MOST Analysis

Mission Statement

Mission Statement

The mission for this workshop # 3 is to introduce and explore the Pareto Principle and Waste Reduction, also stated as priorities and non-value-added activity.

Objectives

Early in this program, bring forth two of the most important elements of manufacturing productivity. Demonstrate how these two concepts are linked and should be considered with each subsequent element of productivity. Explore the applications which each topic contributes to Manufacturing Productivity.

Strategy

Explain the history of the Pareto Principle, and of Waste Reduction. Provide the theories behind each, and how they individually and collectively benefit Total Productivity.

Tasks

There is extensive opportunity to apply the Pareto Principle and Waste Reduction in manufacturing operations.
Point out the particular ways in which both the Pareto Principle and Waste Reduction may be utilized, and detail them.

Explain how to implement improvement opportunities. Specify, by area of the organization, examples of productivity improvement which can be realized, how they can be found and achieved, and what relationships with other topics will pertain.

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Objectives

01. Pareto and Priority: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
02. Different Strategy And Priority For The Boardroom And For The Manufacturing Floor
: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
03. This Year, Right Now: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
04. Total Productivity Is The Target: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
05. Reduce Waste, Executive Level Strategy And Actions: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
06. Reduce Waste, Manufacturing Floor Strategy And Actions: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month
07. Waste Possible In Facility Planning, Layout, And Flow: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. 1 Month
08. Waste Can Occur Throughout Many Activities: departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development. Time Allocated: 1 Month

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Strategies

01. Pareto and Priority: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
02. Different Strategy And Priority For The Boardroom And For The Manufacturing Floor
: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
03. This Year, Right Now: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
04. Total Productivity Is The Target: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
05. Reduce Waste, Executive Level Strategy And Actions: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
06. Reduce Waste, Manufacturing Floor Strategy And Actions: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
07. Waste Possible In Facility Planning, Layout, And Flow: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.
08. Waste Can Occur Throughout Many Activities: Each individual department head to undertake departmental SWOT analysis; strategy research & development.

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Tasks

01. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Pareto and Priority.
02. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Different Strategy And Priority For The Boardroom And For The Manufacturing Floor.
03. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze This Year, Right Now.
04. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Total Productivity Is The Target.
05. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Reduce Waste, Executive Level Strategy And Actions.
06. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Reduce Waste, Manufacturing Floor Strategy And Actions.
07. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Waste Possible In Facility Planning, Layout, And Flow.
08. Create a task on your calendar, to be completed within the next month, to analyze Waste Can Occur Throughout Many Activities.

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Introduction

Welcome to Workshop # 3 in the Manufacturing Productivity series.

We appreciate that you have found the time to fit this learning experience into your schedule, and that the company thinks well enough of your talents and capabilities to include you in the participants.

Manufacturing Productivity is a one-year leadership program with monthly workshops that will focus on specific subjects each month. This month, those subjects are the Pareto Principle and the urgency to cut out non-value-added activity.

Cut waste, and Pareto, work well in parallel.

Many facets of productivity improvement can be practiced alone, and may or may not relate to other productivity tools. That is definitely not true however for Pareto and non-value-added activity. When you become familiar with these two, you will see that they apply to every subsequent productivity process. As you choose to practice any other productivity improvement opportunity, very early you will want to determine if non-value-added activities exist; then using Pareto, determine the priority that the situation deserves, to resolve it.

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Pareto

For “Pareto”, you may substitute Priority, if you aren’t up to date on Italian history of the late 19th century. Vilfredo Pareto performed research, which allowed him to state that about 80% of Italian land was owned by about 20% of the population. There are reference sources that state the findings were published in 1906; there are those that state, starting in 1896. Pareto as a sociologist was prone to put words with his data as well, and modern sources give them a modern-day hearing. The Pareto Principle is based on the research findings.

Manufacturing Productivity is concerned with only the numbers, however. Particularly the Pareto distribution, which is a power-law distribution, used to describe characteristics in a wide variety of financial, social, actuarial, geopolitical phenomena. Thanks to Joseph Juran, who understood that the Pareto Principle defined quality issues as well, for instance that 80% of quality problems are caused by a small number, perhaps the 20% of the possible causes. Juran himself, and others, also realized that Pareto would apply to management practices in general, with the belief that attention to only a few issues will control a large number of results.

Count this Manufacturing Productivity program among those who believe and practice what Pareto preached. However, along with Joseph Juran, we realize that the 80% cannot be forever ignored. The old proverb tells us, “For want of a nail, a shoe was lost” then a horse and a rider and a battle.

Other modern names for Pareto are the 80-20 rule and ABC inventory. A recurring tenant of this series then will be the Pareto principle because we will routinely direct attention to the A items, the more important few topics that have the most impact, in your particular situation.

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Cut Waste, Or Non-Value-Added Activity

As for cut out non-value-added activity, the concept has had many manifestations.

The most well known at the moment is that one of the two pillars of the Toyota Production System is the command, to Cut Waste. In earlier lives, mid-20th Century, this concept was called Value Engineering, or Value Analysis, or Work Simplification. Earlier than that, two of the first practitioners of modern productivity, Frederick Taylor and Frank Gilbreth, made the elimination of waste at the workplace a primary component of their initial teachings. As early as the late 1800’s, it was a basic element of Taylor’s “Scientific Management”. At that time, the phrase used was “inefficiency”, as Taylor said, “in almost all of our daily acts.”

Whatever the name, waste elimination is a superior practice. Don’t improve, remove.

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Total Productivity

Frederick Taylor, Frank Gilbreth, and long after he died his wife Lillian Gilbreth, researched and wrote prolifically on the workplace. Value Analysis and Toyota expanded the application, to remove waste from other aspects of the business, effectively building the Pareto Principle into the equation. Manufacturing Productivity follows that lead; show me the money.

Actions taken for one purpose can cause results in another sector; the dreaded law of unintended consequences; collateral damage. In productivity improvement, we find that such relationships occur, and frequently.

Corporate productivity improvement is generally looking for the best overall results, to improve Total Productivity. After a particular action it is quite possible that cost reductions in one sector may be offset by increases elsewhere. Quite frequently during this workshop the contradictions and offsets, advantages and disadvantages, which occur will be explained.

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The Present Day

In this workshop, which concentrates on Pareto, we will endeavor to mention a large number of typical manufacturing issues. We will then correlate these ”usual suspects” with what seems to be particularly relevant in our present situations. It is obvious, isn’t it, that in any discussion of importance there must be a time element. What is significant, today. The participants in the workshops will be encouraged to identify, in the Pareto fashion, those current issues which are most meaningful in your circumstances. Those which will get you the biggest bang for your buck. Show me the money.

This workshop will discuss the concept of removing waste. We will of course relate that to what happens on the shop floor. But as we know this attention to productivity does not concentrate entirely on the shop floor. There are many opportunities throughout an entire organization, across all areas of the organization chart, which present fruitful opportunities to find and remove non-value-added activity. We will go there.

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The Best Answer

And we must start by qualifying that the best answer Is limited to a single organization, at a certain point in time. Different situations result in a different best answer. Company A’s best answer may not be the same as company B’s choice.

Today’s one best answer, for your organization, in the interests of total productivity, can come about in a variety of ways. Initially, describe the question carefully.

Then, an organization can consciously seek out the best answer, from the information available. Another organization may search for information relating to one subject, and as a byproduct, develop information that leads to another beneficial result. In any case, there are likely to be several possible answers, involving different technical solutions, costs, and timelines.

In the search for the one best answer for your organization, please be alert to existing instances of waste in all its forms. Find the serious waste, and prioritize depending on what your potential benefits will be a likelihood of success.

The businesses in these examples were alert to the existence of waste, and when they detected it, even in unexpected locations, were able to remove significant amounts.

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Case Study

A modern construction company initiated a work measurement project whose primary purpose was to develop an incentive system for masons building residential homes of concrete block, pouring slabs and walks.

The first sequence of events then was to employ work measurement, both as time study and as work sampling, to document what happened and to quantify just how long actions took. That process is quite standard for the objectives, and proceeded normally.

The results of the work measurement to management were received in two ways. The objective times quantified for the masonry work itself did not vary much from what management, experienced in masonry, had expected.

But management was very surprised, perhaps astounded is a better word, at the amount of delay and waste that was documented by the direct observation of multiple worksites. As a result, the first major change was an installation of a formal reporting system from each side for the periods of waste and delay that were large enough to be recorded. The reports rightfully received attention, and delay declined

An incentive program was in fact developed, but it initially rewarded site managers rather than masons. Site managers had control over the non-productive activity, and delay, as well as that of the tradesmen. A modern construction site has quite a bit of organization and structure to it, but never as much as that of a production plant line or plant floor, so there is a lot to manage.

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Case Study

A large medical billing company had installed work measurement previously, but had not maintained it very well. By utilizing employees with a training background as work measurement observers, the operation quickly started to review and update rates.

The observers employed a sophisticated practice of work measurement, and observed different people in different sections om different shifts performing the same transactions. This technique allows the objective standard to be representative. but it also indicated the different sections were employing somewhat different technique.

For this company the findings pointed out inconsistency in results, a waste which they immediately started to correct.

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Case Study

A section of a textile company created an automotive product on a line of linked machinery. Output routinely was insufficient to cover production demand. After no solution had been found nor corrective measures taken, the product director of sales contacted a consultant. Together they worked with the line, considering all the factors.

Various relatively small issues were found incorrectly, but the major problem was found to be an omission. It was determined that the preventative maintenance program for the primary piece of equipment in the production line was not being followed, and the equipment downtime was the essential cause of the low production record. When PM was restored, the waste which came from machine and line downtime were dramatically reduced production increased.

The emphasis was on restoring proper maintenance, rather than determining why it was discontinued. Perhaps someone in good faith believed that preventive maintenance itself took a machine out of production for a while, so it was better not to do it.

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Case Study

A cosmetics producer in Central America studied its cost picture and realized that a raw material, in this case inexpensive bottles, was inordinately costly in total. No local supplier of the parts was available, so they had to buy in large batch sizes on another continent, and much of the facility was dedicated to storage of the containers before filling.

The supply strategy is being reviewed, with a plan to create a local bottle source, independently or in conjunction with other users of similar parts, or invest in blow molding equipment on their own, or change containers to a component which is more available locally.

Production price may well be higher but when all the transportation and storage costs are added, local production will be less expensive and more reliable. In addition, warehouse space can be utilized for production when volume justifies it.

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Case Study

A very high-tech job shop and pilot plant in the aerospace business had kept up admirably with the state of the art, in the computer-operated machining equipment which it operated. But, as is the case in very many successful operations, a need arose for more processing floor space.

In the interests of flexibility, this shop had previously retained all of the manual machining equipment which it had possessed. The judgment was made to continue to retain some of each category of equipment, but to remove the others. An analysis was made of the current state of the art of electronic processing equipment, and of the machining requirements indicated at the present time, to produce new models and prototypes that clients were requesting.

With this information they removed some equipment and utilized the now-available floor space, then rearranged some equipment and added others to prepare for the future. Not a major move, but it reclaimed wasted floor space and enabled other actions.

It was believed that this strategy, of removing some equipment, was not completely without risk. But benefits were judged to outweigh the potential risk.

Case Study

A company utilized crew members over a modern, long-cycle, electro-deposition process. The work activities were partly controlled by the process, and partly by the work itself, and were therefore somewhat difficult to evaluate in total. A series of time studies was authorized of several crews and various equipment. Management had in mind a rearrangement of tasks, and wanted confirmation through objective work measurement.

After these studies were performed and the elemental times were calculated, it was found that the proposed task rearrangement was quite acceptable. In addition some non-value-added elements were eliminated, and complex man-machine relationships were better understood.

A previously un-recognized equipment restraint became apparent, which was corrected in the task rearrangement. The final manpower cost was reduced, both straight time and overtime.

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Case Study

A very popular hamburger chain took your order and then prepared, fresh, what you wanted. No waiting in an oven for their burgers. Naturally they desired to reduce the preparation time to minimize the customer wait. Fresh food has a value, but even a faithful customer doesn’t want to wait too long.

So, management brought in a work measurement analyst and installed him in the company chef’s pilot plant and test kitchen.

In addition to customer service, a purpose was to do time studies of potential new equipment. Models of new equipment that appeared to be promising were set up in the kitchen. The first item on the list was to determine which model was the most efficient, quickest performer, doing its job on the line, and in change over and clean up. That was the job of the work measurement analyst. The chef used the equipment in order to find out how well it did its cooking job.

Another purpose to the study existed, which the chef was well aware of. The faster a burger is prepared and served, the better it will taste.
In this case as the waste of time was minimized, benefits included less direct labor in the product cost, faster customer service, and improved taste.

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The Lesson in this series of case studies, or perhaps a common thread, is this. There may well be an objective and a planned approach at first. Follow that approach. As you do, however, keep your eyes open, and be prepared to welcome what you find elsewhere. Look for waste the same way.

Seeking productivity solutions has something in common with looking for golf balls or looking for parking places. The favored strategy is, first look in those locations where you want them to be. But as you know already, manufacturing is a complex, dynamic, environment and the answer is not always what you might expect.

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Pareto And Non-Value-Added Activity

The concepts of the Pareto Principle and of reducing waste are discussed in this early workshop because they complement each other throughout Manufacturing Productivity.

In many instances throughout this program, whenever a particular circumstance is considered in the search for productivity, the very first action recommended is to seek out non-value-added activity. Number one in priority, get rid of the waste. Remove, as the first step to improve.

This workshop, # 3, will explore the possible waste, or non-value-added activity that can occur in all categories of manufacturing life. Today we will cover a large number of situations in general. Then in future workshops the discussions will include much more detail, with processes and tools described for improvement. This way, in this early workshop, we will alert the reader to the existence of these potential improvement possibilities, so that you will recognize them

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Executive Summary

Productivity as we have stated is defined as output divided by input. To improve productivity, a business can increase output or decrease input. Workshop #3 will place a particular emphasis on decreasing input, through waste reduction, or by another name, eliminate non-value-added activity.

We will introduce and explore the Pareto principle and waste reduction. Think priorities, and how your organization will choose which non-value-added activity to pursue. Additionally, we’ll offer many specific, proven ideas out early, that may hold special promise for your organization.

That’s the plan. The topics won’t appear in great detail in WS #3 but enough to illustrate the benefits, and the interrelationships of topics. Future workshops will fill in detail.

Today’s topics link prioritization and removal of non-value-added activity, as they so frequently are linked in practice. You intuitively will recognize some instances of waste, and many more are listed which perhaps you had not thought of in relation to waste. We will explore just where the different categories of waste fit into a priority plan, so that you may apply tactic, depending on your own interpretation and needs. With a little luck and practice, you will learn how to swat the problem like a fly and move on.

We will address Pareto and waste, for the ramifications on the manufacturing floor, as any Manufacturing Productivity program will do. But we will also spend time on strategy, and unintended consequences, and how to avoid them. No, that is not right, because you really can’t avoid unintended consequences. Perhaps the best that we can expect is to anticipate the variable impacts that can result from a strategy.

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Strategy

Today, and subsequently, a common feature of a workshop will be to address boardroom strategy that has a direct bearing on manufacturing floor productivity.

Probably you have made plenty of business judgements before, and justified answers. But since earlier assumptions, perhaps there are a new set of conditions and circumstances that now appear to apply. World-wide, market, priorities conditions are changing.

If you delve into one or more of these analyses seriously, don’t expect a quick fix; you knew that. Later workshops will contain detail about the procedures, but first comes the decision point. For example,

• With inventory control, in your operations, is “just in time” or “just in case” more likely to succeed?
• Your scheduling model of choice, should you build to order (pull) or build to stock (push)?
• Should you make rather than buy selected products and components?
• Buy from vendors in the home country or offshore? What was a good answer previously may not be today.
• What techniques are in place for employee motivation, and is it time to consider a labor incentive?
• Is there a regular product pruning, to cost justify the products in the sales catalog?
• Does your accounting system smear overhead costs or use Activity Based Costing? Without accurate allocation, the product pruning arithmetic can be off as well as KPI results.
• Do you address total unit productivity, and not just on the shop floor?

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1: Pareto, And Waste, A Working Basis

Get to know Pareto and how the principle can add to your capability.

It may not be, probably is not, obvious to you why, in this the third workshop on manufacturing productivity, the subjects are Pareto? And cut waste? Perhaps if you could cut anything it would be to cut to the chase, get to the important topics. Well, that’s just exactly what we are doing. Pareto is all about the most important things, subjects, topics, strategy, solutions. Priority.

In this program on Manufacturing Productivity, we’ll talk about many useful and ingenious ideas to improve productivity, but only you can choose which of those is THE most important for your immediate application. The characteristics of your manufacturing situation will be different from those of anyone else, so only you can choose those topics which are the most important, which will have the greatest impact on your particular circumstances. You are the one to move a topic to the top of a to-do list.

Discussions in this workshop and following ones will extend over multiple topics, but it will be up to your eagle eye to pick out the most applicable solutions to your issues, suitable for your resources, culture, timetable, and budget.

As for the subject or waste, by which we mean non-value-added activity, only you can recognize waste in your own organization. From examples sited here, apply the recommended tests, and judge whether you are getting your money’s worth for an expense line item.

Vilfredo Pareto was the first to document that a small number of people owned a large amount of property, in 19th century Italy. Since then, the finding has been extrapolated and shown to apply to many other distributions; for instance that a small number of manufacturing problems have a very large impact.

It is to our advantage to employ the Pareto principle to manufacturing productivity, in order for us correctly to understand the significance of problems and opportunities and to assign them their proper priority in action plans.

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2: Production Floor Pareto-Ranked Issues

In theory, Pareto would probably say that labor, materials, on-time delivery, on-budget spending, equipment utilization are leading issues on a production floor today.

Wasted time could be stated as work hours lost, imbalance of workloads, waiting, double handling, hours not used in the 24. Material scrap, tools expended, energy used. Unnecessarily long cycle times. Space not used effectively,

In practice, on your production floor, today. Rank what you consider to be the most important, for your organization. The usual suspects first, then what the year will push your way. Review recent reports, perhaps:

• Labor performance and variances and output schedules
• Material usage performance and variances.
• Overtime, open but unfilled labor slots.
• Actual production compared to plan. Backorders.
• Equipment utilization, capacity, up-time.
• Hours not used in the 24, space usage.
• Current issues in your operations; such as facilities, labor supply, supply chain, technology, product mix.

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3: Support Groups, For Pareto-Ranked Issues

Fortunately, your organization will have support groups, whose efforts will be related to the success of manufacturing. But maintenance, materials management, new product development, quality, warehousing and docks, also have their own productivity to consider. For all the categories, consider actual performance reports, and specially perceived shortcomings; those that are already been proven to be priorities. Then consider as well as what the year may bring.

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4. Executive Suite, Pareto-Ranked Issues

Not for the first time in this manufacturing productivity series, it’s obvious that we will need to review some of the long-standing assumptions, and strategy that has been established based on those assumptions, in the light of today’s issues. The world is becoming a different place and it may (or may not) affect the way that you should do business.

In theory, what should we consider? Today’s issues in your operations, with your facilities, do they include trained labor access, materials supply chain, blockades, energy supply and usage, waste disposal and environmental situation, sales market? Arrange the issues and opportunities into a ranking, by priority as you see it.

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5: Contradictions Abound

In workshop number 5 under the subject of outcomes, we’ll make the point that different activities will have contradictory effects on different outcomes.

Manufacturing Productivity topics depend, to a very large extent, on strategic decisions that are made in the executive conference room. Such judgments almost always contain multiple factors, and the net effect of the decision will be intended to favor overall costs.

At the same time, the same decision can have a negative effect on manufacturing floor level productivity. Contradictory results are quite common within manufacturing productivity, and we will discuss examples. Once again there is not necessarily a right or wrong textbook answer, so we will attempt to provide descriptions that lead to the correct overall decisions.

Here are a few obvious contradictions, within the concept of total productivity.

i. Buying large volume of parts from a single source (about page #1 in the purchasing manual), will results in low costs. This does not go on to say, or maybe a modern manual does, that delivery is directly dependent on variables at the vendors location, such as typhoons, tidal waves, pandemics, governmental disagreements, tariffs, shipping backups and drought, fuel prices, etc. Blockades.

Big time costs occur when material supplies are interrupted, we know that.

On page two of the purchasing manual there is a suggestion, when you purchase at a lower volume from another vendor there will be higher prices, and the buyer will have much less.

leverage with the vendor. The upside however is that another pathway to obtaining satisfactory components has been established, with material specs, contract terms. Probably even occasional purchase orders are placed to keep the lines open.

ii. Second contradiction, involving Just in Time and Just in Case inventory models.

JIT minimizes the costs to carry inventory, and to store it, minimizes obsolescence. But when the supply chain is interrupted, or quality questioned, the most serious negatives usually impact the manufacturing floor. When unplanned product sales orders arrive, but no parts are on hand, then sales over budget can’t be produced. Even more minor changes in short term product mix may not be covered by JIT.

In this particular set of contradictions is Just in Case, in which larger inventories are kept on hand. JIC is more fail-safe, and can more easily resolve increases or variations in schedules. Their downside of course is that more inventory is kept on hand, tying up money and requiring storage space.

Please note here that Just in Case, with larger inventories, is more justifiable financially when the cost of money is low. It appears that the cost of money is going to rise. But at this same time, it appears that the supply chain is becoming more complex, and just in time deliveries will be at risk even further. Good luck.

iii. Work measurement, a foundation of this productivity series, requires some expense to establish and administer production rates. And that cost will occur in the overhead category. The benefits will show up in direct labor productivity, where labor cost per product unit can be expected to dive as measurement progresses.

iv. Preventative maintenance, PM, requires a cost to apply, which will be shown as indirect labor and maintenance materials. But PM will save direct production labor and materials, and reduce machine downtime and scrap rates, through more pure capacity and fewer line interruptions.

v. Equipment which is dedicated to a specialized activity will normally be simpler and faster than equipment capable of multipurpose use. On the other hand, fewer pieces of multipurpose equipment may be required for the same output, and less floor space. Training requirements and output speeds may vary as well.

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6. Outside The Box

Did you know that the Baltimore Museum of Art has new curators? The security guards. A start to the decision came about in February 2020 during a discussion about how to engage with the security guards, who spend more time with the art than anyone. dress them up nicely and they do both jobs. This probably won’t apply to you directly but think about it.

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7. The Toolkits Available

The processes and tools that are presented in manufacturing productivity are uniformly simple, and easy to apply without sophisticated electronics or processes. Workshop manuals contain them. Most often, the processes request that you calculate the cost of each of multiple options and choose, based on the best likely result for your organization.

Quite often, in an Introduction or Executive Summary, a concept or a case study from an entirely different production circumstance, will be pertinent to a problem within your own sphere of influence, right now.

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8. How Future Workshops Will Address The Issues

Each of the future workshops address issues, concerns or problems within a particular category of a typical manufacturing operation.

A workshop will have a section which approaches executive concerns, strategy, and concepts, and other sections which relate to floor level topics, move for manufacturing and for manufacturing support functions.

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9. The One Best Way, And There Is Always A Better Way

Experience has shown that manufacturing productivity is a never-ending quest. That can hardly be a surprise, because manufacturing is dynamic. The recommended sequence to productivity improvement is to document processes which are now in place, then to improve them. The improvements then become the new best way, until they in turn are surpassed.

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Curriculum

Manufacturing Productivity – Workshop 3 – The Pareto Principle, and Remove Waste

1. Pareto and Priority.
2. Different Strategy And Priority For The Boardroom And For The Manufacturing Floor
   
3. This Year, Right Now
4. Total Productivity Is The Target
5. Reduce Waste, Executive Level Strategy And Actions
6. Reduce Waste, Manufacturing Floor Strategy And Actions
7. Waste Possible In Facility Planning, Layout, And Flow
8. Waste Can Occur Throughout Many Activities

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Distance Learning

Introduction

Welcome to Appleton Greene and thank you for enrolling on the Manufacturing Productivity corporate training program. You will be learning through our unique facilitation via distance-learning method, which will enable you to practically implement everything that you learn academically. The methods and materials used in your program have been designed and developed to ensure that you derive the maximum benefits and enjoyment possible. We hope that you find the program challenging and fun to do. However, if you have never been a distance-learner before, you may be experiencing some trepidation at the task before you. So we will get you started by giving you some basic information and guidance on how you can make the best use of the modules, how you should manage the materials and what you should be doing as you work through them. This guide is designed to point you in the right direction and help you to become an effective distance-learner. Take a few hours or so to study this guide and your guide to tutorial support for students, while making notes, before you start to study in earnest.

Study environment

You will need to locate a quiet and private place to study, preferably a room where you can easily be isolated from external disturbances or distractions. Make sure the room is well-lit and incorporates a relaxed, pleasant feel. If you can spoil yourself within your study environment, you will have much more of a chance to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind when you do devote time to study. For example, a nice fire, the ability to play soft soothing background music, soft but effective lighting, perhaps a nice view if possible and a good size desk with a comfortable chair. Make sure that your family know when you are studying and understand your study rules. Your study environment is very important. The ideal situation, if at all possible, is to have a separate study, which can be devoted to you. If this is not possible then you will need to pay a lot more attention to developing and managing your study schedule, because it will affect other people as well as yourself. The better your study environment, the more productive you will be.

Study tools & rules

Try and make sure that your study tools are sufficient and in good working order. You will need to have access to a computer, scanner and printer, with access to the internet. You will need a very comfortable chair, which supports your lower back, and you will need a good filing system. It can be very frustrating if you are spending valuable study time trying to fix study tools that are unreliable, or unsuitable for the task. Make sure that your study tools are up to date. You will also need to consider some study rules. Some of these rules will apply to you and will be intended to help you to be more disciplined about when and how you study. This distance-learning guide will help you and after you have read it you can put some thought into what your study rules should be. You will also need to negotiate some study rules for your family, friends or anyone who lives with you. They too will need to be disciplined in order to ensure that they can support you while you study. It is important to ensure that your family and friends are an integral part of your study team. Having their support and encouragement can prove to be a crucial contribution to your successful completion of the program. Involve them in as much as you can.

Successful distance-learning

Distance-learners are freed from the necessity of attending regular classes or workshops, since they can study in their own way, at their own pace and for their own purposes. But unlike traditional internal training courses, it is the student’s responsibility, with a distance-learning program, to ensure that they manage their own study contribution. This requires strong self-discipline and self-motivation skills and there must be a clear will to succeed. Those students who are used to managing themselves, are good at managing others and who enjoy working in isolation, are more likely to be good distance-learners. It is also important to be aware of the main reasons why you are studying and of the main objectives that you are hoping to achieve as a result. You will need to remind yourself of these objectives at times when you need to motivate yourself. Never lose sight of your long-term goals and your short-term objectives. There is nobody available here to pamper you, or to look after you, or to spoon-feed you with information, so you will need to find ways to encourage and appreciate yourself while you are studying. Make sure that you chart your study progress, so that you can be sure of your achievements and re-evaluate your goals and objectives regularly.

Self-assessment

Appleton Greene training programs are in all cases post-graduate programs. Consequently, you should already have obtained a business-related degree and be an experienced learner. You should therefore already be aware of your study strengths and weaknesses. For example, which time of the day are you at your most productive? Are you a lark or an owl? What study methods do you respond to the most? Are you a consistent learner? How do you discipline yourself? How do you ensure that you enjoy yourself while studying? It is important to understand yourself as a learner and so some self-assessment early on will be necessary if you are to apply yourself correctly. Perform a SWOT analysis on yourself as a student. List your internal strengths and weaknesses as a student and your external opportunities and threats. This will help you later on when you are creating a study plan. You can then incorporate features within your study plan that can ensure that you are playing to your strengths, while compensating for your weaknesses. You can also ensure that you make the most of your opportunities, while avoiding the potential threats to your success.

Accepting responsibility as a student

Training programs invariably require a significant investment, both in terms of what they cost and in the time that you need to contribute to study and the responsibility for successful completion of training programs rests entirely with the student. This is never more apparent than when a student is learning via distance-learning. Accepting responsibility as a student is an important step towards ensuring that you can successfully complete your training program. It is easy to instantly blame other people or factors when things go wrong. But the fact of the matter is that if a failure is your failure, then you have the power to do something about it, it is entirely in your own hands. If it is always someone else’s failure, then you are powerless to do anything about it. All students study in entirely different ways, this is because we are all individuals and what is right for one student, is not necessarily right for another. In order to succeed, you will have to accept personal responsibility for finding a way to plan, implement and manage a personal study plan that works for you. If you do not succeed, you only have yourself to blame.

Planning

By far the most critical contribution to stress, is the feeling of not being in control. In the absence of planning we tend to be reactive and can stumble from pillar to post in the hope that things will turn out fine in the end. Invariably they don’t! In order to be in control, we need to have firm ideas about how and when we want to do things. We also need to consider as many possible eventualities as we can, so that we are prepared for them when they happen. Prescriptive Change, is far easier to manage and control, than Emergent Change. The same is true with distance-learning. It is much easier and much more enjoyable, if yo