You’ve got to give yourself a chance to win.

We've all heard that plenty of times and probably said it a few times too. In golf, you must keep the ball in play. In football, you can't turn the ball over. In baseball, throw strikes. In tennis, no unforced errors. Translation: no mistakes. Error-free play won't guarantee that you'll win, but error-plagued play will ensure that you lose.

Manufacturing is no different. If the goal is to be a world-class manufacturer, the all-important first step is "keeping the ball in play" — not making obvious errors that doom you before you even begin. You’ve got to give yourself a chance to win.

At Strategex, our experience has shown that there are eight of these obvious errors. We call them "The Eight Deadly Sins,” the eight “sins” that always get in the way of profitable growth and a world-class customer experience that you just can't make. As in sports, avoiding those mistakes won't guarantee that you'll be a world-class manufacturer, but failing to prevent them will guarantee that you won't be in the playoffs.

The Sins

1. Failing to Prioritize Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost – IN THAT ORDER.
2. Having a Bloated Product Line/Way Too Much Product Variation
3. Mixing Long-Run Production with Short-Run Production
4. Poor Measurement...The Wrong KPIs, Too Few of Them, or Too Many
5. Poor Visual Management
6. No Daily Management Meetings
7. No Postmortems
8. No Build Plan

Disclaimer: We know there are Seven Deadly Sins. But when it comes to manufacturing, there are eight – we’d be lying if we told you there were seven. Then you’d go around committing the eighth one.

You can read about the sins in detail — and how to avoid committing them — in an article featured on MAPI's blog.

Read The Full Article
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