142 stories
The OpExChange closed out Q3 of 2021 with a visit to Stanley Black & Decker’s (SB&D) state-of-the-art facility in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Several peer OpExChange members traveled from across the Carolinas to participate. In addition to sharing their Industry 4.0 progress they also provided guidance to companies just getting started and lessons learned from […]
Within the OpExChange, our companies are all at some point of a continuous improvement journey – striving to improve both their bottom-line and top-line results by reducing waste and increasing value for their customers. Many are now incorporating industry 4.0 technology as a strategic part of this journey. The webinar last week with Gemba Systems was […]
As manufacturing companies across South Carolina are racing back into normalcy, they are finding that things are not quite the same as prior to the pandemic. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the number of job openings has reached a series high point (the term “unprecedented” has been used). Approximately 78% of employees […]
All the 131 OpExChange member companies are at some stage of their continuous improvement journey. Some have been working on this for multiple decades and some are just getting started. Two things we all have learned through this: 1) The journey never ends. 2) No matter where we are on this journey, we can still […]
Sleep Number Corporation, manufacturer of the award-winning 360® smart bed, hosted a plant visit for the OpExChange at their Irmo site last week. They shared that value stream mapping (VSM) has become an integral tool in their continuous improvement program. Although there is still room for improvement, bottom-line results are already phenomenal. The sewing department […]
South Carolina manufacturing companies are finding that Industry 4.0 technology can have immediate financial benefit, and it is not always expensive or difficult to implement. Shaw Industries’ plant in Columbia, S.C. demonstrated this in a recent plant visit from the South Carolina benchmarking group, the OpExChange. Shaw Industries is the world’s largest carpet manufacturer with […]
In the latest OpExChange event, Sunland Logistics Solutions in Simpsonville not only shared their management system but also provided a hands-on demonstration of their Lean Simulation. Participants from peer OpExChange companies in South Carolina actually participated in the simulation which introduces lean concepts including continuous flow, standard work, takt time, and cycle time. Sunland Logistics […]
Join FocalPoint Coach Mike Ungar for “Building a Lean Culture: Sustainable Continuous Improvement” Tuesday, June 22, from 2p.m. to 3:15p.m. Why is Toyota so successful? It is a result of their Lean culture, which most companies struggle to duplicate. Is Lean only for manufacturers? No, Lean has been successfully implemented across all industries and […]
“You manage what you measure.” This philosophy is originally attributed to William Thomson, otherwise known as Lord Kelvin a noted Scottish mathematician and physicist in 1883 and popularized in modern day business by Peter Drucker. All manufacturers know that to manage performance, you must measure it. This is a given. How does a manufacturer put […]
Boeing recently announced that all 787 production would be consolidated in Charleston, South Carolina, meaning that 787 production in Everett, Washington would cease. As one can imagine, an announcement of this magnitude generates many opinions and emotions, particularly on the part of the winners and losers. Some pundits see this move as positive while others […]
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