What We’ve Been Doing To Prepare Companies for Growth and Profitability

• Assisted two companies with preparation of their Quality Management Systems. Both passed their Certification Audits, one in ISO 9001:2008, the other in AS 9100.
• Conducted ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2005 internal audits at one company. Minimal findings were recorded and their Quality and Environmental Management Systems continue to be fully ISO compliant and effective.
• Provided ISO 9001:2008 Registration Assistance to one company. Completed documenting their specific Operating Procedures and associated forms. They “went live” in February 2013 and began accumulating the Registrar required three (3) months of records prior to their registration assessment.
• Provided ISO 9001:2008 Registration Assistance to one company. Pre-Assessment was performed evaluating their Quality Management System and ISO required records. Findings were minimal and they are well positioned for ISO registration. The company scheduled their ISO registration assessment for April 2013.
• Conducted the final Rapid Improvement Event (RIE) at a company to validate their Lean implementation in the Circuit Board Assembly area. Facility renovation, workplace layout, and work flow changes were completed in January and the results of the validation confirmed a significant reduction in processing time and increase in throughput.
• Conducted an ISO 9001:2008 internal audit at one company. Findings were minor and few. Their Quality Management System continues to be fully ISO compliant and was deemed effective.
• Conducted a 5-day "order to delivery" value stream mapping event on a major product family. It is anticipated that when implemented, the plan will result in a significant reduction in lead times, inventory, and fl oor space, and an increase in productivity.
• Conducted a two-hour training session in Lean Leader standard work.
• Conducted a two-hour training session in Lean Policy Deployment or Hoshin Kanri.
• Provided a half-day train-the-trainer session in the delivery of Overview of Lean Thinking with Legos.
• Implemented a visual cell performance board to monitor and improve throughput and quality.
• Completed a 3-day rapid improvement event that defined a standardized and simplified PO approval process with documented approvals, spending limits, and resource names and functions.
• Co-Sponsored and had 2 Staff participate in a Pre-seed Workshop at Binghamton University. Both staff were team coaches and one did part of the facilitation. One BU team developed a presentation for a panel of innovation specialists around a proprietary biomedical application. The panel’s feedback will be used by the BU team to further develop their technology and business.
• Conducted a three-hour Lean best practice tour to see demonstrations of Lean principles applied to manufacturing. The event was attended by 8 people.

See this and other newsletter articles at http://amt-mep.org/files/8413/6750/6481/2013-05.pdf

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