As Shigeo Shingo wrote, "humans are animals that make mistakes". But how often do we make mistakes? For example, trained military technicians make mistakes 20% of the time in simulated emergency situations. Scary, isn't it? You can … [Read more...]
Lean and ISO 9001 are very compatible
I just read Lean ISO 9001: Adding Spark to your ISO 9001 QMS and Sustainability to your Lean Efforts, and this excellent book opened my eyes on many things. I thought ISO 9001 was too rigid for a true lean culture (control documents … [Read more...]
How a purchasing office in China should be organized
From my observations, procurement offices and trading companies that are based in China tend to make the same mistakes. In this article I will explain how they should be organized. The traditional organization Some purchasers … [Read more...]
Writing a procedure that is consistent with ISO 9000 standards
Two days ago I wrote that every SME should have written procedures, but how to start? Who should write them? What format to follow? The majority of articles and manuals available focus on large companies. I tried to write advice … [Read more...]
Why every SME should have written procedures
Most small and mid-size companies (be they factories, importers, buying offices, trading companies...) do not have written procedures. A well-written set of procedures that is respected and applied by the whole staff is a tremendous … [Read more...]
What is the “lean” approach to manufacturing, and is it applicable in China?
In 5 building blocks for developing good Chinese suppliers I mentioned that the last step (re-organizing production) was all about lean. But I noticed that a few readers are not familiar with the lean approach to manufacturing. What is the … [Read more...]
Advice for ERP implementation by SMEs in China
Last week, The EU Chamber of Commerce in China organized a seminar on the topic of ERP implementation for SMEs. I found it pretty interesting and took some notes: What are the alternatives for an SME? Keeping all the data in Excel … [Read more...]
How a Chinese factory can REALLY improve its quality
Auditing a factory's quality system, and helping them patch the main holes found by the auditor, is helpful. But is it enough? I used to think so. A good quality management system is supposed to stop defects before it is too late. … [Read more...]
Production optimization in China. Good luck with that.
As the pressure on costs is getting more intense, many importers wish their suppliers focused on optimizing their production. In most cases, there are no optimization efforts going on. Why is that? 1. A focus on the golden eggs, not on … [Read more...]
Benefits of quality control inspections
The question is, are inspections useless? What are the benefits of quality control inspections, if any? As I mentioned in a previous article, more and more importers are switching their focus from standard QC inspections to improving key … [Read more...]
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