QMI Solutions developed the ProVantage Lean Manufacturing program as an intensive four-day program focusing specifically on world's best lean manufacturing processes but also assisting companies gain maximum benefits through their implementation.

WHY LEAN MANUFACTURING?

Lean Manufacturing is a business philosophy characterised by the endless pursuit of waste elimination.

Lean organisations understand that waste can take many forms as any resource or activity, which is not continuously adding value to the customer, is a form of waste. The most successful organisations are those who are able to identify all the hidden forms of waste that we normally take for granted, such as inventory, excess space and the movement of materials or people.

By implementing lean practices your organisation will:

• increase throughput
• reduce operating expenses and inventories
• improved cultural change
• improved quality and reduced scrap/rework
• reduced lead times and greater supply chain responsiveness
• improved participation, communication and collaboration across the supply chain
• improved fulfillment of your order winning criteria of your customers - cost, quality, lead time, flexibility and information.

HOW LEAN ARE YOUR PROCESSES?

ProVantage conducts an in depth analysis of your company's practices to see how you rate. Many companies are surprised at how poorly they rate when it comes to lean manufacturing practices, but this is not a negative revelation. Quite the opposite, a rating of the practices clearly highlights the areas in which your company is deficient, and ProVantage shows you the steps to remedy these dysfunctional practices and prescribe an action plan to get you on track to reduce waste and improve productivity.

SO HOW DO I BECOME LEANER?

You become leaner by implementing lean best practices - ProVantage will show you how by taking you through the following steps:

• Lead and manage change with concepts and tools from the world's leading change experts, including Kotter's eight points for successful change, stages of change and dealing with resistance.
• Build and centre your teamwork activities around the empowerment and involvement of frontline workers on a common set of targets to drive continuous improvement and sustainable performance. 
• Understand the practice of continuous improvement in the workplace by focusing on eliminating major losses and waste through structured problem solving.
• Implement 5S to clean up and organise your organisation. The world's best manufacturers suggest that if you cannot excel at 5S you cannot expect to excel at anything in manufacturing.
• Learn the importance of visual performance measures in driving changes in behaviour and the benefits of displaying visual measures to your workforce. The whole organisation is able to see exactly what is being measured.
• Focuses on prevention of breakdowns and deterioration of equipment through a preventative maintenance program. Learn how to eliminate problems before they occur through operator-based maintenance and condition monitoring.
• Identify and eliminate the seven wastes in production and the six major machine losses. Waste is anything that uses resources but does not add real value as determined by the customer. Be able to practically apply techniques to reduce or eliminate the losses and wastes.
• World class manufacturing deploys pull systems to control the flow of product from one process to another. Upstream processes will only transfer products when the downstream process requires it. Learn the "Theory of Constraints" on how to detect and protect your throughput potential.
• Clarify complex systems through Value Stream Mapping, allowing identification of problem areas and a tool for effective planning of solutions and their implementation. Value stream maps are live documents which should be refined and updated as the system changes or additional information is collected.
• Learn how to develop relationships and strategic alliances, and collaborate with supply chain business partners with a common focus on end customer needs.
• Understand the need to reduce set-up times in terms of your organisation's quest for flexibility, competitiveness and contribution to your overall equipment effectiveness.

ARE YOU READY TO BECOME WORLD CLASS?

There is a standard scoring method we use to illustrate how "mature" you are when it comes to world class practices such as lean. Many companies are surprised at how low they rate on this scale, but it gives them the impetus to see what areas need to be addressed. The stages of practices maturity look like this:

Stage 1 - No best practices used and the company revolves around crisis management and ad hoc responses.

Stage 2 - Clearer understanding of company direction, imparted effectively by management.

Stage 3 - There is an ownership of practices at shop floor, middle management and senior management levels.

Stage 4 - Practices are constantly being honed and refined. Management is consultative and the company is utilising technologies to improve performance throughout the entire supply chain.

Stage 5 - Best practices are a 'way of life'. Management has adopted a mentoring style with the company and its supply chain business partners.

HOW IS PROVANTAGE STRUCTURED?

Your company should enrol participants from both management and operational functions. Five participants per company from such a cross-section is ideal to give your company the hoslitic approach to planning and implementing such changes needed to gain the most out of ProVantage.

A team of experts from QMI Solutions and other firms will facilitate the training which includes presentations, interactive discussions, a manufacturing simulation and over 30 practical exercises to maximise the learning.

The number of participating companies is usually limited to five companies to allow networking, cross-pollination of ideas and peer evaluation whilst maximising time between trainer and attendee.

DAY ONE

• Introduction to Lean Manufacturing
• Waste Reduction
• Manufacturing Simulation Workshop Run 1
• Value Stream Mapping

DAY TWO

• Leading and managing change
• Teamwork
• 5S
• Set-up Time Reduction
• Manufacturing Simulation workshop Run 2
• Self assessment of world class practices

DAY THREE

• Focused improvement (problem solving)
• Process and material frlow
• Standard work
• Visual performance measures
• Manufacturing Simulation workshop Run 3
• Self assessment of world class practices

DAY FOUR

• Supply chain management
• Effective maintenance
• Constraint based costing
• Consolidated lean manufacturing exercise
• Radar chart feedback
• Company action plans

Real results obtained:

Companies have achieved the following as a result of QMI's assistance in implementing manufacturing best practices:

Company 1

• 40% efficiency improvement translated worth approximately $400K per annum
• Lead time reduction from 28 to 5 days
• Supply chain improvements resulting in 25% increase in sales for suppliers
• Clearly defined KPIs that measure and drive performance
• Drop in cancellation rate

Company 2

• Experienced savings of $100,000
• Throughput increase of 25% from 11.7 tonnes to 14.7 tonnes per hour

Company 3

• Increased profit from 8% to 80%
• Eliminated its own competition by buying out two of its competitors
• Developed a 2010 vision for the future business plan
• Waste reduction practices improved by 60%
• Product Development practices improved by 50%
• Improved overall manufacturing practice maturity by 17%

Company 4

• 50% increase growth in manufactured product with a modest increase in resource
• Improved gross margins by 12% on a specific export project
• Improvement of quote lead time from 1 week to 1 day
• Exceeded sales budget in following December by 30%

Company 5

• Supply chain practices improved by 66% and included a Kanban Order replenishment system and a new stores system
• Maintenance practices improved by 100%
• Moved from 8 improvement ideas per month to 4 pages of ideas 

Testimonials

"All of us found the course to be very informative and extremely well presented. We have already taken some of the information from the course and implemented the ideas in various departments from within our company. It is our intention to conitnue to drive these ideas through all areas of production. We would highly recommend the course to other businesses wanting to improve their manufacturing processes."
Chris Gilfoyle - Factory Operations Manager, The Riviera Group

"From day one, the full cost of the course was recovered through the subsequent operational improvements, introduced by our attendees. There is no doubt that we will continue to benefit from our investment in this course as we now have key staff members operating on the same 'wave length' in a coordinated drive towards the successful implementation of lean manufacturing."
Kevin Feldman - Director, Dyman Foam & Image Furniture

"It is an excellent consolidation of best practice manufacturing principles, together with a gauge for measuring you own organisation's development. It is a great refresher for the experienced and introduction for up and coming manufacturing professionals. We will involve more people in this training."
David Blight - Manager Components, Sealy of Australia

"After visiting other Cascade plants around the world I was looking for a structured way to implement the array of World Class Manufacturing techniques that were being used.

Having attended the program with 7 other people from Cascade, I can highly recommend the workshop series for other manufacturers. We found the five days packed with practical information covering all aspects of Lean Manufacturing and how they can be applied in the workplace.

In a short space of time we have already made significant inroads to improving the culture and processes in our operation, both in the plant and in the office. In the factory we have been able to sustain a 50% growth in volume with only a modest increase in resources. We have also achieved major reductions in inventory and space required. In the office we found 6 skips of rubbish during our 5S Clear Up Exercise.

QMI delivers the workshop in a professional and knowledgeable way and has been instrumental in helping us to refocus our attention on the important "Best Practices". It is an invaluable source of information for manufacturers."
Graham Strowe - Manufacturing Manager, Cascade Pty Ltd

"The program has highlighted to myself and my staff where and how we can improve our business in very practical and tangible ways. It has been a great experience to join with other companies and find they have similar issues. I would thoroughly recommend it for any company that wishes to grow their business."
Mark Ceh - Managing Director, Ergofurn

To register for the program or view upcoming dates and locations, visit our Calendar of Events