Tuesday, January 1, 2013

What We’ve Been Doing To Spur Innovation, Promote Growth and Improve Profitability

  • Conducted an ISO 9001:2008 audit at one company with a mature and effective ISO Quality Management System that continues to generate continual improvement and provide customer satisfaction.
  • Conducted Training-Within- Industry (TWI), three modules, at two companies to assist their supervisors with improving job methods and increasing production effectiveness.
  • Assisted a company in development of Sales and Customer Service Plans, messaging, and performance evaluation, and provided on-going implementation mentoring and support.
  • Assisted an inventor of patented medical devices in finding manufacturing partners and to seek funding.
  • Co-sponsored and participated in Startup Weekend competition in Binghamton where an entrepreneurial group known as ProtoME was awarded a $2000 prize to pursue its plan for large-scale 3D printing in a manufacturing setting. One AM&T staff member served as a mentor to the winning team. During the weekend, 60 participants presented their ideas and seven were chosen as finalists for in-depth presentations. Startup Weekends are held at worldwide locations to encourage and reward entrepreneurship.
  • Developed a Problem-Solving training package customized to benefit small to mid-size manufacturers and delivered the training to one company in the Region. This training will benefit a workforce by teaching and facilitating an 8-step methodology that can become ingrained in your day to day culture as issues are addressed.
  • Conducted an 8 hour Value Stream Mapping in the Office workshop, training participants in Lean Thinking and how to use Value Stream Mapping to improve administrative processes. The training was attended by 21 people and numerous potential opportunities were identified.
  • Completed a 5 day Cellular Flow Manufacturing event. The team designed a cell that incorporated all subassembly, assembly and packaging operations. The cell design will result in better flow and quality, and less WIP, distanced traveled and floor space.
  • Completed a 5 day rapid improvement event that targeted supplier corrective action requests. The team redesigned the process to:
    • Improve communications and management
    • Provide more effective information to perform Root Cause and Correction Action to eliminate Supplier defects
    • Assess and evaluate effectiveness of Root Cause and Correction Action activities
  • Conducted a three-hour lean best practice tour to see demonstrations of lean principles applied to manufacturing. The event was attended by 12 people.
  • Assisted a high-tech startup of patented 3D printing technology find manufacturing partners.

See this and other newsletter articles at http://amt-mep.org/files/5313/5714/3700/2013-01.pdf

Visit our website at http://www.amt-mep.org

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