To a great extent, business success is a result of effective management of operations and resources. That is the focus of APICS — the association for operations management — an international organization with more than 40,000 members.
APICS is focused on education and professional development. Offering certifications in production and inventory management for manufacturing and distribution specialists and supply chain management (Certified Supply Chain Professional) which is valuable to professionals in fields as diverse as health care, retail, insurance, services, and logistics, APICS is dedicated to helping members and their companies better manage operations and get the most from all resources — people, equipment and facilities, materials, funds and trading partners.
APICS chapters throughout the world offer a professional development meeting that consists of either a presentation on an operations management topic or a plant tour. Recent topics in our local chapter include lean operations and six sigma quality, "green" energy management, capacity management, and the logistics infrastructure in China, among others.
The group also tours local plants and discusses the products, markets, and operations. At each of these companies, members are usually given a tour of the production areas and warehouses, learn about the company business and operations, and discuss their challenges and successes.
As an education-oriented association, APICS also offers classes on a wide range of operations management topics. There are programs leading to certification for individuals and others focused on operational improvements such as lean manufacturing and global sourcing. CPIM certification classes are offered through local chapters and colleges, and all classes and workshops are available on-site at host companies in the area, and at public scheduled sessions.
APICS members come from plant and warehouse operations, procurement, customer service, general management, logistics, information technology, and other business areas. The association publishes a magazine for members and offers a weekly newsletter to all (members and non-members) highlighting operations management issues in the news. For more information and to sign up for the newsletter, visit www.apics.org Many local chapters also publish newsletters with local activity schedules and items of interest.
APICS offers business professionals the opportunity to learn best practices in operations and resource management, enhance job performance and career advancement through education and certification programs, and helps companies advance productivity, innovation and competitive success.
Dave Turbide, CFPIM, CMfgE, CIRM, CSCP, is president of the Granite State chapter of APICS and vice president for education. More information can be found at www.daveturbide.com.
Showing posts with label APICS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label APICS. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
“Indirect” Lean
Lean initiatives are not just for production and other ‘direct’ activities. Lean principles can be applied to ‘indirect’ costs and activities to good effect as well. And these efforts are definitely green.
At a recent meeting of our local APICS chapter, two gentlemen from BAE Systems here in New Hampshire presented on a “Lean Energy” program they conducted at multiple BAE facilities. The focus was on identifying waste and taking action to reduce or eliminate as much of that waste as was practical. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of their journey was the use of Lean techniques to make these improvements.
BAE had already applied Lean to their production processes and had a number of Lean-trained individuals to help in this process. They applied standard Lean tools like value stream mapping, A3, and Kaizen to the use of energy throughout several facilities, with great success.
This energy conservation initiative went beyond the typical steps of installing energy-saving light bulbs and beefing up the insulation around heated areas. They looked at all forms of energy usage and founds many opportunities to reduce waste and save the company a lot of money while at the same time improving performance in other areas.
One example concerned the compressed air system, which was used throughout the plant. They discovered that there were many, many small leaks that each individually was inconsequential but taken together constituted a significant misuse of the resource. They were able to avoid the purchase of a larger compressor and, in fact, reduce the load enough to extend the life of the existing system by several years – it had been needlessly overworked. The cost to fix the leaks was relatively minor.
Another striking example was efficiencies in the use of an oven. They added insulation, changed procedures to minimize heat loss and scheduled the oven more intelligently to maximize throughput and reduce the number of hours the oven had to be kept up to temperature, saving considerable energy.
They summarized their efforts this way:
At a recent meeting of our local APICS chapter, two gentlemen from BAE Systems here in New Hampshire presented on a “Lean Energy” program they conducted at multiple BAE facilities. The focus was on identifying waste and taking action to reduce or eliminate as much of that waste as was practical. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of their journey was the use of Lean techniques to make these improvements.
BAE had already applied Lean to their production processes and had a number of Lean-trained individuals to help in this process. They applied standard Lean tools like value stream mapping, A3, and Kaizen to the use of energy throughout several facilities, with great success.
This energy conservation initiative went beyond the typical steps of installing energy-saving light bulbs and beefing up the insulation around heated areas. They looked at all forms of energy usage and founds many opportunities to reduce waste and save the company a lot of money while at the same time improving performance in other areas.
One example concerned the compressed air system, which was used throughout the plant. They discovered that there were many, many small leaks that each individually was inconsequential but taken together constituted a significant misuse of the resource. They were able to avoid the purchase of a larger compressor and, in fact, reduce the load enough to extend the life of the existing system by several years – it had been needlessly overworked. The cost to fix the leaks was relatively minor.
Another striking example was efficiencies in the use of an oven. They added insulation, changed procedures to minimize heat loss and scheduled the oven more intelligently to maximize throughput and reduce the number of hours the oven had to be kept up to temperature, saving considerable energy.
They summarized their efforts this way:
- It was the right thing to do
- There was a definite direct pay-back
- It was virtually free with an immediate ROI
- It was a ‘fairly easy’ way to reduce energy costs and decrease demands on facilities and maintenance
- The Lean approach worked great – “If you know lean, this is easy. If you don’t know lean, it’s still easy.”
- It was unprecedented – not being done anywhere – but would be duplicated and expanded throughout BAE
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Past Articles
For those of you who may not know, there's lots of additional editorial that I've written for APICS magazine located at "Past Articles" on http://daveturbide.com/consulting-services/past-articles/
Most recently I wrote a two-part article on reverse logistics entitled Round and Round and a second one called Gold-Medal Reverse Logistics on achieving a winning supply chain program. Let me know what you think ...
Most recently I wrote a two-part article on reverse logistics entitled Round and Round and a second one called Gold-Medal Reverse Logistics on achieving a winning supply chain program. Let me know what you think ...
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Product Design Should Consider the Life – and End of Life
The last two articles I’ve written for the APICS magazine “Enterprise Insights” department (to be published in the January/February 2010 and March/April 2010 issues), deal with “green” and “sustainability”. In the second one, I wrote about designing a product with its end-of-life in mind – reuse, reprocessing, recycling, and responsible disposal. Coincidentally, the following item appeared in the SME Daily Executive Briefing on December 29, 2009:
Considering "End Of Life" Issues For Electronics Could Benefit Manufacturers.
The Chicago Tribune (12/28, Hopkins) reported on "Harrison Kim, an assistant professor in the University of Illinois Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at Urbana-Champaign." Kim studied the lifecycles of electronic gadgets and the associated costs, "and found that the time to think about...'end of life' issues is before the small electronics are even designed." Specifically, Kim "analyzed how design differences affect product recovery and determined that manufacturers are losing money by not reusing components." Fewer than 5 percent of retired phones "are recycled or reused." Kim said, "These are profits currently neglected." One way manufacturers could benefit, he said, is by designing products that were modular. Such products would also "appeal to the environmentally-savvy consumer."
There are regulations in Europe – RoHS and WEEE – that govern the electronics industry with specific requirements for recycling and safe disposal. You can be sure that the same kind of regulation will be implemented in the U.S. in the foreseeable future and similar regulation will apply to other industries as well as electronics. Why not get ahead of the game and start thinking about end-of-life in products you are designing today? Chances are good that this effort will pay off in future compliance as well as enhancing your image with an increasingly “green” oriented customer base. Read more articles by Dave Turbide at www.daveturbide.com or click here
Considering "End Of Life" Issues For Electronics Could Benefit Manufacturers.
The Chicago Tribune (12/28, Hopkins) reported on "Harrison Kim, an assistant professor in the University of Illinois Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at Urbana-Champaign." Kim studied the lifecycles of electronic gadgets and the associated costs, "and found that the time to think about...'end of life' issues is before the small electronics are even designed." Specifically, Kim "analyzed how design differences affect product recovery and determined that manufacturers are losing money by not reusing components." Fewer than 5 percent of retired phones "are recycled or reused." Kim said, "These are profits currently neglected." One way manufacturers could benefit, he said, is by designing products that were modular. Such products would also "appeal to the environmentally-savvy consumer."
There are regulations in Europe – RoHS and WEEE – that govern the electronics industry with specific requirements for recycling and safe disposal. You can be sure that the same kind of regulation will be implemented in the U.S. in the foreseeable future and similar regulation will apply to other industries as well as electronics. Why not get ahead of the game and start thinking about end-of-life in products you are designing today? Chances are good that this effort will pay off in future compliance as well as enhancing your image with an increasingly “green” oriented customer base. Read more articles by Dave Turbide at www.daveturbide.com or click here
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