Subject: {FIRSTNAME}, here's how you go about adapting lean maufacturing into your business ... Hello {FIRSTNAME}, Thank you for subscribing to my lean manufacturing ecourse! In this ecourse you'll learn all about: 1. Part 1 - What is lean manufacturing? 2. Part 2 - Lean manufacturing tools 3. Part 3 - Questions, diagnostics and assesments 4. Part 4 - Areas in business where lean can help 5. Part 5 - Ten steps to enable lean manufacturing into your business Let's go ahead & get started today with "Questions, diagnostics and assesments". Part 3 - Questions, diagnostics and assesments ============================ You can not change what you do not acknowledge or know about. Lean Manufacturing brings with the appeal and awareness to ‘take note’ and notice things around you (cost, waste, movement, clutter, scrap etc.) and then DO something real, meaningful and constructive about it! What improvements should and could be made are both important questions to ask, prioritize and act upon. Customer priorities, things that affect your incoming revenue should get attention quickly and first. Things like quality, lead and waiting, cycle time, cost, inventory and other internal processes that affect the customer and are ‘internal’ and controllable, should be dealt with expediently. In order to get you started asking the right type of questions could provide you with hints as to a strategy and starting point/priority: Which process or step should get the bulk of our immediate attention –where is the biggest WIN-WIN for both the customer and the company? What are all the priorities that we need to pay attention to in this organization/business and operation, map the processes and make the list. Then ask in what order you should tackle the priorities? How do we get the BEST improvements the quickest way? How do/can we tap into the benefits of LM right away? If reducing overhead, quality costs and inventory to save money, reduce weight and be a smooth operating, streamlined and cost-efficient provider are keys to your business success, LM can help your business in all aspects and areas. Taking the theory of LM to the practical implementation will take planning, patience and persistence. Determination, detail orientation and discipline. We often refer to these as the THREE p’s and the THREE d’s to make them easy to remember. Gradual, planned, focused effort is what it is all about. Step-by-step instructions and actions to get to improvements over time, that can be sustained, stable and predictable are essential. If any of the following scenarios are important to your business, LM can help you reach targets and goals in this area that you set for you, your team and your business: Increasing operating margin and revenue Reduce manufacturing lead, wait and cycle times Lessen WIP or work-in-progress inventory (half-completed product), time and space costs money! Reduce costs Reducing manufacturing overhead and quality costs Increase gross profit margin Get customers what they want, when they want it, anytime, every time and all the time, quickly and correctly, affordably and on-demand. Achieve consistent quality and low defect rate (scrap/waste) Make the most of your shareholder value and you can not go wrong. Achieve high levels of improvement rates and customer satisfaction, quality products, low costs and do so quickly and you remain competitive and profitable. Get and keep your processes under control and improve getting better all the time, setting and positioning yourself head-and-shoulders above the masses and mediocrity. Help define and execute your competitive edge with a well-thought out, supported, gradual deployment, throughout or LM in your business and you are set for desired outcomes, success and results! Having a very real measurable impact and resulting dramatic improvements in your business listening to your customer complaints can give you great hints as to where some of the problems might lie. DO NOT hesitate to ASK them! They will tell you. It is a wonderful opportunity and channel to let your customers know that what they want, say and need, REALLY MATTERS. If you provide this level Next time we'll be discussing alittle about "Areas in business where lean can help". For more information about this part of Questions, diagnostics and assesments, please refer to my definitive guide to lean manufacturing at Take Care,