Welcome to the November 2006 edition of our monthly newsletter, Learning to Lean. In this month's edition, we focus on the application of lean to purchasing and supplier development.

Announcements

On December 6th and 7th, we are offering a new course: Lean Supply Chain: Extended Value Stream Analysis.. This two-day course will cover a step-by-step implementation of lean to the entire supply chain . Day one will focus on value stream mapping and planning, and day two will cover the implementation portion (supplier selection, supplier development, kaizen for the entire supply chain, and supplier associations.)

We have also announced dates for our 2007 Lean Certification program. For details, click here. All classes will take place at the Doubletree Club Hotel Orange County Airport in Santa Ana, CA.

Course (click on date to register/read more)	Date
Lean Production Control and Inventory Mgmt.	Nov 9. 2006
NEW: Lean Supply Chain: Extended Value Stream Analysis	Dec 6-7. 2006

Click here for details on all of our training offerings, both on-site at your facility and public.

Lean Purchasing and Supplier Development

Applying lean to the supply chain is a challenge. Despite the number of books and articles dedicated to this subject, the trend in today's manufacturing world is to base supplier relationships purely on component price. There is very little loyalty to suppliers (and the disloyalty is mutual in most cases.) Such poorly conceived relationships result in short term gains at the expense of sustainable long-term profitability.

In this issue, we feature three articles that should help you understand more about lean supply chain. Firstly, we talk about supplier development on our Lean Supply Chain Blog. In our second article, we talk about what supplier-buyer relationships should look like in a lean supply chain. Our third article talks about Toyota's relationships with its key suppliers..

The materials referenced in this newsletter will teach you more about lean. If you would like to learn more, consider taking our Lean Supply Chain class on December 6th-7th or feel free to call us at 866-559-5598 or visit our website and click on "Contact Us."

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