Learning to Lean

The Newsletter of EMS Consulting Group, Inc.

January, 2004 www.emsstrategies.com

SMED / Quick Changeover

Happy New Year from EMS and welcome to the January edition of our monthly newsletter, Learning to Lean. As we kick off the New Year we have some very exciting announcements, and we continue our series on lean manufacturing, focusing this month on SMED and Quick Changeover.

Announcements

There are still a few seats left for our "Implementing Lean: An Action Plan" seminar on January 30th, but they are filling up fast. Click here to reserve your spot now. For those of you outside the Southern California area, there are discounted suites available.

In keeping the Lean tradition of creating value for you, we have added several new features on our website aimed at assisting and educating you. These include an on-line lean assessment, an "Ask the Expert" page, the Lean Enterprise Bookstore, and a glossary of lean terms. Click here to visit our new "Resources" page to find out more.

For additional news on the company including information on our upcoming appearance at the Outsourcing World Summit 2004, click here.

SMED / Quick Changeover

In this month's edition, we continue our series on Lean as we look at yet another important tool from the Lean toolbox. Single Minute Exchange of Dies or SMED was developed to reduce the fixed cost associated with the setup and changeover of dies and to allow for smaller batch sizes. The ultimate goal is for the manufacturer to produce only what is demanded by the customer. The benefit is reduced inventory holding cost as a result of less floor space required, less money tied up in inventory, less labor required to manage the inventory, and less scrap due to part obsolescence.

In this issue, we feature three articles. The first article is an overview of SMED including a brief look at the history of SMED. The second article gives you a step by step implementation plan for a SMED / Changeover program. The final article talks about applying quick changeover in non-traditional settings such as services, manual assembly, and chemical processing.

The materials referenced in this newsletter will teach you more about the techniques and benefits of Quick Changeover / SMED. If the articles, links, and books to the left have piqued your interest and you would like to learn more, feel free to call us at 866-559-5598 or visit our website and click on "Contact Us."

Best Regards and Happy New Year,

Darren Dolcemascolo

darrend@emsstrategies.com

David McBride

davidm@emsstrategies.com

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