In every manufacturing business \u2013 and indeed any company in any industry \u2013 there are two types of activity: value-adding and non-value-adding.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an idea borrowed from Lean management methodology. Based on cutting out anything that doesn\u2019t add value, lean thinking \u201ctrims the fat\u201d by targeting non-contributing operations and actions.<\/p>\n
Related: Are Lean principles useful for my small manufacturing operation?<\/i><\/a><\/i><\/p>\n But manufacturing is a complex business. It can be daunting to think about reviewing your operations to weed out the value-add opportunities. And how do you even define value across your operation?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at Lean to identify those opportunities and Jobman to implement the changes.<\/p>\n Ultimately your customers will decide whether what you do is worth paying for.<\/p>\n In end-product terms, it\u2019s pretty clear-cut. Does your customer think the product is worth paying for at the price you\u2019re demanding?<\/p>\n But other value-add opportunities aren\u2019t as obvious. These things might be important to your customers:<\/p>\n If the customer is willing to pay for it, it\u2019s valuable. If they\u2019re not prepared to pay a higher price, or you\u2019re losing customers to your competition, your customers don\u2019t see the value.<\/p>\n Lean thinking defines non-value-adding activities as \u201cwaste\u201d, and there are 8 types of activity here that you can look to cut out:<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Transportation costs<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Inefficient inventory<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Movement time<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Idle resources<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Underutilised potential (in people or machines)<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overproduction<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Over-engineering<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Defects<\/p>\n These 8 activity types are found in surprising places. Overordering raw material can reduce storage space. Workers walking between stations \u2013 or worse, driving parts around the factory on a forklift \u2013 are often unnecessary transport costs or unproductive moving times.<\/p>\n For a detailed guide on getting started with lean manufacturing and to see how Jobman can help, check out our previous post here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You\u2019re looking for two things that can transform your bottom line:<\/p>\n To do that properly either takes a lot of time or the right tools. Because your operation is complex and there are lots of people, processes and equipment in play at every stage, you need a clear picture of what\u2019s going on at every level.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where enterprise resource planning (ERP) software<\/a> crosses over with value stream mapping.<\/p>\n Value stream mapping breaks a process down into its component parts, with the 8 waste areas and 3 value-adding criteria. Using a made-for-manufacturing ERP like Jobman<\/a> allows you to call up data on each of those processes to find latent value opportunities.<\/p>\n For example, you can monitor stock levels to find out what\u2019s occupying valuable storage space and spot idle time when your machines could be used to complete another task.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll go into value stream mapping more in a future post, but for now, just remember there is a formula for trimming the fat.<\/p>\n Yes, it takes some work to add value and eliminate waste. But the effort is well worth the rewards.<\/p>\n And with Jobman on your side providing easy access to all the decision-making data you need, the process is much easier than you might imagine.<\/p>\n See how\u00a0Jobman improves manufacturing productivity<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0contact us<\/a>\u00a0to arrange a one-on-one consultation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In every manufacturing business \u2013 and indeed any company in any industry \u2013 there are two types of activity: value-adding and non-value-adding. It\u2019s an idea borrowed from Lean management methodology….<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-capacity-planning","8":"category-erp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobman.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}First Things First: Defining Value<\/h2>\n
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8 ways to waste value<\/h2>\n
Looking at your value opportunities<\/h2>\n
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Value stream mapping in manufacturing<\/h2>\n
Jobman: where it all comes together<\/h3>\n