Tag: Process Improvement

Why Six Sigma?

The simple answer is to improve your business methodology so that you reduce defects, thus reducing costs and increasing quality, thus increasing efficiency and ultimately, customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects.

In essence, Six Sigma is a business improvement strategy. It seeks to identify, reduce, and eliminate defects from every product, process and transaction. It uses a structured systems approach to problem solving and strongly links initial improvement goal targets to bottom-line results. Six Sigma is a way to achieve Continue reading Why Six Sigma?

Performance Excellence Techniques are Secret No More

Karen Trisko

Leading Excellence, Inc. makes best practice techniques used by America’s best companies available through Web-based seminars.

(PRWEB via PR Web Direct) October 25, 2005 — The best companies in America, verified by the U.S. Department of Commerce Baldrige National Quality Award process, have mastered strategies for success that previously were not well known. Now their strategies can be quickly learned and adapted by anyone in any organization.

In the past, managers could learn success strategies only through reading lengthy documents describing success strategies, or attending conferences that require travel and extensive time commitments to learn from award-winning organizations. Now Leading Excellence, Inc. offers Performance Excellence Webinars to make the secrets widely known and accelerate the time that organizations spend making improvements.

The first Performance Excellence Webinar series titled “Continuous Improvement and Process Management” are available starting in November 2005. In the three-session Webinar series, participants will discover three essential, practical, and systematic techniques to improve their organizations’ results. Anyone can participate from home or their office – wherever there is a telephone and an Internet connection.

Webinar topics and dates are as follows:

1. Continuous Improvement 101: Fundamentals of process management and improvement. For managers, improvement coordinators, and new process owners, Friday, Nov. 18, 2005. 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST

2. Maximize & Sustain Improvements: Why and how to utilize process owners and the “Process Excellence Rating System.” For managers, improvement coordinators, and process owners. Friday, Dec. 2, 2005. 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST

3. Strategy-Driven Improvement: How improvement initiatives should help achieve long-term strategic goals. For executives and process improvement managers. Friday, Dec. 9, 2005. 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. PST

Leading Excellence Performance Excellence Webinars are inexpensive, no-hassle, and skillfully led by one of the nation’s leading experts in organizational performance improvement, Karen Trisko. Trisko has 11 years experience successfully implementing the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. She has served as a senior examiner for the Baldrige National Quality Award program (2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005) and formerly chaired California’s award program. She has guided many organizations to achieve dramatically improved results and earn award recognition. See Karen’s profile and additional information at www.leadingexcellence.com.

Leading Excellence, Inc. is a consulting firm that specializes in performance improvement techniques that are useable by all sizes of organizations in any industry sector. The mission of Leading Excellence is to empower organizations to exceed the expectations of their customers, employees, stakeholders. Its performance improvement services can be applied quickly and easily to produce measurable results. The company aims to transfer competency in performance excellence techniques to organizations in minimum time, through practical hands-on workshops and provision of ready-made templates that organizations may immediately use. The approach helps companies leap ahead in performance results much faster than otherwise possible.

For further information about the November/December 2005 Performance Excellence Webinar Series, “Continuous Improvement and Process Management,” contact Karen Trisko at 951-894-6748 or visit the Web site http://www.leadingexcellence.com.

http://www.leadingexcellence.com

Managing Project Risks (Part 1): Don’t Be Snared by These 6 Common Traps

Copyright 2005 Adele Sommers

When your enterprise decides to undertake a new endeavor —
whether it’s designing a new training program, planning a
new service, or revamping an existing product — this
endeavor is called a project. It involves people, funding,
resources, schedules, requirements, testing, fine tuning,
and deployment, plus a host of other activities.

You may have seen this phenomenon by now: projects are risk
magnets. Why is that? Continue reading Managing Project Risks (Part 1): Don’t Be Snared by These 6 Common Traps

Lean Manufacturing Through Factory Floor Innovation

Taking the concepts of the Toyota System and enhancing them with todays information systems technology has been the key to allow some manufacturers to unlock the door that leads to a short-cut in process improvement projects. They are rethinking the good ideas of lean manufacturing and are using todays factory floor information tools to quickly and easily improve factory floor performance, customer responsiveness and their bottom line.

Process improvement through a leaner approach and finite scheduling for the factory floor can be demonstrated in a number of ways: Continue reading Lean Manufacturing Through Factory Floor Innovation

The Skinny on RFID

by John Hanson

RFID is the abbreviation for Radio Frequency Identification. RFID is a method used to store and retrieve data using RFID transponders or tags. RFID tags have antennas that allow them to accept and respond to queries from the RFID transceiver. There are passive and active RFID tags. The difference between the two is that passive tags do not need an internal power source, but active tags do. RFID technology is already used in many technologies today. The future of RFID technology seems Continue reading The Skinny on RFID

Line56.com: Supply and Demand Synchronization

Two years ago, Kawasaki Motors Corp., USA (KMC, USA) took a closer look at both its supply chain and its relationship with dealers, and found some weak spots. “We didn’t have forecasting that was sophisticated and we didn’t have a reporting engine,” says Barry Beehler, VP of Planning and Marketing for KMC, USA. “The different pieces weren’t talking to each other.”

By March of next year, the pieces are set to integrate. There’s now a supply chain management (SCM) and supply chain execution (SCE) execution from Mitrix that will tap into KMC, USA’s forecasting engine, imports system, shipper information, legacy vehicle system, and manufacturing systems as well. Read more…

The Return of Sales and Operations Planning

In many manufacturing organizations, a lack of nimbleness and automation in existing sales and operations planning (S&OP) processes has stunted management’s ability to drive change. Companies looking to maximize the value of their supply chain and operational investments must automate cross-organizational performance planning processes to enable operational performance management.

Intelligent Enterprise Magazine: The Return of Sales and Operations Planning

Emerging to RFID Enterprise Solution

by Gireesh A
Emerging to RFID Enterprise Solution

About RFID

Radio frequency identification or RFID, is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify people or objects. There are several methods of identification, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the chip and the antenna together are called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag. Visit http://www.bigsquid.org for more information on this). The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification information to a reader. The reader converts the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can then be passed on to the computers that can make use of it.

Objective
The objective of any RFID system is to carry data in suitable transponders, generally known as tags, and to retrieve data, by machine-readable means, at a suitable time and place to satisfy particular application needs. Data within a tag may provide identification for an item in manufacture, goods in transit, a location, and identity of a vehicle, an animal or individual. By including additional data the prospect is provided for supporting applications through item specific information or instructions immediately available on reading the tag.

The system requires, in addition to tags, a means of reading or interrogating the tags and some means of communicating the data to a host computer or information management system. A system will also include a facility for entering or programming data into the tags. Quite often an antenna is distinguished as if it were a separate part of an RFID system. While its importance justifies the attention it must be seen as a feature that is present in both readers and tags, essential for the communication between the two. To understand and appreciate the capabilities of RFID systems it is necessary to consider their constituent parts. It is also necessary to consider the data flow requirements that influence the choice of systems and the practicalities of communicating across the air interface. By considering the system components and their function within the data flow chain it is possible to grasp most of the important issues that influence the effective application of RFID. However, it is useful to begin by briefly considering the manner in which wireless communication is achieved, as the techniques involved have an important bearing upon the design of the system components.

Components of RFID

RFID Reader :
The Reader is a radio frequency device used to read data from the microchip contained in the RFID tag. RFID readers use a variety of methods to communicate with tags. The most common method for reading passive tags at close range is called inductive coupling. Simply put, the coiled antenna of the reader creates a magnetic field with the coiled antenna of the tag. The tag draws energy from this field and uses it to send back waves to the reader, which is turned into digital information – the tag’s electronic product code.

A Reader comprises of a transmitter, receiver, control module and communication functions, sometimes called a transceiver in radio terms for it to link to a controlling PC. Readers should have an attached antenna, which is used to transmit and receive the radio frequency signal. Each reader is accompanied with PC compatible software that allows the user to read and program tags. Win 2K, XP, ME are some of the operating systems compatible with our Readers.

RFID Tag :
An RFID tag or transponder is a wireless system composed of an electronic chip (semi-conductor device) with a memory where data can be stored. The memory can be permanent or volatile. They are classified within two frequency ranges, namely 125 KHz (low frequency) and 13.56 MHz (high frequency).

The RFID Business Case:
RFID in the Receiving Business Process: RFID readers are placed in the receiving area to monitor pallet and case RFID tags. The RFID readers verify the pallet license plate, count the units on the pallet, identify the vendor, and confirm the purchase order receipt without human intervention in the business transaction.
RFID in the Conversion Business Process: RFID readers can be placed along the flow path of a manufacturing process. Work-in-process, or WIP, can be enabled by RFID tags for tracking and monitoring the conversion of raw materials and intermediates into finished goods and stock-keeping units. This material information is integrated with the ERP production order transaction process to track manufacturing steps and issue production transactions.
RFID in the Customer Order Picking Business Process: Forklift drivers will use RFID readers to select case and pallet materials to pick order and assemble the shipment. Elimination of staging and verification processes can yield savings. This material information is integrated with the ERP warehouse and order management process to update the customer order pick list.
RFID in the Shipping Business Process: Forklift drivers and warehouse bays will use RFID readers to track case and pallet materials onto trucks. This material information is integrated with the ERP warehouse and order management process to update the customer order shipment.
The RFID value proposition propagates if the RFID infrastructure is leveraged by other enterprises in the downstream value chain.

OUR PRODUCT : BIGSquid

BIGSquid RFID is all you need to get started with RFID. BIGSquid RFID is an ideal tool for any startup labs and research teams. BIGSquid RFID comes with one RFID READER, BIGSquid RFID middleware developer license and TAGS to get you started in speed to create your own RFID solution. (More info http://www.bigsquid.org )

BIGSquid RFID Tag

BIGSquid RFID Tag is an Industrial and Logistics RFID Transponder. BIGSquid RFID Tag’s unique design gives it, infinite life and makes it nearly indestructible as opposed to conventional Tags. (More info http://www.bigsquid.org )

BIGSquid RFID Reader

BIGSquid is an industrial grade RFID Reader and an intelligent device. BIGSquid Navigator has built-in features, which allows easy integration in large layouts as opposed to normal readers. Navigator is remotely programmable and controllable and can transmit the RFID TAG information to long distances directly without using any additional interfaces or hardware. (More info http://www.bigsquid.org )

BIGSquid Reader Controller Modules

BIGSquid Reader controller modules are an essential companion when you deploy multiple RFID readers in geographically separated locations. The reader controller modules allow you to control readers remotely using multiple digital I/O from other processes or machines. (More info http://www.bigsquid.org )

RS232 to Ethernet converter

The rs232 to Ethernet converter is a first-generation Serial Device Server that externally connects any existing serial device to an Ethernet (TCP/IP) network. The rs232 to Ethernet converter features a compact and stylish design. (More info http://www.bigsquid.org )

BIGSquid RFID Middleware Server

The Server part of the BIGSquid RFID collects the tag information and updates in the database. The server will be running in the backend as a Service. Whenever there is a read at any particular reader it will be validated and will be stored in database against particular inventory.

The server will read the tag value precisely and will not miss any valid data. The validation part first checks whether the data that has been captured is valid or not and then it will check for the object or inventory that tag value represents and stores the tag value against that inventory or object.

Please visit http://www.bigsquid.org to get more information on related topics. Contact us http://www.bigsquid.org/Contactus.html

Satheesh G Nair. CEO BIGSquid