Lean/ Six Sigma

Lean Manufacturing is an operational strategy eliminating waste in work processes, by instituting continuous improvement programs. These programs are highly effective in raising the productivity of manufacturing companies of all sizes and from all segments. The next opportunity for benefit is to take the tools and methodologies of these disciplines and apply them to aspects of the entire value chain - Lean Engineering, Lean Marketing, Lean Sales, Lean IT, Lean Accounting.... A Lean Enterprise.

Increasingly, companies are combining continuous improvement and IT strategy to magnify the benefits of both. As these programs expand, however, they become increasingly more difficult to prioritize and sustain. Manufacturing Insights ongoing research demonstrates best approaches to being effective in this area including utilizing metrics to set priorities and enterprise applications to sustain benefits. Our research identifies areas where Lean practices have improved world-class manufacturing operations.

Consideration of lean processes and manufacturing is not given enough attention during the design process and the design process itself is burdened by wasteful activity. Manufacturing Insights, using interviews with leading Lean practitioners, outlines best practices for designing Lean friendly products and for leaning out the design process itself.

The use of Lean to coordinate multiple manufacturing plants and its expansion to include other areas of the business have outstripped the ability of manual systems to keep up. Manufacturing Insights looks at the Lean capabilities of both the ERP and specialty vendors and provides guidance on how to automate Lean efforts, and assemble a more efficient business environment.

Manufacturing Insights research identifies three areas of IT resource management that deliver significant business benefit. The research looks at the importance of creating an electronic hub for connecting the supply chain, and the use of portfolio management techniques will be discussed and how they can better align demand for new IT capability with resources.

Associated Advisory Services:

Emerging Manufacturing Agenda
IT Portfolio Strategies

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