5 Ways To Strengthen Your Communication With A Supplier

Suppliers are your friends! Depending on your role in your organization, they may be your most important friends. A supply chain can become highly streamlined or remain stagnant based on relationship with your vendors. With less-than-perfect supplier communication, incorrect parts are shipped, dates are missed resulting in shortages for your business, and targets are missed. Not to mention all that stress, on both sides! If your supplier relationships are a bit bumpy at times, don’t worry — a little preparation and communication can go a long way. Here are 5 tips for improving communication with your suppliers and reaping the results. Continue Reading “5 Ways To Strengthen Your Communication With A Supplier” →

By Manufacturing Best Practices

How to Make Lean Really Stick

Have you ever spent tons of time planning and executing a new lean project, only to have it lose steam just a few months later? Sustainability in lean is extremely difficult to achieve, so this might sound familiar. It’s like your project never happened in the first place!

When people who put together a project move onto other responsibilities, all your progress can fall away. Launching new continuous improvement initiatives is important, but sustaining and expanding is where the real business impact emerges.

In order for a lean project to truly be successful, it has to stick around beyond its initial implementation. Here’s what you can do to ensure that your efforts (and the business results) make lean really stick around for the long haul. Continue Reading “How to Make Lean Really Stick” →

By Lean & Continuous ImprovementOne Comment

How to Deal With Material Shortage Using Analytics and Collaboration

Supply chain managers are constantly hampered by distractions. You get stuck monitoring on-time deliveries, vendor-managed inventory (VMI), and impending (or existing!) shortages. Ever feel frustrated by the challenge of how to deal with material shortages?

It seems there’s hardly any time to seek real solutions when you’re so busy applying bandaids. Believe it or not, there are initiatives supply chain managers can implement to reduce shortages, save costs, and smooth out the process. Continue Reading “How to Deal With Material Shortage Using Analytics and Collaboration” →

By Manufacturing Best Practices