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Lean Isn’t Just About Manufacturing
by Douglas Kent | December 13, 2005 | Scotland
Why is it when people mention the word “lean” - manufacturing is what comes to mind? I suppose it is deep-rooted in the Toyota-founded concept that made it such a raving success in plants all around the world. However, wise organizations are now taking the popular concept from the production floor to the office environment – and transitioning popular lean concepts across the whole of the supply chain.
Regardless of the industry, companies that apply the principles of lean learn how to provide the full value that customers desire from products without wasting time or effort—theirs or the customers’—and as a result these companies will be more profitable and competitive.
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This lesson was taken seriously at leading contract manufacturer, Solectron in Dunfermline, Scotland who recently decided to take advantage of the momentum gained on their corporate-wide lean journey and extend it across the balance of their supply chain functions. Using the Supply Chain Operation’s Reference (SCOR) model as an enabler, Solectron used industry-standard processes, best practices, and key performance indicators (KPI’s) to thoroughly diagnose their supply chain and identify opportunity for improvement. What Solectron discovered was that by simply adapting the lean concepts their team was already familiar with – they could rapidly make progress in their PLAN, SOURCE and DELIVER functions and leverage the improvement they have already made in their MAKE (manufacturing) area of the business.
The team engaged eKNOWtion as counselor’s on this Lean Supply Chain journey as part of the innovative Supply Chain Performance Improvement initiative offered by Scottish Enterprise.
Last month Solectron and eKNOWtion organised a tour of the plant to showcase the methodology it has employed and successes achieved to date. The evening was well attended and helped to initiate best practice sharing for others who are interested in making the journey.
During the evening, Solectron Scotland’s MD, Marc Cumming commented:
“We’ll never see our industry getting less competitive so we have to make sure we constantly improve our quality and delivery. We are aware of the pressures of being in Scotland and that pressure has caused the demise of other Scottish manufacturers. We believe by applying Lean to the full customer value stream we can mitigate against that happening to us.”
For more information on applying the SCOR model to assist on your Lean Supply Chain journey, contact us at SCOR@eKNOWtion.com.
To attend the next SCOR Workshop click here To read about Solectron's lean journey click here. |
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