If we’re being honest, much of our point of view, habits and style as leaders is a direct result of the environments we “grew up” in. Our early positions at companies, and those mentors that took us under their wings, showed us the way by passing along their methods, including…

Plan For Every Part (PFEP) is an essential Lean tool for mapping, optimizing, and managing input data to maintain a high-performing supply chain. The specific supply chain pain points or goals that drive leaders to deploy PFEP vary from broad applications like deploying a new Lean Company Management System to…

Resilience, or being resilient, can be defined as something or someone with “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change.” The word has been thrown around in many supply chain discussions recently, but it’s tough to find a word in the English language that so concisely…

The Kanban system was created by Toyota Motor Company and has been a bellwether Lean tool for manufacturers to ensure they receive the right part at the right time. Kanban has proven invaluable as a self-regulating scheduling system which requests parts from suppliers only when needed via card pull signals…

Business outcomes matter, but the process to reach our destination is arguably just as important. After all, our process determines whether our outcomes are repeatable and sustainable. Therefore, the process to execute our strategic vision must not be overlooked because it frequently determines our ability to reach our desired outcome…

Our supply chain data inputs are expanding, and variables are changing more frequently. Dramatic technology shifts are increasing product complexity by expanding portfolios, parts and services, like with Ford and GM planning to produce both gas and electric vehicles until at least 2030. Rapid market changes, from the 2008 Great…

Was Tesla’s recent eclipse of Toyota’s market cap on July 20th, 2020 less about stock price and more a passing of the torch? Tesla’s approach as market disruptor enables entrepreneurial creativity to accelerate bleeding edge technologies and innovative business models; whereas Toyota, as a market leader, embodies disciplined execution to…

The myth that sustainability is daunting and expensive is costing companies millions of dollars. The reality is that implementing a sustainable supply chain strategy can actually reduce cost, time, and risk while increasing efficiency, resiliency, transparency, and agility, allowing your firm to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow instead of…

Leading manufacturers work to master lean tools like Plan for Every Part (PFEP) to streamline their supply chain by mapping the dozens of variables impacting inbound parts delivery. Subsequently, they’re rewarded by realizing and maintaining lower supplier delivery costs. Organizations that have yet to begin their lean journeys could generate…