Matimba Eutricia Baloyi’s Post

For 25 years I have been involved in manufacturing. One question people have asked me in various companies. Why do I encourage my teams to go above and beyond to support the shopfloor, ops managers, sales, lab techs, R&D, HSE, finance, quality, marketing. Directors Etc.? Having worked for Nick Cowley, Emma Chapman, Susan Wassell and Ben Watson I can assure you the points raised below are factual. 5 clear points stand out. 1. Never say NO without exhausting all options. IT is an enabler and not a blocker. My good friend Federico Salazar Nicholls always reminds me. If you have thought about improving a process in your mind then ensure you try and use IT to make it happen. 2. Customer service should always be at the top of your agenda. 3. IT is a partnership you build with the business. 4. Without product being shipped you have no business so ensure your IT team is there to support the business. 5. Remember IT is not there to tell the business what to do but to advice the business on how it can help improve processes with the right tools. Thanks for reading.

How to build a culture of safety that boosts morale, efficiency & success. Our new guide offers 5 key pillars for manufacturing leaders to consider. #Safety #Manufacturing #WorkplaceCulture

Safety is the bedrock of success. Here are some tips for how to engage your team and build a thriving culture on the manufacturing floor. #Safety #Manufacturing #WorkplaceCulture

Actively Looking for Manufacturing Manager #ManufacturingManagement #ProductionManagement #OperationsManagement #LeanManufacturing #ContinuousImprovement #ProcessImprovement #IndustrialEngineering #ManufacturingTechnology #InventoryManagement #ManufacturingLeadership #Productivity #ManufacturingStrategy #SmartManufacturing

Layla, the operations manager at a manufacturing company, finds herself in a typical day filled with various responsibilities and tasks. Here's a glimpse of her day: Production Planning Meeting: Layla starts her day with a production #planning meeting where she needs to coordinate with different department heads to ensure that production schedules align with #customer demands, inventory levels, and resource #availability. Quality Control Check: While in the production #planning meeting, Layla receives an urgent call from the quality control team reporting a potential issue with a batch of products on the production line. She needs to quickly assess the severity of the issue, allocate #resources to address it, and communicate any #necessary adjustments to the production plan to minimize disruptions. We also at times travel in the similar boat isn't it . ? What it takes to be neutral is just an additonal skill and that is #Cognitive #Flexibility Let's see the #keyfactors and ways to #improve this #skill #Softskill #problemsolving #corporate #elearning #onlineeducation #potential #planning #meeting #resilience #openmind #passive #comfortzone #Learnandlead #facilitator #softskilltrainer

One very cool thing about manufacturing...every organization has their own operating systems to drive excellence---their own spin on some tried-and-true systems. Many are born out of the Lean Six Sigma/Manufacturing models, the Toyota Production System (TPS), etc. I don't consider myself an expert on these--not even close. But stuff like: 5Y 8D A3 5S Kaizen Hoshin OpEx (operational excellence) And so forth. All terms you should become very familiar with if manufacturing is your desired landing zone. Yes, even in HR. Which brings me to this: our team is currently looking for a Manufacturing Continuous Improvement Leader here at Bocar US! So maybe YOU are the one to continue teaching me...AND be a part of making our operating systems among the best in class when it comes to high-pressure aluminum die-casting. This will be a very hands-on role. Leading a FOR REAL diverse team of leaders and technical subject matter experts in driving improvement across all functions at our Huntsville, Alabama location. I'm as transparent as it comes...so here it is... This isn't for someone looking to saunter through a normal 9-5 day. It isn't the hours per se---it's the work. It's foundry and formation operations. It gets hot. But if you can TAKE THE HEAT, the room to actually really make a difference is there---daily. The room to grow your career is absolutely a reality. The opportunity to deliver for our customers and our team must be your focus. Getting incrementally better over time. Link to our careers page is in the comments! If you meet most of the requirements, we want to meet YOU!

Gemba walk is a management technique that involves leaders going to the actual workplace to observe, understand, and improve processes. In the context of garments manufacturing, key points include: 1. **Direct Observation:** Visit the manufacturing floor to observe processes, identify inefficiencies, and gain firsthand insights into daily operations. 2. **Engagement with Workers:** Interact with frontline workers to understand their experiences, gather feedback, and encourage open communication. 3. **Problem-Solving:** Address issues on the spot by collaborating with workers to find practical solutions, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. 4. **Quality Control:** Identify defects or deviations from quality standards during the production process, ensuring that products meet specified criteria. 5. **Efficiency Improvement:** Look for opportunities to streamline workflows, reduce waste, and enhance overall production efficiency. Example: During a Gemba walk in a garments manufacturing facility, the manager observes a bottleneck in the stitching department. By engaging with workers, the manager discovers that a specific sewing machine frequently malfunctions, causing delays. The manager addresses the issue by arranging for immediate maintenance and replacement, improving overall production efficiency.

The Best Piece of Manufacturing Leadership Advice, I Have Ever Been Given. I'm about to share mine but before I do please share yours, make a comment below. It would be great to find out what advice others have been given. Spring 1993, my Masters degree in Engineering Management was about to finish, as was my 2 year working as the Site Project Engineer for a large soft drinks bottling company. I'd worked for them in a year out from Uni and continued to work during holidays. They'd given me some great challenges, including; Overseeing the full overhaul of a high-speed bottling line from blow moulding, filling, capping, labelling to palletising machines Moving, refurbishing and refitting a full production line from a factory 60 miles away Designing and building a Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant Installing a charging point for an electric car Fitting water dichlorination equipment due to the Gulf War (my first week in 1991) I had a great time. Had several great mentors, willing to share and give guidance. There were budgets to write up, projects to track, UK and Foreign suppliers to visit, all to keep an automated high speed production factory running 24/7, 365. They gave me the challenge to work out how we could improve the outputs from one line which achieved 65% efficiency, whilst the others hit ~94% every hour. The best piece of advice came from the MD of the bottling firm "Mark, we use lots of technology, do the same things, every day. Go and find a small team, get experience with a team in a more manual process. Find teams making a range of products. Learn more about people, there is lots to learn" He knew that we had a very automated plant, the products we made were very similar, mostly 2 litre bottles filled with various flavours of carbonated waters, 24/7, 365. It was very male and highly technical. My next team couldn't have been further from a highly automated plant. Finding out about people was definitely the correct thing to do. It was great advice. I'm still learning. I post on #OperationsManagement #leadership & #productivity in #manufacturing firms. Want to learn more? follow me, like this post. #ukmanufacturing #leanmanufacturing

The bottleneck in the processes I have seen many times production lines where the output is acceptable, but the managers want more. To deal with this problem, the supervisor tries to see where the problem is, but sees that all the workers/stations are working “very busy” and, as a conclusion, thinks that “there is nothing we can do.” The theory of constraints, introduced by Eliyahu M. Goldratt in 1984, state that “a chain is not stronger than its weakest link.” Therefore, a production line will produce what its bottleneck produce. That said, the solution should be to discover this constraint and do everything possible to increase its capacity. Sometimes we will see “very busy” workers/stations, but when we dig deeper we will see operators performing activities that do not add value to the process, machines with long setup times, ergonomic problems, etc. The challenge is to find these constraints and focus on solutions by applying our entire set of tools to solve them (5S, trainings, method study, SMED, etc.). Then, of course, the entire line will be more productive. I hope you are agree with this theory, and if you want to add additional strategies, please share with me. #strategy, #operations, #management

: ) Quality