SM Thacker & Associates

Independent Best Practice Training & Consultancy

Home Page Public Training Course Schedules Over 150 Best Practice Articles Expert Systems / Tools This Month's Features / News About Us Your Question / Contact Us
Highlights of our full range of training courses / Workshops:

Lean & Agile Supply Chain / Inventory Modelling

Lean & Agile Manufacturing Planning & Control

Operations Management / Team Leader Training

Step Change Management / Business Process  Reengineering

Continuous Improvement

Procurement (Purchasing & Supplier Management)

IS / IT / e-commerce

Product Management / New Product Introduction  / Quality  Management

 

Bookmarks for this topic below:

Our full range of training

Relevant Further Reading

Expert Systems / Tools

 

Expert Systems / Tools:

our unique 118 point agility self diagnosis

 

Relevant Further Reading: The following further articles were mentioned in this paper:

a. Permanently Maintained Website Articles:

Rough Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP)

level 2 of the capacity management process

MRP1

Just In Time

MRP2

"Lean Manufacturing" our definition

 

b. Previously Featured Articles from our Archives (Up to 2 per organisation available on request):

Previous Best Practices:

 

Previous Techniques:

Previous Technique T021: Takt Time

Previous Technique T010: 2 Bin / 3 Bin Systems

Previous Technique T014: Reorder Point (Max / Min) Systems

Previous Questions:

 

Previous Malpractices:

Training Courses & Workshops to support

Lean and Agile Manufacturing Planning and Control

Our Training Philosophy and Approach

The following 21 training courses are available (linked to highlights below). They can be readily tailored to suit individual requirements for in-house workshops.

 

M01 Designing, Implementing & Operating Kanban Systems

M02 Advanced Scheduling Systems

M03 Bill of Material & Routing Design & Data Management

M04 Participative Master Production Scheduling (PMPS)

M05 Simple Capacity Planning & Control

M06 Stock & Work in Process Management

M07 MRP for Beginners

M08 Material Requirements Planning (MRP1)

M09 Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP2)

M10 Simple Stock Control

M11 Simple Ways To Maximise Output & Workflow

M13 Manufacturing Accounting for Beginners

M14 Lean & Agile Manufacturing Detail (Pick & Mix)

M15 Agile Manufacturing Overview

M17 Stock & WIP Tracking for Beginners

M19 How to become a World Class Manufacturer

M21 Lean Manufacturing Detail

M22 Kanban & Lean Enterprise Simulation Game

 

M23 Capacity Management Foundation Course

M24 Materials Management & Stock Control Foundation Course

On other pages:

SSC04 Production Planning & Control: Back to Basics

 

M01 Designing, Implementing and Operating Kanban Systems

(2 days) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

Lean Manufacturing / JIT / Kanban / Pull system designers and implementation project teams, team leaders / department heads of manufacturing

Course Objectives:

Pull systems offer clear bottom-line benefits, if done properly.

This detailed course will enable you to design, implement and maintain your own Kanban systems and deliver the bottom line benefits of:

  • Up to 75% less stock, space4
  • Fewer rejects (because you find them earlier)
  • Up to 80% reduction in lead-times4
  • Almost no double handling
  • Better housekeeping
  • Less cost of control.

Course Highlights:

This course will show you how to:

  • Deal with the prerequisites to the use of Kanban systems
  • Choose your first situation
  • Select, from the 8 types of Kanban system available, to provide the best fit for your application
  • Design Kanban systems:
    • Define process relationships to make Kanban simple to use
    • Calculate Kanban quantities
    • Position buffers
    • Devise simple signalling mechanisms
  • Integrate Kanban systems with:
    • Planning
    • Accounting
  • Implement the system
    • Understand the people implications
    • Sell the idea to operations staff
  • Maintain a Kanban system
  • Avoid the problems we have encountered in a number of Kanban rescue projects we have been involved in, where the systems were not delivering the bottom-line benefits, because they were either ill-conceived, inappropriate, badly implemented, or badly maintained.

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Opened my eyes on what Kanban involves"
  • "Excellent - Gained a great deal of knowledge - Very enjoyable also"
  • "I did not realise there was so much you could learn about Kanban systems"
  • "Has given me the confidence to implement systems in our factory"
  • "This course will provide solutions for our current supply and demand issues"
  • "Enjoyable & very informative insight into the benefits of Kanban systems"

Note 1: A MS Excel template for calculating required Kanban population sizes is supplied with the course.

Note 2: A copy of our Kanban & Lean Simulation Game toolkit (see M22 below) is included with this course.

Note 3: A complete in-house task force lean manufacturing training programme is available for the reorganisation of manufacturing under JIT and Lean principles. See M14 Lean & Agile Manufacturing Detail (Pick & Mix) (below)

Note 4: Based on our best project benchmarks

 

M02 Advanced Scheduling Systems (APS)

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of production planning and inventory management personnel

Course Objectives:

Choosing and getting the best from scheduling systems is the part of scheduling systems implementation that the software does not help and the software supplier may not be the appropriate person to ask.

This detailed course, which is software independent, discusses scheduling from first principles up to advanced techniques and will enable you to select an appropriate scheduling system then design, implement & operate the system to deliver the bottom line benefits of scheduling with minimum administration.

Course Highlights:

This course will show you how to:

  • Identify the prerequisites
  • Define your approach (define your problem)
  • Select an appropriate scheduling system (which of the 11 degrees of scheduling sophistication you need) and how to justify it?
  • Then design, implement & operate the system:
    • Apply the underpinning principles of scheduling
    • Design the model
    • Create & maintain the data
    • Implement the system
    • Operate and maintain the system
  • to deliver the bottom line benefits of scheduling with minimum cost & administration

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "An interesting day which will be of great use on ERP implementation"
  • "Easy to understand (No Jargon!)"
  • "Covered a lot of ideas and possibilities"
  • "The trainer really understood the problems"
  • "Areas where I was confused re-explained with clarity & understanding - Excellent teaching!"
  • "Issues involving my job are easy to understand now"

M03 Bill of Materials and Routings Design & Management

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of product design, inventory management, production planning personnel and teams responsible for ERP / MRP implementation

Course Objectives:

Bill of Materials (parts lists / ingredients lists) & Routings (methods of manufacture) are at the heart of a manufacturing process. They not only define the product & process, they also provide a structure to manage ALL of your business processes, from purchasing to after-sales. Correct design and timely, accurate maintenance is essential and if done badly, a significant source of problems and inefficiency.

Designed in conjunction with D02 Specification Change Management: (Managing Product, Computer Programme, Documentation, or Process changes), this detailed course will enable you to design and implement your own simple Bill of Materials and Routings and their maintenance processes to satisfy the potentially conflicting needs of design, materials planning, capacity planning, work-in-process tracking, product costing, inventory accounting, service and repair and last but not least, quality control. It also defines the key requirements of change control.

Course Highlights:

This course will show you how to provide the necessary degree of control whilst reducing administration across the business by:

  • Designing your Bill of Material for effective & efficient control
  • Defining the relationship between Bills of Materials and Routings & designing your Routings to enable efficient & effective scheduling
  • Use Product and Process Data in planning and control systems such as MRP
  • Manage product and process changes to provide rapid implementation but with safeguards to minimise disruption and obsolescence
  • Design a version control system for changes in products and processes which will facilitate implementation of change
  • Deal with the impact of version control on lot traceability and enable a minimal product recall
  • Facilitate accurate business planning & control
  • Avoid some of the expensive reimplementation projects we have been involved in to avoid severe operational difficulties
  • Produce a task list for implementation

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Section on change control really useful"
  • "Very good - Well presented & interactive without putting anyone on the spot"
  • "Good basic grounding in why accuracy & discipline are important in MRP implementation"
  • "Change control management most useful"
  • "Will support introducing the New Product Introduction process"
  • "I now understand the need for BOM accuracy"

M04 Participative Master Production Scheduling (PMPS)

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All stakeholders in the planning process including sales managers, operations managers / team leaders, supplies / purchasing managers, and planners

Course Objectives:

How do you satisfy customers AND utilise resources effectively AND meet the business plan?

Two of the key requirements of out of the 15 we explain in this course are:

  1. To create a participative, operational, planning process, involving stakeholders, to agree a single plan
  2. And then measure performance based on achieving it

This detailed course, designed in conjunction with M05 Simple Capacity Planning & Control (below), is focused on the attributes of a best practice operations planning process in order to:

  • Identify weaknesses in your current operations planning process or design your own Participative MPS process by using our unique 15 point self-appraisal
  • Provide an integrated Capacity & Materials planning process to balance load and capacity (and reduce inventory)
  • Produce a task list for implementation

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Understand the relationship between Development Sales and Operations Management (DS&OM), Master Production Scheduling and Shop Scheduling
  • Design and create a production planning process that delivers products on time and at short lead-time but also manages resources effectively
  • Manage seasonal or variable demand and sales promotions
  • Size batches correctly
  • Avoid complex scheduling systems
  • Manage the introduction of new products into production
  • Produce an action plan for implementation

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Informative and enjoyable - Gave a good all-round description & how MPS's fit in the business"
  • "The workshop was excellent and very useful - Thanks"
  • "Gave a moment of reflection to other people's needs and viewpoints"
  • "Provides a good basic understanding of MPS"
  • "A thought provoking but enjoyable workshop!"
  • "Useful, informative course, providing a greater understanding of subject"

Note 1: This course is also available as an in-house workshop. When run with all the stakeholders in the room it produces an outline design and implementation task list.

Note 2: This course assumes a passive role of the management of the sales & development processes. Our course SSC08 Participative Development, Sales & Operations Management in addition assumes an integrated Sales Management, & Product Development Process (e.g. Sales Planning) driven by a Participative, Development, Sales & Operations Management process.

 

M05 Simple Capacity Planning & Control

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

Master Production Schedulers, planners and operations team leaders

Course Objectives:

The simple objective at level 2 of the capacity management process is to create a "do-able" plan (& then do it "On-Time In-Full")!

Firmly following lean principles, this detailed course, designed in conjunction with "M04 Participative Master Production Scheduling" (above) and "M11 Simple Ways to Maximise Output & Workflow" (below) will enable you to create; implement; and operate your own simple, low cost, capacity management process incorporating simple tools to:

  • Give customers the earliest delivery and accurate delivery promises
  • Get the most from your resources
  • Avoid feast & famine in operations
  • Identify inconsistent output

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Plan and control capacity effectively
  • Understand how load and capacity interact
  • Understand the weaknesses in your current capacity management
  • Avoid scheduling complexity
  • Balance process capacity
  • Quickly check if you have the capacity available to deliver when required and make accurate promises to customers. ("Available To Promise")
  • Create simple capacity models and use them effectively to plan and control operational capacity, featuring detailed explanations of the design & use of:
  • Use other simple methods of Capacity Control
  • Define procedures for maintaining the process
  • Implement the process
  • And last but not least: Get more output for free!

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Good introduction to capacity planning & control that will help me develop this further back at our company"
  • "Another good workshop"
  • "A lot to go home & think about"
  • "A simplification of capacity planning - promoting understanding of the process"
  • "Enjoyed the course & look forward to implementing the changes required"
  • "Easy to follow - Well explained"

Note: Includes our MS Excel Rough Cut Capacity Planning model template to get you started quickly

 

M06 Stock & Work in Process (WIP) Tracking

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of inventory and operations personnel, expeditors and teams responsible for ERP / MRP implementation. In short, everyone who moves work around.

Course Objectives:

Knowing what you have, how many, & it's current status, facilitated by controlling work in process levels, are not only key requirements of accurate production planning, but also of production control, with its goals to meet the plan and maximise productivity, whilst minimising lead-time and stock levels.

This detailed course, (which is independent of software), will enable you to support accurate stores and work in process tracking processes by outlining modern, commonly used, control methods and by emphasising the importance of accurate recording in production planning & control in 4 modules:

  • Stores Control
  • WIP Control & Work Order Management
  • Controlling WIP Levels
  • Stock & WIP Accuracy

Course Highlights:

This course will show you how to:

  • Diagnose problems in your current system or design a system that keeps track of your stock and WIP accurately
  • Maintain work in process accurately by:
    • Processing work orders accurately following the key stages of the work order life cycle
    • Managing line-side / point of use stock correctly
  • Manage work in process levels properly
  • Identify & install the disciplines necessary to maintain accurate stock and WIP records
  • For your situation, create a development task list to manage inventory well

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Explained things as a whole - How certain things impact other areas"
  • "Understanding the problems was most useful"
  • "I found the practical sessions useful + fun"
  • "It deepened my understanding"
  • "I now understand the problems associated with our planning systems"
  • "Very useful & full of information - Thank you very much!"

Note 1: A companion course for pure warehouse operations is SSC06 Warehouse Operations Management

Note 2: M17 Stock & WIP Tracking for Beginners (below) provides a short introduction to this topic as part of an MRP "educating the critical mass" initiative (available only as an in-house workshop).

 

Below are three MRP Training Courses, Beginner; MRP1; MRP2:

M07 MRP for Beginners

(½ day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed as:

An introduction to MRP systems and as a means of educating everyone connected with an MRP system

Course Objectives:

In order to deliver the bottom line benefits everyone who comes into contact with an MRP system needs to have a basic understanding of how it works; what data it uses; and the importance of data accuracy. As one Operations Director said to us, "they need to be reminded every 2 to 3 years too!"

This detailed course, (which is independent of software) provides a short introduction to this topic, as part of an MRP "educating the critical mass" initiative, by providing an understanding of:

  • How MRP1 logic works
  • The business processes & data required to drive it
  • The importance of procedures and disciplines to maintain data accuracy

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Understand the types of MRP systems available and the difference between MRP1 and MRP2
  • Understand the essential requirements of an effective MRP system
  • Decide when these systems are appropriate
  • Avoid common problems we have encountered in implementing & rescuing these systems since 1981 & the severe impact of these problems
  • Discover how MRP does the calculations
  • Understand what data is used and how is it maintained
  • Understand how your actions impact the effective working of an MRP1 system
  • Contribute to solving the problems

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Gave me a good general understanding of what MRP is about"
  • "Practical exercises good fun"
  • "Good breakdown of data and responsibilities needed for MRP"
  • "In depth, but not too much detail to confuse - Well presented"
  • "Came away with a good to-do list"
  • "I learned some ideas and tips to improve our MRP system"

Note 1: An MRP1 simulation model is used to illustrate the effects of data in the system.

Note 2: This course forms the first half day of M08 immediately below.

 

M08 Material Requirements Planning (MRP1)

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of planning, inventory management and operations staff and especially for teams responsible for ERP / MRP implementation, or trying to improve MRP performance and particularly valuable to people new to MRP

Course Objectives:

In principle an MRP1 system should be a Just In Time system.

 There are 3 exceptions (agricultural crops, products / processes requiring maturation, and strategic spares, the effect of which can be ring-fenced), but otherwise you should be able to achieve: an overall stock turn roughly equal to 1-2 times the process lead-time of a typical job that you are expediting through the process without queuing (E.g. If your overall manufacturing lead-time without queuing is 2 weeks, you should have about 2-4 weeks' worth of total inventory); with excellent customer service (>98% of customer orders / schedule call offs, On-Time-In-Full). (See Achievable Benchmarks)

This detailed course, designed in conjunction with M09 MRP2 (immediately below), which is independent of software, provides a detailed understanding of MRP1 design, implementation and operation considerations. If your current MRP system is not achieving our benchmarks above, or you are about to implement your first MRP system, or you are new to MRP, this course is for you!

Course Highlights:

In addition to the content of M07 MRP for Beginners (above) which forms the first half day of this course, this course will help you to:

  • Understand why MRP systems often fail
  • Design an MRP 1 system
  • Implement an MRP 1 system
  • Maintain and improve an MRP 1 system:
    • Measure MRP performance
    • Deal with exception messages effectively (and reduce them!)
    • Understand the full work order life cycle
    • Build a control system to drive MRP performance and delivery to plan
  • Actually deliver the bottom line benefits promised by the software vendor

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "A fully concise overview of MRP"
  • "An enjoyable course that helped me understand the working of MRP & the importance of data accuracy; parameters + MPS"
  • "I am quite new in my role. I had some knowledge of MRP but this course has enhanced this knowledge"
  • "A very good course that was most informative"
  • "Will help in the implementation of ERP"
  • "Informative, easy to understand, and enjoyable - Will help me achieve my job goals"

M09 Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP2)

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of planning, inventory management and operations staff and especially for teams responsible for ERP / MRP implementation, or trying to improve MRP performance and particularly valuable to people new to MRP2.

Course Objectives:

In addition to MRP1, MRP2 introduces a new level of potential benefits and sophistication into the scheduling of production. Whilst it adds more discipline to the management of work-in-process and integrates finance & purchasing, it also creates another layer of data to be managed. As a consequence good MRP2 implementations where plans are actually met (compliant) are still hard to find.

Designed in conjunction with M08 MRP1 (above) which is a prerequisite, this detailed course, (which is independent of software), provides a detailed understanding of MRP2 design, implementation and operation considerations.

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Understand the difference that scheduling makes to delivery performance and productivity
  • Overcome common Capacity Requirements Planning / scheduling problems
  • Design an MRP 2 system
  • Implement an MRP 2 system
  • Maintain and improve an MRP 2 system
  • Manage the "work-to" list
  • Become a "high compliance" manufacturer:
    • Produce "do-able" plans that are met
    • Maximise productivity

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Easy to understand (No Jargon) - My questions were answered fully"
  • "In interesting day which will be of use on ERP implementation"
  • "Insight into how we should work on capacity planning / scheduling"
  • "Informative - Covered lots of areas and possibilities"
  • "The purchasing side was most useful"
  • "A very good and enjoyable course"

 

M10 Simple Stock Control

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of inventory management and operations staff and especially for teams responsible for implementation of simple or lean and visual materials control systems

Course Objectives:

Simple, inexpensive, but very effective, stock control systems for repetitive items and consumables are an integral part and key requirements of a "Lean" / "Just In Time" implementation. But a common mistake in the use of these methods is that they are perceived as "fit-and-forget". Like all other control systems they require: appropriate selection; proper design; good implementation; and ongoing, but low cost, maintenance!

This detailed course, designed in conjunction with M11 Simple Ways To Maximise Output & Workflow (below), firmly based on lean principles & which is independent of software, provides a detailed understanding of selection criteria; design, implementation and operation of simple, low cost, stock control and point of use / line-side stock replenishment systems.

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Select an appropriate, simple, control system for your situation
  • Avoid shortages / excess stock by regularly calculating safety stock and re-order points correctly using our simple MS Excel spreadsheet template Note1
  • Manage material movement with low administration and avoid double handling
  • Design, Implement and Maintain:
    • Replacement systems (See Previous Technique T014: Reorder Point (Max / Min) Systems)
    • Two Bin Systems (See Previous Technique T010)
    • Three Bin Systems
    • Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) processes
    • Deliver to point-of-use systems
    • Simple visual controls from our 30 examples
  • Reduce your administration costs, improve workflow and "right-size" stock levels
  • Produce a task list for implementation

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Discussion on different methods of stock control (with pro's and con's) was really useful"
  • "Well presented"
  • "I now have a better method of calculating max / min levels"
  • "The whole day has given me a better insight into the role (Trainee planner)"
  • "Looking in depth into problems and how to change were not obvious before"
  • "There really are other stock control systems than ERP (I.e. 2 Bin / 3 Bin  and Reorder Point")

Note 1: Includes a simplified version of our Excel spreadsheet template for you to take away (This course and this template contains very basic content from SSC03 Advanced Forecasting & Inventory Modelling using spreadsheets)

Note 2: Includes a brief introduction to Kanban systems for which a comprehensive and detailed course on Kanban / Just-In-Time is contained in M01 Designing, Implementing & Operating Kanban Systems (above)

 

M11 Simple Ways To Maximize Output & Workflow

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

Operations team leaders, operations staff and teams responsible for improving operations performance & useful for operations planning personnel.

Course Objectives:

More People, More Stock, More Equipment, More Control Systems, More Computers, do not necessarily equal more output, and hardly ever make work flow. They do, however, increase cost!

This detailed course, designed in conjunction with M10 Simple Stock Control (above), firmly follows lean principles, to provide a detailed understanding of the design, implementation and operation considerations of simple, easily learned, tools, techniques and procedures to maximise output and workflow.

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Simplify workflow (Introduction to natural groups; sequencing and level scheduling)
  • Implement one or more of the five simple methods of making work flow & minimising work in process
  • Implement one of two methods of maximising output (without using a whip and without working harder)
  • Understand the key requirements of a comprehensive capacity control system (The Capacity 4S's)
  • Critically examine the 5 key aspects of resources which determine output
  • Understand the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and how can you use that to create very simple, effective, scheduling processes
  • Use "drum, buffer, rope", to manage operations without using expensive software to implement it
  • Define the "best operations method" & prove it (introduction to the "design of experiments" / Taguchi methods)
  • Define the most effective scheduling sequence
  • Prioritise work simply and effectively
  • Reduce set up / make ready time by sequencing work better and applying our unique "SMED +" principles
  • Design and implement a simple Loading (Planning) Board (manual or electronic)
  • Produce a task list for implementation
  • Avoid expense, but still get more "bangs per buck", and reduce lead-time, quickly and easily

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Very informative - A well structured course."
  • "Informative and relaxing"
  • "Well suited to someone with little or no experience of lean methods"
  • "Informative and very useful"
  • "Easy to follow - Well explained"
  • "Enjoyed the course and looking forward to implementing the changes required"

M13 Manufacturing Accounting for Beginners

(1 day) (Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed specifically for:

Junior, unqualified, finance, support staff working in a manufacturing environment, or others wishing to understand the principles and practice underpinning their finance systems

Course Objectives:

Junior, unqualified, staff in the finance department can make a significant contribution to profitability by recognising when things are beginning to go off the rails, not when the wheels are already off, (when the problem is bought to the attention of senior management). All you have to do is show them what to look for.

This detailed course provides in laymen's language the underlying principles, practice and limitations of key aspects of financial control in a manufacturing business namely: The planning & control of expenditure:

  • The budgeting process and budgetary control
  • What products cost: Product costing / standard costs
  • Overheads and how they are accounted for
  • Stock value & variance accounting

Course Highlights:

Topics covered include:

  • Understanding budgets & management accounts
    • The purpose of costing; Cost objects; Cost granularity (level of detail); Accuracy / direct / indirect costs; Identifying fixed and variable costs; Which cost to worry about (Pareto analysis)
  • Product costing
    • Separate fixed & variable costs; Standard Costs & Actual costs; Manufacturing strategy and the effect on accounting; Cost Elements: Materials; Materials Overheads; Sub contracting; Labour; Fixed Overhead; Variable overhead
    • The way ERP systems calculate product costs: Cost roll up; Std. vs. actual; The implications for estimating new work
  • Management accounts
    • The Role; Management Accounts Structures; Adding Value; Actual Costs & Variances; Absorbing Overheads; Variance Analysis (Explaining the reasons); Budgetary control & Variance
  • Financial accounts
    • Accounting treatment of variance
    • Stock gains & Losses

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Apportionment and allocation of overheads related to a problem which I now understand"
  • "The course agreed with the theories I am working on (for my professional qualification)"
  • "The discussion on standard costing concepts makes sense to me now"
  • "I can now concentrate on the big cost areas"
  • "Although I am quite a junior level and this will be really useful to me"
  • "Helped me to put budgeting into context"

Note: OM04 Finance for Team Leaders provides alternative content from a team leader's viewpoint

 

M14 Lean & Agile Manufacturing Detail (Pick & Mix)

(1-28 days) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Create your own in-house workshops in your drive to improve your business from our range of lean & agile manufacturing training courses including:

Introduction / executive overviews

M15 Agile Manufacturing Overview

M21 Lean Manufacturing

M19 How to become a "world class" manufacturer

Details

Manufacturing Planning & Control:

M01 Designing Implementing & Operating Kanban systems

M05 Simple Capacity Planning & Control

M10 Simple stock control

M11 Simple ways to maximise output & workflow

M22 Kanban & Lean Enterprise Simulation Game

SSC04 Production Planning & Control Back To Basics

Continuous improvement:

C01 Focused Improvement Systems

C02 Setting Key Performance Indicators

C03 Measures of Performance Detail

C04 Continuous Improvement Basic Tools & Techniques

Forming cells / teams:

S02 Business Process Reengineering

S13 Culture Development Methods

Operations Management:

OM01 Organising & engaging the team

OM03 Organising & managing the workplace

Supply Chain:

SSC01 Tools Techniques & Modern Trends in Supply Chain Management

SSC07 Strategic Supply Chain Management

Product Management:

D01 New Product Introduction

D03 Six steps to near perfect quality

 

M15 Agile Manufacturing

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed as:

An executive overview course

Course Objectives:

Leanness without agility simply leads to shortages! To be lean you have to be agile and to be agile you need to be lean. Lean initiatives target waste, whilst agility targets responsiveness!

Designed to accompany your strive towards growth and profitability & aimed at all aspects of manufacturing businesses, (not specifically at operations), this course is intended to provide a road map to an Agile business.

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Understand the key features of an Agile Business
  • Create and prioritise a task list to develop an Agile business
  • Learn a number of important techniques used to create an Agile Business
  • Make your products and services easy and mistake-proof for you to provide & for your customers to use
  • Provide value for money
  • Make your products more competitive
  • Get products to market quicker and reduce the risk of product recall
  • Create a skilled flexible and mobile workforce
  • Make decision-making easy and rapid
  • Make things easier to do (Internal Processes, Procedures, Logistics, and Communications)
  • Make resources quick change, one touch, processes (Facilities / Operations Processes / Equipment / Technology)
  • Reduce supply chain risk whilst increasing resilience and reducing lead-time
  • Gain the extra benefits of Agile over Lean

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "An important and different approach"
  • "It made me realise the limitations of lean"
  • "We are fairly lean but this shows you how much further there is to travel"
  • "The self diagnostic checklist is a really valuable motivational tool"
  • "There are many areas we have identified for improvement"
  • "An enjoyable workshop with lots to follow up"

Note 1: This course includes a copy of our unique 118 point agility self diagnosis, to enable you to create your own Agile implementation task list.

Note 2: Also see M14 Lean & Agile Manufacturing Detail (Pick & Mix) above

 

M17 Stock & WIP Tracking for Beginners

(½ day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

The novice or newcomer to managing inventory, warehouse and shop floor materials control personnel, and as a critical mass awareness workshop in MRP implementations or rescue projects

Course Objectives:

In the haste to ship product, the equally important task of maintaining the integrity of stock and work-in-process records sometimes comes a poor second. But this week's stock discrepancy is next week's lost output!

Designed as an introduction to the topic and to sell the message of stock and work-in-process accuracy, this course identifies key sources of error and faulty processing, and motivates individuals to improve recording integrity.

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Understand why stock management is important
  • Overcome the problems and provide solutions
  • Understand why accurate stock and work in process recording is essential
  • Understand the key features of warehouse management
  • Understand the criteria for setting and maintaining stock levels
  • Understand the key stages of the work order life cycle
  • Understand the key requirements point-of-use / line side / 2 bin maintained stock
  • Understand the disciplines required and the repercussions of not having them
  • Implement techniques which can be used to improve inventory accuracy
  • Create an action plan to improve the process

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "It deepened my understanding of the problems"
  • "Helped me understand the information MRP uses to do the planning"
  • "People need to be aware of how what they do impacts other parts of the business"
  • "General principles were fully covered and explored"
  • "The trainer's understanding of the problems was most useful"
  • "Questions answered and explained fully"

Note 1: A companion course for pure warehouse operations is SSC06 Warehouse Operations Management

Note 2: A one day detailed & more advanced version of this course is available in M06 Stock & Work in Process Management, which should be viewed as a follow-on course for novices.

 

M19 How to become a "World Class" Manufacturer

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All levels of management, team leaders and especially useful as a workshop for teams responsible for World Class implementation programmes

Course Objectives:

Leadership requires a vision. But a World Class vision without a plan will remain a dream!

This course draws on strategic content from a number of our courses and our experience of implementing world class development programs in a number of industries to show you:

  • A vision of a world class organisation
  • A benchmark of your situation against that model
  • A route map to achieve it

Course Highlights:

This overview course, aims to provide an understanding of what world class is and a route map to achieve it. This course will help you to:

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Very good balance of theory, examples, and diagnostics"
  • "I found getting exposed to other industry practices most useful"
  • "Supply chain measurement really useful"
  • "I now understand some of our strengths & weakness better"
  • "We need to do Pull system ordering!"
  • "I wish we had done this years ago"
  • "Excellent"
  • "Detailed content focused at organisational level"

Note: Includes a number of our diagnostic health checks

 

M21 Lean Manufacturing Detail

(2 days) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

All of the management team (not just operations) and especially for teams responsible for Lean Manufacturing implementation and personnel expected to contribute to the implementation

Course Objectives:

"Lean Manufacturing" has been around for over 30 years now but how many manufacturing businesses do you know that are truly lean based on our definition?

This detailed course aims to provide practical instruction in designing and implementing lean practices and processes.

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

Day1

  • Establish durable improvement, focused on the six performance drivers (From C01 Focused Improvement Systems)
  • Understand the essentials and benefits of Lean Manufacturing and the common causes of only achieving temporary effects
  • Understand what Just In Time (JIT) really means and the common causes of failure
  • Apply the 15 principles of Lean Materials Planning
  • Sell the message (From M01 Designing Implementing & Operating Kanban systems / M22 immediately below)

Day 2 (Content the same as OM03 Organising & Managing the Workplace)

  • Remove waste & streamline the flow of work
  • Remove complexity & organise your process
  • Maintain good housekeeping: (The Six Steps to a Perfect Working Environment)
  • Apply simple, inexpensive, Visual Controls (from our list of 30 ways to Visually manage your workplace & work)

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Detailed course on lean manufacturing"
  • "Excellent- A roadmap"
  • "The exercises reinforced the topic well"
  • "Connecting the analysis to our situation was really useful"
  • "Informative insight into the benefits of Lean manufacturing"
  • "It gave me an overall view and understanding"

Note 1: A one day executive overview of lean manufacturing is available as an in-house workshop.

Note 2: Also see M14 above

 

M22 Kanban and Lean Enterprise Simulation Game

(1 day) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

Kanban & Lean implementation teams and specifically as a "train the trainer" workshop for onwards delivery to explain to operations personnel why Kanban / Lean is a better way

Course Objectives:

Kanban and Lean Manufacturing require the active participation of all employees. One of the key causes of failure we have observed (and rescue situations we have been involved in) is a breakdown in the simple disciplines required, caused either by a lack of understanding or lack of involvement of operations personnel.

One step beyond the stickle-brick and beer games, this unique toolkit allows you to create a more persuasive Kanban and Lean Enterprise Simulation Game by simulating your own products and processes.

Course Highlights:

This one-day course, which includes a free copy of the Kanban & Lean Simulation Toolkit (described below) will enable you to discover for yourself:

  • How Kanban / Lean systems work
  • How our game can be adapted to provide your people with relevant and powerful messages on the benefits (to everyone) of:
    • Kanban
    • Lean manufacturing
    • Cellular Manufacturing
    • Team working
    • Continuous improvement

To make this easier we already have adaptations of the game to suit a number of environments including: Machining; Mixing; Assembly (low volume & high volume); Waste disposal; Printing; Paper; Composites; FMCG's; Food & drink.

The Simulation Game Tool Kit made up of five parts:

  1. A Project Plan
  2. A Product and Process Design Guide (to enable you to adapt our sample product and process to mimic your environment)
  3. Instructions for Trainers (running the game)
  4. A starter pack set of PowerPoint slides, which you can adapt to suit your training message
  5. Instructions of how to adapt the game to reinforce the team working, cellular manufacturing, continuous improvement, and lean enterprise, messages.

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "Excellent - Gained a great deal of knowledge - Very enjoyable also"
  • "A great way to discover the benefits"
  • "This course will provide solutions for our current supply issues"
  • "Enjoyable & very informative insight into the benefits of Kanban systems"
  • "Makes you think about the benefits you are trying to achieve"

M23 Capacity Management Foundation Course

(2 days) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

Operations planning personnel, team leaders and supervisors

Course Objectives:

Having too many, or too few, of the required resources at the right time is always very painful and can be fatal! Getting the most from them is not trivial!

This detailed, introductory course, will enable you to design and implement your own capacity management processes and evaluate the applicability of different capacity planning and control options in order to improve the processes which manage capacity and drive capacity improvement in order to:

  • Tell you how much capacity you need and when
  • Create "do-able" plans that tell you how full you are
  • Deliver your capacity's real potential & reveal hidden capacity
  • Reduce lead-time
  • And last but not least:
    • Get more output for free!

Course Highlights:

This course will help you to:

  • Day 1: Medium to Long Term: Matching Capacity to Your Sales Potential & Business Plan
    • Module 1: Introduction: Performance Drivers & Common Problems
    • Module 2: Strategic Capacity Planning / Business Planning
    • Module 3: Development, Sales & Operations Management (DS&OM) / Master Production Scheduling
    • Module 4: Simple Capacity Modelling / Rough Cut Capacity Planning (RCCP)
  • Day 2: Short Term: Coordinating Work & Maximising Throughput
    • Module 5: Maximising Workflow & Simplifying Scheduling
    • Module 6: Workflow Control
    • Module 7: Process Management (Creating & Sustaining The Best Method / Quick Change)
    • Module 8: Implementation & Driving Improvement Action Planning

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "The interactivity and practical examples were really useful"
  • "Gave me some new angles and consolidated some of my existing knowledge"
  • "The worked examples and experience shared by the trainer was great"
  • "I can see now how to reduce work in process and minimise stock"
  • "The section on simple capacity planning / scheduling was excellent"
  • "Relevant and really useful"

Note 1: M24 Materials Management & Stock Control (immediately below) provides complementary content for planning personnel and together they form a solid foundation course for new planners and operations personnel.

Note 2: This course includes overview and introductory content from courses M02, M04, M05, M11 above, & S02 Business Process Reengineering, S04 Strategic Capacity Management; S05 World Class Change Management; SSC08 Participative Development, Sales & Operations Management; OM02 Managing & Improving Individual Skills & Overall Skills Levels

 

 

M24 Materials Management & Stock Control Foundation Course

(3 days) ( Course Schedules), (Request course details)

Designed for:

Operations planning personnel, team leaders and supervisors, and especially for newcomers to this subject

Course Objectives:

The now, well accepted, Just-In-Time philosophy is still a fairly rare, practical, day-to-day reality.

This detailed, introductory, course will enable you to design, implement and maintain good materials management practice to consistently deliver excellent customer service with minimum effort and inventory. It includes overviews of current best practice thinking in materials planning and control systems and provides introductions to the most popular and effective ones.

It will help you to:

  • Remove shortages, and contain expediting activity
  • Improve customer service
  • Avoid excess stock, obsolescence and shelf life problems
  • Actually deliver the Just-In-Time theory

Course Highlights:

It covers the following topics:

  • Day 1: The Basics
    • Module 1: Manufacturing Strategy & Inventory Strategy
    • Module 2: Planning & Control Processes
    • Module 3: Variation, Stock Levels, & The Classic Max-Min Reorder Point Methods Plus Refinements
    • Module 4: Just in Time (JIT) & Visual Control Systems
  • Day 2: Introduction to the 28 Types of Planning & Control (Push / Pull) Systems & Choosing One
    • Module 5: MRP1 / MRP2 / Advanced Planning (APS)
    • Module 6: Another 4 Push Systems
    • Module 7: Overview of 7 popular Pull Systems including Kanban & Top up point of use
    • Module 8: Overview Of 14 Complementary Planning & Control Methods & Modern Trends
  • Day 3: Materials Control; New Trends & Improving your Process
    • Module 9: Designing a Materials Control Process
    • Module 10: Workflow operational processes
    • Module 11: Lean & Agile Manufacturing
    • Module 12: Driving Materials Management Performance
    • And last but not least:
      • How do you increase on-time delivery, remove the shortage list, and reduce inventory simultaneously!?

Examples of course participant's feedback:

  • "A good overview of the various aspects of materials management in today's industry"
  • "Well constructed course - The stock control module and workflow process were very relevant"
  • "Provided a good understanding of supply and demand issues"
  • "Good foundation - I found the practical exercises put things into context"
  • "The interactive nature of the course was good for me - This is my first exposure to JIT"
  • "All of the course was useful because I now have a better understanding of how everything fits in"
  • "Very useful. A lot to look at when I get back to work."

Note 1: M23 Capacity Management (above) provides complementary content  and together they form a solid foundation course for new for planning and operations personnel

Note 2: This course includes overview and introductory content from courses M01, M06, M08, M09, M10, M11, M15, M21, (All above). It also includes content from our Supply Chain Management range of courses including: SSC02 Materials Control Process Selection (which is in fact Day 2 of this course), and SSC04 Production Planning & Control: Back to Basics and SSC06 Warehouse Operations Management

 

A number of our other courses are also relevant to manufacturing companies.

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Whilst great care has been taken to provide relevant, accurate, practical, advice based on our considerable process design and development experience, this will almost certainly require interpretation into the context of your unique business. Please be careful in doing so and if in doubt seek expert advice. We would welcome your feedback!

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