Pillars of Supply Chain Management
Diligent supply chain management is essential to every successful enterprise. Suppliers provide the materials and critical infrastructure necessary for product realization. They act as agents of delivery for products and they provide the tools, utilities and even training necessary for everyday operations. Managing suppliers and understanding the intricacies of operational supply chain management ensures performance […]
Your Own Biggest Critic: Internal Auditing and Self-Evaluation
Do your processes work? At what rates of success? How do you know? Auditing is a word most businesses instinctively recoil from with worries about cost, meeting external expectations or being judged unfairly. The prospect of auditing is often considered something best avoided, but there is another way. Audits do not always have to be […]
Why is ISO Important: How ISO standards benefit organizations
In taking a long look around the manufacturing community it becomes apparent very quickly that many businesses deeply value ISO certifications. Companies across all industries proudly tout registration licenses on their websites and hang certificates on the walls of conference rooms. The questions this naturally leads to is “Why?”. Is it just a membership that […]
Compliance vs Conformance: Understanding the Relationship to Standard
Every business has rules to follow, sometimes self-imposed, sometimes related to regulatory requirements, certifications or legal obligations. Understanding and communicating these rules effectively can often be the lynchpin in ensuring a company remains free of entanglements. The first step in understanding these differences begins with compliance and conformance. Conformance is what a company commits itself […]
The Value of Lessons Learned; Paying the Information Forward
Everyone in industry talks about “lessons learned” and are quick to remind each other of the importance of documenting those lessons and keeping them tucked away for the next go around. When the surface of the topic is scratched however, it becomes obvious in many cases that ‘lessons learned’ is a catchphrase with little meat […]
When is a process a process?
The importance of not over-documenting or encumbering employees in the name of Quality. With a growing drive for “quality systems” there is a lot of talk about ‘process’ in industry today. Ongoing discussions about how to define, optimize and document processes happen in every office and around every coffee machine. Accompanying these discussions is a […]