flow became increasingly popular in the American system of manufacturing because it was new, sophisticated machinery that relied on electricity, versus steam power. Production flow is one of the leading reasons for the boom in the American economy in the early 1900's.

Pull Production - Understanding Kanban: Extended Entry

A pull production system is based on customer demand. Basically it is a concept that each manufacturing component must be in line with another department in order to build a final part to the customer's expectations. Your business will become leaner because your production process is designed to only produce products that are deliverable. This leads to leaner business because you will not be housing excessive stock of finished or part-finished products.

A pull production system is often referred to as "kanban". Kanban methods use visual aids to show that you have completed a process or the process requires more work. kanban or pull production systems are not available for all businesses because of product types, lead times and stock holding arrangements. Pull systems have been shown to reduce your lead times and the costs associated with production.

How a Kanban Production Control System works.
Again, a kanban system uses visual aids to control the movement of materials between different work stations. The name kanban referred to a Japanese sign shop that used a visual image on a sign to communicate the type of products that were sold. The Toyota Production System implemented kanban into their transport container. It is a card that is attached to the transport and storage containers. The purpose of the kanban card is to identify part number and the container capacity. There is other information on the card as well that provides easy, visual, signals to the employees.

Production Leveling: Extended Entry

Production leveling is a technique used by the Toyota Production System to reduce waste (mura) and to develop production efficiency. Production leveling believes in using incentives to establish a constant demand rate for the products you produce. This allows for the processing in the future to be constant and predictable. Quite often production leveling will be referred to as "Heijunka" or production smoothing.

What is Heijunka?
Heijunka is another Japanese term that "refers to a system of production smoothing designed to achieve a more even and consistent flow of work." As you can see Heijunka is designed to level the production volume and to level the production by product type. In order to understand production leveling, we will look at the 2 aspects of Heijunka in more detail.

Starting with production leveling, Toyota's view is that production systems vary in the muri and mura and the capacity of a machine is forced in some time periods. Muri or overburden is considered to be all the unreasonable work that management assigns upon workers and machines due to poor organization. Some examples of muri are carrying heavy weights, dangerous tasks (behavior-based safety issues), and working at a significantly faster than normal pace. Muri defines this work as pushing a person or machine to a pace beyond their normal limits. Muri is associated with the preparation or planning phase of the production process. Mura or inconsistency focuses on the implementation and elimination of fluctuation of scheduling. This usually falls to the operations level to schedule the quality and volume of the production process.

Using TQM to reduce costs and improve quality

Developed in the 1980's, Total Quality Management (TQM) has been established at various companies to help manage quality through various processes. TQM is another approach to improving effectiveness, competitiveness, efficiency, and flexibility in order to best suit the customer's needs. TQM is broken down as follows:
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total = Quality involves everyone and all activities in the company.
Quality = Conformance to Requirements (Meeting Customer Requirements).
Management = Quality can and must be managed.
TQM = A process for managing quality; it must be a continuous way of life; a philosophy of perpetual improvement in everything we do.

Using six sigma to reduce costs and improve quality

Developed by Motorola, Six Sigma is a management philosophy that "emphasizes setting extremely high objectives, collecting data, and analyzing results to a fine degree as a way to reduce defects in products and services."

The structure of Six Sigma is to get as close to perfection as possible. Therefore, companies measure how many defects are in a process and then narrow them down to achieve perfection. In order for a company to achieve Six Sigma, it cannot produce more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities, where an opportunity is defined as a chance for nonconformance.

Making your manufacturing more profitable

The manufacturing process is very complex. It is made up of multiple elements that make any number of problems possible. At the same time, manufacturing contains an immense potential for making a profit. Here are a few suggestions on how to make manufacturing more profitable.

Rescheduling

Manufacturers often rely on parts and pieces that are shipped to them from many different parts of the world. Because a manufacturer cannot produce without the initial parts, planning for disruption can be an effective way to increase profits. By implementing software that can connect with the other companies who are shipping the parts to the manufacturer and that can predict resource conflicts, knowing when to send a job to the job shop will become much more predictable. This will save the manufacturer money and subsequently bring in a higher profit.

Using lean manufacturing to reduce costs and improve quality

Lean manufacturing was developed in part from the War Manpower Commission that led to the Toyota Production System (TPS). Lean manufacturing is a concept that focuses on eliminating seven wastes. Toyota defined three types of waste: "muda" or nonvalue-added work, "muri" or overburden and "mura" or unevenness. By eliminating waste, overall quality can be improved and production time as well as cost can be reduced.

The Toyota seven wastes are as follows:

1. Over-production (production ahead of the demand)


2. Waiting Time (waiting for the next production step)


3. Transportation (moving products that are not required to perform the processing)


4. Over-Processing (Poor tool or product design creating activity)


5. Inventory (Finished product not being finished)


6. Motion (people or equipment moving or walking more than the production requires)


7. Defects (Effort involved in identifying and fixing defects)

How to keep costs low enough that freight charges still make your product affordable

One thing that every manufacturing company knows about is that the high cost of freight charges can actually make the final price of your product unaffordable. Basically what this means is that after you have added in all of your fixed and variable costs you are still going to need to add in your freight charges to get the final price of your product. And the way gas prices are constantly going up that means that freight charges are going to continue to increase, especially if you do your own shipping. Freight charges are actually a variable cost because of the fact that they can change depending on how many items you are shipping at one time, if you are doing your own shipping, or other factors. So in order to make sure that your final cost of your product is low enough you are going to want to look at a variety of ways to keep your variable costs down so that when you add in the high freight charges people are still going to buy your product.

Difficulty rating: Moderate to difficult

Step one:
One of the first things that you should think about doing is to see if you can reduce the price that you pay for the parts. You can approach your suppliers to see if you can get any discounts or you can check out other suppliers to see if they offer the same parts that you need for different prices.

How to handle shipping of finished products

In the manufacturing business, figuring out how to handle shipping of finished products can be difficult. You have a great company that creates a great product, so how do you get it to your consumer without it ending up in a million pieces?

Wood Crates
If you are shipping large items that may have parts and such to them you can use large wood crate to ship your products in. There are companies that actually specialize in making crates for your special needs. One such company is called "Caseworks." They provide a variety of standard and custom sizes of wood shipping and storage crates. These crates could ultimately be a dream for large manufacturing companies, especially with the option of being able to custom order them. You can order them with hinges, handles, locking mechanisms, and they come with foam encasing inside the crate to protect from breaking and so forth. If you have a product that can fit into something like a wood crate, try thinking about using one as it can ensure the safety of shipping your finished products.

Choices for programs to improve your manufacturing plant

There are many available programs to improve your manufacturing plant. One of the most popular ways of improving manufacturing is called Lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing is a business model as well as a multitude of manufacturing methods that focus on getting rid of the waste while at the same time producing quality products. This is all done at the lowest cost to the manufacturer and also the consumer.

There are a variety methods or programs available through lean manufacturing that you can use to improve your manufacturing plant. Most if not all of the lean manufacturing methods can occur concurrently and are implemented in sequential steps.When it comes to choices for programs to improve your manufacturing plant there are many different techniques to implement. You first need to make sure that senior management is on board, and then get your employees excited about the ideas. This article will cover six of the most widely used methods.

How to keep on schedule with production

How to keep on schedule with production? Making sure production stays on schedule really depends on using good management and functional methods. If you look at the different management options out there, you will find that there are many ways to work the production process. The key to keeping up with your schedule is making sure you use the right management program for your business.

There are a few different types of programs you can use. Check out anything from Six Sigma, to Lean manufacturing, or TQM. There are other programs out there that are combinations of these different management programs. However, what is important will be making sure that the practices will have the end result of being on schedule for production.

Tips for making your process streamlined

Here are some tips that you can follow to streamline your manufacturing process.

Tip one:
One of the first things that you can do to streamline your manufacturing process is to hire some one to help you find out where you can do better. Basically what this means is that you are going to need to hire a company to come out and take a close look at your entire manufacturing process to see if you can make any improvements. There are a variety of companies out there that will come out and help you find any quirks in your manufacturing processes. But not only will they find the quirks in your process they will also show you how you can fix them. You will want to make sure that you do some research on these different companies and read different reviews before you go and hire one. The reason that you want to do some research on these companies is that these different companies can cost a lot of money. You want to make sure that their services are what you are looking for and that they will be beneficial to helping you streamline your manufacturing process rather than just a waste of money.

How to reduce turn over at your manufacturing plant

Turnover is extremely costly in the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing is a process that requires the use of at least some equipment. Training on manufacturing processes and equipment is not easy or cheap. Once a person is trained, they become a valuable commodity and you don't want to let them go. Here are a few tips to help you retain the employees that you have and hire future employees that will stay with the company.

Develop a team for interviews-one of the best ways to ensure that you keep new employees is to hire new employees who will stick around. To do that, you might want to use a panel or team of current employees for the interview process. Select a team from your best workers and have them develop questions that they would like to ask an incoming employee. It is quite likely that the perspective of production workers and the perspective of human resources workers are a little different. By using a team to do the interviews, you will be able to take advantage of all the different perspectives and, hopefully, hire the right person for the job.

Performance management dos and don'ts

Here are the dos and don'ts of performance management.

Tip one:
One of the first things that you are going to want to do when it comes to performance management is that you are going to want to follow a sequential approach. What this means is that when you look at the activities that are associated with performance management you are going to want to categorize the activities into three different phases. Basically what these phases are going to do is involve a series of activities in a certain order that are completed effectively. And once these activities are completed effectively they are going to help move your company to the next level of performance management. The three phases are:
 Report performance to bring transparency to the organization
 Manage and control to align the organization
 Improve performance to drive the organization

Ways to increase your output and decrease costs

Every business has expenses that can't be avoided. It's just part of life. But the trick is to produce more than you spend, which can be tricky if you're just starting out of if your business is experiencing a bit of a down turn. But there are ways to avoid excess expenses. Just keep reading and learn some ways to increase your output and decrease costs.

One of the best ways to increase your output and decrease your costs is to first discover where your money is going. Make a list of all your expenditures. Make a list of all your income. Are you spending more than you're making? First go through your expenses. Where is all your money going? Is everything on the list a necessary expense? Can you eliminate some of them? Do you really need to take all your clients out to lunch at the nicest place in town or could you manage going to a mid-range restaurant? Think of costs that you can eliminate. Start buying office supplies in bulk. Every little bit helps, so any thing you can think of will be helpful.

Using acoustic insulation to improve your plant

You can use acoustic insulation to improve your plant. Noise is a huge problem in nearly every manufacturing plant. It can cause a variety of issues ranging from lower production to employee injuries. If you can reduce the noise as much as possible you will be able to improve your plant in a variety of ways.

In addition to the noise being created from the plant you have noise coming from the outside. Roads, railways, airplanes, and other machines outside the plant create a lot of noise. Acoustic insulation inside the plant can deter these noises from interrupting operations.

What is "Voice of the Customer" (VOC) and how does it apply to six sigma?

Whether you are a business manager, business owner, or just an employee in a business, the chances are great that you work with customers on a daily, if not hourly, basis. If this is the case, then you must be constantly working on your customer relations. It can be very difficult to keep your cool when a rude and upset customer approaches you. Or maybe you see that the market is demanding a new approach or new product that you feel is not worth your company’s time and money. But you don’t want to break your “six sigma.” So you’re willing to listen to the “voice of the customer.”

Is it just me, or do you have no idea what I’m talking about? This hypothetical situation may be easier to understand if you know what the terms I’m using mean.

What is process observation and what is the best way to implement it?

Process observation is essentially just that. It is data collection method used in Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. It is a way of confirming exactly what is happening during any particular process. One of the biggest time consumers in studying any type of process is data collection. An invaluable way of collecting data is through impartial process observation.
Although every improvement project has its own unique data, it is useful to know of some metrics that can be utilized in your observations to quantify results. You will want to measure these things early in a project and then again once improvements have been made to determine the impact. If the process being measured requires a lot of time and work, try measuring a sample first. Some of those things you will want to take note of in your observations are:

What is the link between quality, speed, and low cost?

Almost every business owner or worker is on a strict regiment, trying to link quality speed and low cost, along with maximum profitability. Maybe you’re the business owner and are always trying to get you employees to work a little bit faster, better, and more efficiently. Maybe you’re an employee who is sick and tired of hearing your boss hollering about being more efficient. Whatever the case may be, it is important to your business to be able to run quickly, but also put out a product that is of high quality and affordable sot that people will buy it. Let’s discuss what the link between these three principles is.

We’ll start by defining each word. Quality can mean many things. It can be a specific characteristic of an object. It can mean the essence of an object (the quality of salt is “saltiness”). Or it can refer to the achievement or excellence of an object. It is this last definition that is most relevant to our discussion here. If you have a high quality product, it is made or durable material. It lasts a long time. It doesn’t break at the drop of a hat. Its quality is something that sets it apart from other companies’ products. Whatever type of product or service your business sells you want it to be of a high quality.

How anti fatigue floor matting improves productivity

Anti fatigue floor matting improves productivity in the work place and improves morale. Slips and falls are the second most common cause of injuries at work. Employees who stand on hard work surfaces such as concrete, tile, or linoleum for an entire shift often suffer from fatigue and discomfort. The fatigue will translate into lost productivity as the shift progresses.

Cushioned industrial floor matting is a low-cost preventive for foot and lower leg aches, pains, and muscular cramps. Additionally, the matting but has the added advantage of improving workplace safety by greatly reducing the potential for slips and falls. The anti fatigue floor provides an abrasion resistant cushioned surface that permits items like oil and other fluid to drain through.

Spanish in today's workforce, the importance of bilingual communication:

Today the Spanish speaking populations makes up fourteen percent of our society - fourteen percent! That's huge! Whether from a marketing, a political, or a general public perspective that is a large percent of people in our little Northern America who speak Spanish. It's true, there is no official language of the United States of America, but come on, a little common courtesy would say pick up the language of the country your living in. However, that's not how it is. And as it is, we have to cater to it.

As long as you're going to cater to it, go all the way. You have to know that Spanish speaking does not necessarily, Mexican. In America there are Spanish speakers that come from many different Spanish countries; we have Brazilians, Mexicans, Chileans, Argentines, Spanish, as well as many others. This is important to know because not all Spanish countries have the same culture; in fact many of the Spanish cultures are very different. Just as you wouldn't fly a British flag on Independence Day just because we speak a common language, be careful when catering to your Spanish speaking customers not to offend them in the same manner.

Dealing with confrontations in the workplace:

Confrontation in the workplace is impossible to avoid, but there are some ways of handling it that are better than others. Whether you are the one faced with having to confront someone, or whether you are being confronted, here are a few tips on how to get through it.

If you are the manager of a business it is most likely you will deal with confrontation often, that is simply the nature of managing. Because confrontation can have a seemingly negative connotation, you may wish to avoid this. But rather than avoid confrontation you must simply learn to rethink your perception of confrontation.

Worker Absenteeism - how to measure it and reduce it

INTRO

Are you tired of feeling like every time the phone rings, it is another employee calling in sick? Sure people get sick. But did you know that employees deciding to stay home because they feel entitled to a day off accounts for about 19% of annual worker absenteeism? Worker absenteeism causes managers to stress over how they will run their operation efficiently, and other workers stress over having to pick up the other guy's slack.

Worker absenteeism is also expensive. Not only does sick pay add up, but worker absenteeism adds to the overall stress and decreased moral.

What is the Theory of Constraints?

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy meant to help a company achieve their main organizational goals. For example, the Theory of Constraints is used to help a for-profit company make more money. Results should be seen immediately and in the future.

Every company has at least one constraint. These constraints can be internal resource constraints, market constraints or policy constraints. According to the Theory of Constraints, you must identify what constraints are preventing your business from achieving its goal.

Basic principles of Cellular Manufacturing

Cellular Manufacturing or One-Piece Flow Systems are work units (cells) arranged in such a manner that parts and materials of a whole product can be done in the most stream-lined manner possible. Instead of making multiple parts of a project before sending it down the line to the next production point, products are made and then passed on immediately. This eliminates delay or waste as it is more commonly referred to as in lean manufacturing. Not only is there a focus on the flow of the product, but also on the flow of the employees. Stations are designed for people to also be able to work on various points in the line of production in the most space-saving way possible.

This type of specialized production Cellular Manufacturing use also often entails utilizing specific equipment and machinery for each piece in the line. Machinery and equipment must be designed to fit the specific specifications of the product so that the machine can alert the operator if a malfunction has occurred or if there is any error in the product. This technique is called autonomation and allows workers to turn their attention to other operations and simply be alerted if their efforts need to be re-directed.