E-Kanban: Blanket Purchase Orders and Lean Manufacturing

Written by Sam Bayer


Blanket Purchase Orders are a “best practice” inrepparttar well-oiled kanban process. They minimizerepparttar 102847 flow of information between buyers and their suppliers, while maintainingrepparttar 102848 terms, conditions and integrity ofrepparttar 102849 business relationship betweenrepparttar 102850 two parties. Datacraft Solutions (www.datacraftsolutions.com),repparttar 102851 leader in e-kanban, found that while managing a large number of suppliers with many part numbers, managingrepparttar 102852 integrity of blanket purchase orders become an issue. For every given kanban release it is important to make sure that: an open purchase order still exists, and that there was enough remaining balance onrepparttar 102853 purchase order to coverrepparttar 102854 current purchase. The new Best Practice was “integratingrepparttar 102855 electronic kanban system” with a manufacturers current purchasing system. Kanbans are now guaranteed never to be sent to supplier unless there is a valid blanket purchase order.

FAX KANBAN is NOT Efficient and NOT Lean

At ten minutes per fax, someone is spending 3.5 hours per day in administration time. That inefficiency results in less time to utilize more suppliers or improverepparttar 102856 relationships with existing suppliers.

The Synergistic Organization of Unique People (S.O.U.P) Model

Written by Dr. Alvin Chan


Introduction

Inrepparttar past, many organizations have relied on generic personality profiling tools to assess, recruit and manage their employees. Though these tools have garnered a certain measure of success, there were many flaws that needed to be addressed for increased workplace relevance.

In view of these concerns, First Quatermain has developed THREE tools and has blended them into an integrated schema known asrepparttar 102846 Synergistic Organization of Unique People (S.O.U.P) Model.

This integrated model has been developed holistically for application in a workplace context. The three tools are:

1.WorkACTIONS Map

2.WorkSMARTS Map

3.Nature of Effective Organization (NEO) Profile

WorkACTIONS Map:

The WorkACTIONS Map was developed based onrepparttar 102847 premise that a human resource profile tool must:

1. Be Relevant in a Workplace Context. It was discovered that there is a degree of dissimilarity in a person’s attitudes and behavior when at work, as compared to outsiderepparttar 102848 workplace.

For example, an employee who is very passionate about playing golf may not necessarily bring this passion and enthusiasm into his/her workplace.

2. Focus onrepparttar 102849 Line of ACTIONS rather than just Personalities. In most profiling tools, potential employees are selected, based partly onrepparttar 102850 assessment of their suitable personalities. Though this can help increaserepparttar 102851 success of recruiting suitable talents, it is still rather myopic in nature.

In contrast,repparttar 102852 Map’s emphasis is on analyzingrepparttar 102853 individual’s thought processes andrepparttar 102854 line of actions he/she will undertake in problem solving.

3. Support Organization’s Strategic HRM Framework. The WorkACTIONS Map (as part ofrepparttar 102855 holistic SOUP Model) was developed to facilitate strategic human resource management within an organization.

For example, senior management can userepparttar 102856 Map to select suitable personnel when building project teams. As different strategies and environments call for a certain mix of people in a team,repparttar 102857 Map can heightenrepparttar 102858 success rate of choosingrepparttar 102859 right people forrepparttar 102860 right situations.

WorkSMARTS Map:

Based onrepparttar 102861 seminal research work by Harvard’s Prof. Howard Gardner, First Quatermain has adapted and re-definedrepparttar 102862 concept of Multiple Intelligences for workplace relevance.

Prof. Gardner's research states that there are several kinds of intelligences (or SMARTS) inherent and nurtured within an individual. This set of intelligences will determinerepparttar 102863 individual’s ways of carrying out certain tasks, learning styles, job preferences and more.

WorkSMARTS Map consists of these FIVE types of Intelligences. They are:

·Logical/Mathematical Intelligence ·Visual/Vision Intelligence ·Interpersonal Intelligence ·Intrapersonal Intelligence ·Linguistic Intelligence

WorkSMARTS Map was developed for organizational use based onrepparttar 102864 following factors:

1. Different SMARTS for Different Job Functions. Withrepparttar 102865 application of WorkSMARTS Map, an organization can placerepparttar 102866 right people withrepparttar 102867 appropriate mix of intelligences for specific job functions and responsibilities.

2. Unique set of SMARTS, Unique way of Organizational Learning. This realization will enable an organization to disseminate information effectively and develop appropriate corporate training methodology forrepparttar 102868 staff.

For example, ifrepparttar 102869 majority ofrepparttar 102870 sales agents learn better through drawings and diagrams, a Sales Training program should avoid being too wordy, which may confuse them in their learning process.

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