Kirk has authored a number of articles on topics as varied as Theory of
Constraints (TOC) and Lean
Manufacturing to Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) systems. The intent
of these presentations is to provoke thought and interest in changing the status
quo. You may agree or disagree with some of the content and think to challenge other
aspects, but hopefully will find some value and use from these papers.
Download an overview of all white papers.
Have you reduced costs dramatically and
yet it never seems to be enough to meet profitability goals? Customers continue
to push for lower prices due to competition, “‘poor” market conditions and
a whole host of other reasons. You have “hit the wall”: limited ability to
increase profit from the cost side, you need more revenues.
So how do get out of this cycle? You thought taking cost out of the
business was all that was needed to improve profitability and growth, but this
has not been the case as all eyes are now on Sales.
The retail sector has been a supply chain
innovator. Consider Wal-Mart and
Costco: their low prices are driven by more than large buying power, but success
taking cost out of the supply chain. Many
other retailers, including fashion oriented, are focusing on supply chain to
improve bottom line results. So what
do you look for to identify opportunities in your retail supply chain?
The largest costs in the supply chain may not be the best areas to focus
for improvements, but in other related areas.
Would you like to introduce someone to the
depth and breadth of Lean Manufacturing? This
article describes the many aspects of Lean as an integrated enterprise
transformation program rather than as being just shop floor cost reduction, work
cells and pull techniques.
Solutions providers tend to “sell”
their product or service as the “answer”.
For operations performance improvement we find a number of very devoted
followers to any one of several paths. But
when can some of these various approaches be used together effectively? Should
you consider mixing an matching to best achieve your objectives? This article
may be the United Nations for the improvement debate.
How many times have we been asked about
the conflict between an ERP push and Lean Manufacturing pull approach? This
seems to occur because nearly every company has an ERP application or is
starting Lean from a push planning background.
The “answer” is that they can coexist, but only when the line of
demarcation has been firmly drawn and is actively managed.
Are you facing a major operational
decision: new plant, expanding or changing layout on an existing plant, adding
of consolidating warehouses, moving into new distribution channels, etc.
All of these and many more key operational decisions (including the
decision to do nothing), can make or break cost, service, inventory levels and
other key factors. The question is:
how well have you anticipated the implications and results? Using simulation to
asses these key decisions should be referred to as Friday morning
quarterbacking: stealing the film for tomorrow’s game to set strategies
today…
Deciding on a
new enterprise resources planning (ERP) system seems like a straightforward
task; gather requirements and put the solutions vendors through their paces.
What may not be so readily apparent are the key drivers of the benefits,
which can be “lost” in the numerous requirements and vendor demonstrations.
This paper uses case studies to place focus on using the value drivers as
primary selection criteria and as a change agent.
Click on the links above to download the papers of interest to you and your
organization.
