The last of the ‘baby boomer’ generation are now retiring from the workplace. As they walk out of the door of your business for the last time, they are taking with them a lifetime’s experience from old-school apprenticeship programmes to a lifetime of fault diagnosis and learning in the ‘university of life.’ That experience is what helped your business grow, become successful, and kept your customers happy and returning with repeat orders! So, what can be achieved in the time before valued employees retire for knowledge capture and knowledge transfer so your business can maintain momentum?

What you are doing vs. what you should be doing can often be different things. If you think that your efforts are only to increase uptime (or decrease downtime) then you are not seeing the entire picture. Yes, uptime and maintenance budgets are important, as are the needs of the Operations teams, but in the end, it’s the association your efforts have with the corporate goals that should be the driver.

This article will describe the Lean Manufacturing methodology of Single-Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED), explain its value to your business, and outline the SMED process as a series of simple steps that you can replicate in your organization. It will detail examples from actual SMED events where SMED has given time back to the business turning wasted time into productivity and revenue.  

Are you looking for ways to improve maintenance work execution? Are your planning and scheduling processes not generating the desired results? Does it seem like a struggle to find the information you need to define the what, how, how long, who, and when of a maintenance job? Take a three-part technical database survey on the technical database to uncover what a poor system is costing you. As a token of our appreciation for completing all three surveys, you’ll receive a customized report and a free 20-minute consultation with an expert from IDCON. 

Although ubiquity may not be the most exciting concept, it is the goal. It means that your product is reliable, high quality, and valuable – which keeps your clients coming back. You want your brand to be the go-to of the product you make. Being commonplace doesn’t sound great, but it’s right where you want to be. So how do we achieve ubiquity?

In the course of my five-year doctoral research project to develop a leadership model for Operational Excellence, a pivotal insight emerged – ‘Every Interaction is an Opportunity.’ While the significance in the research of common leadership behaviors and traits such as communication, respect, humility, and authenticity were expected and well represented, exploiting ‘interaction as opportunity’ was new. In this context, I delve into the advantages of embracing this opportunity and how its application has empowered me to drive business success.