Point of View

How we can build a state of the art manufacturing exploiting the whole potential of Technology and Digital solutions

by Filippo Mantegazza

Last week I attended the yearly show of digital and manufacturing 4.0 at the #HM19. I had the chance to visit and, as anybody else, I was really impressed by the level and numbers achieved by Technology. Today the industrial and logistics environments can really take a big step forward. The technology is ready, available and more accessible than before. All the consolidated companies are continuously progressing, and new companies are rising to the challenge. Digital and Virtual Reality are developing dramatically and increasing the depth of process management and productivity and widening the manageable horizons.

Having a clear and powerful "Why"

The Shingo Model’s definition of the principle Create Constancy of Purpose is, “an unwavering clarity of why the organization exists, where it is going, and how it will get there", which it goes on to say, "enables people to align their actions, as well as to innovate, adapt and take risks with greater confidence.”

Industry 4.0's investments and approaches will actually increase the levels of competitiveness of companies only if they are used to enable new levers of competitive advantage. It is, therefore, necessary to have a strategic vision that can identify the new Products/Services that can be offered to the market and the related business models.

7 winning strategies identified and described

Is it possible to create lasting value in today’s food industry? Is this something that you can still achieve? The added value created by the food industry in mature markets like Europe as a whole is mostly stagnant, if not actually decreasing.

Operational Excellence programmes were, and still are, important components on the management agenda of companies from many different industries. According to a study recently carried out by EFESO, in partnership with ICIS, more than 75% of the responding companies rate OPEX as a top 3 or top 5 agenda item.

Identifying 8 forms of human waste

The book ‘Performance Behavior’ (by Neil Webers) describes how an organization can link performance to behavior to minimize waste and optimize performance behavior.

Do you measure your performance? Probably yes, but do you also measure the behaviour in your company?

The key factor to keep and improve the results of a company is the sum of all human behaviour in the company. And in this fast moving world, you need to continuously progress in order to keep your competitive advantage. After all; “it’s not the big that eat the small…it’s the fast that eat the slow”

If you measure performance, let’s also measure behaviour. This can be done by implementing an approach called Performance behaviour.

Curious how we get results and what we do? Check our 2-minute video!

 

EFESO Consulting works in tandem with our clients to help measure behaviour and link it to the right company performance.

This is an important step towards sustained continuous improvement; something every company needs.”

Lean and Operational Excellence in Pharmaceuticals

The pharmaceutical sector is very different from the short cycle manufacturing environment that Lean was originally developed for (i.e. mostly batch processes with relatively long cycle times).

The book "WCOM™: why you need more than Lean" captures the reasons why 5 global enterprises (St. Gobain, L’Oréal, Groupe Bel, Tetra Pak and Bemis), with combined revenues of over 100B€, have adopted World Class Operations Management (WCOM™) in more than 1000 plants across the world.

Why You Need More Than Lean

A new book about World Class Operations Management (WCOM™/WCM) has been released.

The 5 fundamental challenges to address

Healthcare systems differ greatly across countries and regions. It is challenged by many external factors to deliver higher levels of service at constant or even lower cost, which means simple efficiency measures are no longer sufficient.

A 6-step holistic approach to ensure strategic consistency

Despite having spent years and countless millions on optimising their operations, 61% of companies (according to the Economist’s Intelligence Unit) find themselves frustrated with the same problem.