Flexibility and agility are two words that are often used interchangeably, but there are important distinctions between them. Knowing the difference can guide how and when you focus your time and energy to strengthen your business.
Pat Dippel
Recent posts by Pat Dippel
6 min read
Inventory Optimization Practices for Fueling Growth
So you want to grow your business, but you aren’t sure you can because of cash flow constraints. This problem plagues many companies, so you aren’t alone. This is an issue that US manufacturing as a whole needs to solve to maintain competitiveness.
Topics: On-Demand Labor Operational Excellence
4 min read
Improve Service Levels by Using On-Demand Labor
Most operations leaders know that service is the number one differentiator between suppliers. If you can consistently deliver on time and in full, you will win customers. On the other hand, if you can’t do those things, don’t hold your breath waiting for new customers and don’t expect to keep the ones you have for very long.
Topics: On-Demand Labor Operational Excellence
11 min read
Theory of Constraints: Break Your Bottlenecks
Your organization likely shares a common thread with most others – the goal of making a profit. This may be your goal for its own sake, or your organization may need to generate profits to enable its pursuit of other goals. You’ve probably got things that are holding you back from this, but sometimes it’s hard to know what these constraints are and how to eliminate them.
Topics: Operational Excellence
13 min read
Manufacturing Metrics You Can Affect with On-Demand Labor
Sure, on-demand labor sounds like a great solution for finding workers when you need them. But what business goals can you achieve with on-demand labor?
7 min read
How to Reduce Cycle Times to Improve Service Levels
You’ve probably reached what you thought was the limit of how far your cycle times could be reduced. And when that happens, you start to wonder if there’s something else to be done so that you can deliver to the customer faster and quit feeling like you’re treading water just to stay afloat.
5 min read
What is Lean Manufacturing?
You’ve probably heard of Lean before. It’s the thing everyone is talking about, but nobody seems to be able to explain when you ask them about it. Is it a book? Can you do it without a teacher? Do you have to join a club to learn its secrets?
3 min read
Leanshoring - Blueprint to localize
US Manufacturing is resilient and has never been in a better position to reclaim what was previously given away, as discussed in Now is the Time to Take It Back. Outsourcing inherently introduces significant risks to service and quality, and the calculations typically used to make the case to outsource are highly inaccurate and overstated; even a 20-30% miscalculation would single-handedly negate any potential savings. Any remaining cost gaps can easily be solved for by leveraging lean methodology to eliminate waste. This concept of Leanshoring is already happening around the country, led by those willing to do the work by aggressively and creatively finding lasting solutions that solve the real problem all businesses face: waste.
