Mike on Manufacturing

The MRP Catch-22 for Small Business

By Mike Hart

Why do most small manufacturers get poor results with ERP systems?  It’s because of the MRP Catch 22:

You invest in ERP to boost manufacturing efficiency.

Traditional MRP is unusable, so you revert to legacy planning methods. 

Legacy planning methods cannot boost manufacturing efficiency.    

The MRP Catch-22 traps small businesses in a costly ERP system that cannot boost manufacturing efficiency. 

What is manufacturing efficiency? 

Manufacturing efficiency is the ability to reduce time to shipment with efficient utilization of inventory.  The only way to boost manufacturing efficiency is with better planning.    

How to Make Money with Lean Manufacturing

By Mike Hart

You hear about “lean manufacturing” all the time, but just what is it?

Simply put, lean manufacturing means completing jobs on time using the least amount of inventory and WIP possible.

Your overall efficiency is measure by how much inventory and work in process is required to support your sales.  The less you use, the more efficient you are.

Don't Overload Your Shop!

By Mike Hart

A core principle of lean manufacturing is to not overload your shop.  Overloading the shop has the same negative impact on efficiency as overloading a freeway.

The Freeway Analogy  
 
A freeway has an optimal carrying capacity in terms of the number of vehicles it can accommodate for maximum efficiency.  Once that carrying capacity is exceeded, the freeway’s efficiency drops severely because of traffic jams and accidents.  The optimum carrying capacity is a tipping point where it may take only a small number of extra vehicles to trigger a drastic decrease in efficiency. 

How a Small Business Can Use Lean Manufacturing

 

By Mike Hart

 

“Lean manufacturing” is a style of manufacturing, originally invented by Toyota, where the objective is to eliminate all wasteful processes that impede your efficiency.  Progress is gauged by a reduction in inventory and WIP relative to sales. 

 

Lean manufacturing is primarily a management philosophy rather than a specific set of software features.  Lean principles can be applied to any manufacturing software package.