AbstractA significant barrier to successful lean implementation is the waste of variability. Many organizations attempt to optimize processes without first establishing consistency, leading to ineffective improvements. Variability, manifested in inconsistent inputs, outputs, and a lack of standardization undermines predictability and increases costs. We believe that variability should be recognized as a critical, "9th waste" of ... >
Download White Paper: Lean System Design Who Can Use Lean“I thought Lean was only for Manufacturing.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard this statement… I would have, well, a few thousand dollars. Yes, Lean was created by a company whose ‘operations’ were manufacturing (Toyota). However, in the last 30 years, it has ... >
Download White Paper: Sales and Operations Planning Lite AbstractOur philosophy at Supply Velocity is that every business does some of the work covered by the Sales & Operations Planning toolkit. How could you not? If you want to successfully deliver for your customers, somehow sales has to sell the right things and then operations has to ... >
Balancing the Speed of Decision-Making with Having Sufficient InformationBusinesses must make timely decisions, but wrong decisions can be extremely costly. Failure to make timely decisions can be just as costly. The challenge is balancing having enough information while continuing to move forward and staying on track. Most decisions result in three different ways these decisions ... >
Download White Paper: Lean Warehouse SKU Slotting Abstract In most of our Lean Warehouse projects one of the final steps before the move is to “slot” certain SKUs into bin locations within the warehouse. If you will be using fixed locations for some or all of your SKUs in your future warehouse, you can use the methodology ... >
When to use the Lean Six Sigma Project Format Abstract Many Lean Consultants promote Kaizen Events (a.k.a. Rapid Improvement Events) or Kaizen Blitzes as the method of implementing Lean. They are proponents of this method because that is how Toyota does it, and Toyota founded Lean. What these consultants overlook is that Toyota has 50+ years of ... >
The Need for a Supply Chain Strategic Plan For many years, Supply Chain Management was an overlooked aspect of business. Everybody just expected supply chains to deliver. The pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war changed the status quo while other big disruptions were already underway. Amazon fundamentally changed the consumer economy (and soon the industrial economy) when ... >
Using the Ideal Lean Scorecard to Assess Opportunities for Improvement One of my mentors, Dr. Joe Martinich, an Operations Professor at the University of Missouri St. Louis, developed a tool to help you assess where you should be applying your process improvement efforts. What is so great about this tool is it really doesn’t have anything ... >
Download White Paper: Ecommerce and Omnichannel Supply Chain Management What retailers, distributors and manufacturers must know So You are, or Want to Begin Selling Online The purpose of this white paper is to give you a complete picture of ecommerce and omnichannel supply chain design. It will help you with the decisions you need to make when considering ... >
Download White Paper: 5S Revisited: Engage People with Video Work Instructions Abstract 5S is the most foundational of the Lean tools. It is also easy to start, generates a lot of excitement and is a good indication that Lean improvements are being sustained. However, as anyone who has done 5S knows, it sometimes falls apart. We call ... >
Download White Paper: Creating a Lean Warehouse Abstract Lean got its start in factories and for many years was called Lean Manufacturing. However, if you analyze movement of people, there is often a greater opportunity in creating a Lean Warehouse. When your warehouse is Lean the tools and information you need to receive, pick and pack are ... >
Download White Paper: Lean Warehouse Aisle-Bay-Level-Position Bin Location Coding Abstract As we implement Lean Warehouses at numerous Clients, we are finding a multitude of bin-location coding schemes; the code that locates parts in aisles / bays / levels / shelf positions. As we’ve been to many warehouses, have seen different ways of coding, and came up with ... >
Download White Paper: Lean Continuous Improvement, Sustainability and Toyota More than 40 years ago I started my continuous improvement (CI) journey as a young engineer and I’ve spent the last 15+ years as a Lean and Supply Chain consultant at Supply Velocity. We leverage Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints and Supply Chain tools and techniques ... >
Download White Paper: Quantitative Supply Chain Decisions Driving Your Business Supply Chain Management Supply chain management involves the flow of products, information and money from suppliers (and their suppliers) through a company to its customers (and their customers) with the purpose of serving customers and maximizing profit. Decisions driving supply chain management can be separated into internal and ... >
Download White Paper: Case Study: The Benefits Of Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) Case Study Company Our case study company is a parts and equipment manufacturer for the mining industry. They struggled to meet customer expected lead times due to high SKU count, lack of visibility into demand, and a challenging supply chain with long lead times. ... >
Download White Paper: Aspects of The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model In the 1990’s a consulting firm and market research firm, along with some academics got together to create a process and performance measurement model to support the growing field of supply chain management. They created a non-profit, the Supply Chain Council, to share this ... >
Download White Paper: The Supply Chain Strategic Planning Process Creating a supply chain strategy is very similar to strategic planning. The difference is we start with an “operational” mindset and finish with a supply chain framework. Case Study Company Our case study company is a successful and profitable broker, working with providers (suppliers) to provide a specialty transportation ... >
Download White Paper: What's New in Lean The Toyota Production System was created almost 70 years ago by Taiichi Ohno. (There is no exact date but it happened sometime between the end of WW2 and the mid 1950’s.) And 70 years later it is still a very active operations management practice. We teach it at the ... >
Download White Paper: 6Cs to Drive Team Results Over the past few years, as we have worked with many different leadership teams across a variety of industries and processes, we’ve observed repeatedly that when there are gaps in performance, most attention gets paid to processes and external forces, instead of focusing on the team and individuals. ... >
Download White Paper: The Amazon Effect & Your Supply Chain It is important to understand Amazon’s effect on your supply chain, your operations and your customers, and more importantly how you can adapt and thrive. The Amazon Effect Amazon earns 37% of all ecommerce sales in the USA. What is even more incredible is their ecommerce market share is ... >
Download White Paper: Lean Meetings Do you ever feel like you are a prisoner to too many meetings, running from one meeting to the next? Do your meetings feel like they last forever and lack action or closure? Ever wonder why a meeting was called you were invited or other times why you weren’t invited to a meeting you ... >
Download White Paper: Measuring Customer Satisfaction – Creating a Reliable Survey Abstract Every for-profit, for-cause and even governmental organization cares about customer satisfaction. When someone wants to measure customer satisfaction the natural instrument is a survey, but we all know that surveys can be problematic (more about this later). This case study documents a process for measuring customer ... >
Download White Paper: Facility Location Optimization Abstract Most companies make facility location decisions based on convenience (proximity to employees or existing facility), lease or start-up costs or subjective criteria such as liking a certain location. In supply chain management we consider facility location decisions to be one of the most strategic and long-lasting decisions a company can make. In ... >
Download White Paper: 16 Critical Supply Chain Management Concepts Reducing variation in the Supply Chain The Bullwhip Effect / visibility of inventory and demand in the supply chain Choosing the best Supply Chain for your Product How Information Technology is used in SCM to reduce costs and increase sales Work-flow technologies Improve visibility of inventory and ... >
Download White Papers: Decoding the DNA of Profitable Customers Executive Summary Supply Velocity Client had engaged our research team to help them identify factors that would enable them to predict or identify potential profitable customers. Our team was able to determine that five of the seven factors (independent variables) that were discussed in our initial meeting were good ... >
Download White Paper:Important Qualitative Supply Chain Decisions Important Outward-Facing Supply Chain Decisions What is Supply Chain Management? How is it different than Logistics? Why is this paper called “Qualitative” Supply Chain Decisions? In a prior white paper titled “Important Quantitative Supply Chain Decisions” I stated that quantitative decisions could be considered “logistics” decisions. In addition, these decision ... >
Download White Paper:Supply Chain Operations Reference SCOR Model In the 1990’s a consulting firm and market research firm, along with some academics got together to create a process and performance measurement model to support the growing field of supply chain management. They created a non-profit, the Supply Chain Council, to share this model, the supply chain ... >
Download White Paper:Designing Your Global Supply Chain 15 Strategic Choices for Designing your Global Supply Chain In the 1990’s, and with the rise of the concept of Supply Chain Management, supply chains have gone global. This has largely been enabled through information technology (the subject of a separate article). Globalization has included suppliers in many different countries, ... >
Download White Paper:Using Information Technology to Revolutionize your Supply Chain Some have suggested that Supply Chain Management only exists because of Information Technology; that the IT revolution enabled supply chain management. They may be right. Supply chain management, as a discipline and profession, gained prominence in the 1990’s, the same time that many important information technologies ... >
Download White Paper: Trust and Collaboration in the Supply Chain Collaboration is Supply Chain Management Collaboration is a core component of supply chain management. Supply chain management can be defined as: “The coordination and management of materials, information and financial resources from suppliers through a firm’s operations to customers with the purpose of maximizing customer service and minimizing costs, ... >
Download White Paper:Choosing the Best Supply Chain for your Products Choosing the Best Supply Chain for your Products In the Late 1990’s, Dr. Marshall Fisher, of the Wharton School of Business, revolutionized supply chain management by observing that companies were not choosing the supply chain that matched the nature of their products. He presented a rather stark ... >
Download White Paper: The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Chains One of the most important phenomena in Supply Chain Management is the Bullwhip Effect. It was discovered by Stanford Business School Professor and P&G. P&G noticed that orders it received from its customers (Wal-Mart, grocery chains, Target, etc.) for diapers varied much more than the variation in demand ... >
Download White Paper: Streamlining your Supply Chain Abstract To streamline their supply chains companies must use both Lean tools and principles of Supply Chain Management. Each used separately will not accomplish meaningful and sustainable savings. These basic principles are enduring truisms that companies often forget in good times. Lean tools help to identify when the basic principles are ... >
Download White Paper: The Secret to Distributor-Delivery Profitability Abstract Distributors who deliver with company-owned trucks incur significant overhead costs associated with their delivery operations. Typically, a small delivery fee is added to each order. In reality this fee almost never covers even 50% of the actual cost of the delivery. In this paper we will show how a ... >
Download White Paper: Increase Profits through Six Sigma Customer Analysis Abstract Six Sigma is a powerful tool to analyze and solve business problems. A significant problem many companies have, even if they don’t realize it, is customer profitability. This paper will show how one company analyzed their customers using Six Sigma. They discovered tremendous opportunities to reduce costs ... >
Download White Paper: Strategic Planning using Strategic Filters and WIGs Abstract The strategic planning process can take many paths. It can require months of preparatory analysis or simply use the collective knowledge of the management team. Either method requires that the company make decisions on its future course. In this paper we will show how to use Strategic ... >
Download White Papers: A Lean Product Development Process Abstract How many products hit the market and are too expensive, too big, don’t have the desired features or take too long to develop? Lean is a Process Improvement Tool to reduce waste in organizations. Few processes cross over as many different departments in a company as product development. Product development ... >
Download White Paper: Improve Sales Force Effectiveness Using Multi-Variable Customer Ranking Abstract For effective sales, companies need to differentiate how they allocate their limited sales resources among existing customers, customer service and new business development (prospects). When ranking Customers and Prospects, the common metric is usually either sales or profits. This paper will show how you can blend ... >
Download White Paper: Streamlining Warehouse Operations with Lean Six Sigma Abstract Given the low margin nature of most distribution businesses, it is imperative to maintain the lowest possible labor costs. This paper will show how to use Lean and Six Sigma tools to minimize the labor required to pick, pack and ship orders from a warehouse. Background This distribution company ... >
Download White Paper: Performance Scorecards – The Foundation for Lean Six Sigma Abstract Most companies begin using Lean Six Sigma to improve their performance. However, they forget the first and most critical aspect of implementing Lean Six Sigma… measuring their performance. This white-paper will discuss how to launch Lean Six Sigma by first creating a company-wide Performance Scorecard ... >
Download White Paper: Lean in Human Resources – Streamlining the Hiring Process Abstract As more organizations embrace Lean as part of a culture of continuous improvement they realize the broad applications it has. All parts of the business can benefit from streamlining. This white-paper will case-study the application of Lean in the Human Resource department. Specifically, we will ... >
Download White Paper: Using Value Stream Mapping to Reduce Overhead Labor Abstract Lean Six Sigma is used to improve quality, increase productivity and reduce cycle time. However, most of the applications to increase productivity are dealing with direct labor. We have extensive experience using Lean Six Sigma to improve direct labor productivity in Distribution (order selectors), Hospitals (nurses), ... >
Download White Papers: Creating a Lean Sales Process Abstract Selling is a process. Like many processes it includes tasks that directly add value to customers and tasks that are “non-value-added.” Enlightened sales executives are learning Lean Six Sigma tools from their operations counterparts to streamline and simplify the sales process. This white paper will case study how a ... >
Download White Paper: Lean Healthcare Streamlining Primary Care Abstract There are a number of articles that explain conceptually how Lean Six Sigma is being used in Hospitals. This white paper will present a case study of how we used Lean Six Sigma tools to improve patient-service at a VA (Veterans Affairs) Medical Center. Background This VA Medical Center (located in ... >
Download White Paper: SKU Reduction The Biggest SKLUsers Background A Value Stream Assessment (See White Paper: Finding Productivity Improvements from Field to Table) at this Grocery Retailer & Distributor determined that core-items (stock keeping units or SKUs) for sales and distribution to licensees have increased from 2200 to 2800 SKUs, over the last four years during a period ... >
Download White Paper: Finding Productivity Improvements from Field to Table Background This discount grocery retailer wanted to evaluate its cost structure from procurement through distribution, retail and accounting functions. They called this initiative “Field to Table”. The CEO felt that costs had crept into their processes over the years and that the company had migrated away from its ... >
Download White Paper: Improving Store and DC Productivity through Minimum Order Quantity Analysis Background A Value Stream Assessment (See White Paper: Finding Productivity Improvements from Field to Table) at this Grocery Retailer & Distributor identified poor productivity in its distribution centers during order selection and in its retail stores during shelf restocking. A very high percentage of the ... >
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“Your process encourages this group to work together, better communicate and have fun doing it.”
“In 2015 we began working with Dr. Mitch Millstein to optimize our inventory locations supporting e-commerce and in-store inventory needs. From this work we developed a new omni-channel warehousing and inventory plan that entirely redefined our approach to warehousing, inventory management, store distribution and fulfillment. As a result of the analyses by Dr. Millstein we have begun the move to an improved omni-channel design by reassigning MSAs to new warehouses, greater leveraging of in-store inventories to satisfy e-commerce demands, and exploring acquisitions of new warehousing space in strategic locations. We have already seen an improvement of $300,000 from both more efficient shipping strategies due to better inventory management.”
“Supply Velocity gave us the tools to analyze our business and processes based on the facts and numbers versus our perceptions. Our common quote was “Let the numbers lead us”. The key for our organization was how quickly we moved from classroom to actual project initiation. We were able to jump in, start using the tools and see a difference right away.
The get-into-action approach was good for our culture.”
“Supply Velocity has provided the technical expertise and political capital to move our project forward. They have just the right amount of push and the right amount of support. Supply Velocity has helped us make real changes to improve efficiencies in logistics without jeopardizing our performance. We’re happy and our customers are happy.”
“Closure Medical recently completed a major reorganization in order to enhance our ability to rapidly create innovative medical devices. We hired Supply Velocity to help us map out the process and service flows of the new organization that would maximize our product development process (PDP). In four weeks, Supply Velocity helped us envision a new PDP structure, develop measures and accountability for each step, and gain consensus within the organization. Supply Velocity’s focus on speed and accountability helped us complete a critical project in a timely fashion.”
“We used Supply Velocity on our Warehouse optimization project. One of the key characteristics of Supply Velocity is that they listened to our requirements and provided a clear path for our Warehouse processes using lean tools and our future sales growth as objectives.”
“Isolating a problem, finding short, and long term solutions with measurable results is what was promised and results is what was delivered by Supply Velocity. Upon launch of the Lean Six Sigma Selling System, we knew more about our customers, our products, and were able to create a solid plan to increase sales of our most profitable products. Within months of implementation, our booked sales jumped 60% and our most valued customers were getting direct, active, and calculable attention.”
“In a time of volatile supply chain disruption, Supply Velocity is helping us develop Demand and Supply Planning processes to proactively tackle these new challenges. They are genuine partners, working with our team, facilitating and teaching.”
“We are using Supply Velocity’s Lean Six Sigma methods to analyze a variety of processes including rationalizing SKUs (stock-keeping-units). By using math to evaluate SKUs we took some of the emotion out of our decisions. We expect significant increases in sales and productivity from reducing poor performing SKUs.”
“Supply Velocity has helped Clean succeed in a number of ways. First, they provided the education that kicked off our Lean Process Improvement journey. They also facilitated a number of large supply chain and process improvement projects including: 1) building quality into our direct-labor productivity incentive program, 2) designing the layout of our garment warehouse, and 3) streamlining our route service process.We have integrated the methods that Supply Velocity taught us into our management and strategic planning. In the process our quality measurement has improved 22% from 2013 to 2015, we have reduced required annual labor by 2200 hours from the garment facility layout project and we’ve seen 50% decrease in error rate. Obviously the numbers speak for themselves, but just as important, Supply Velocity has been fun to work and have become true partners. They have “taught us how to fish” so our internal teams are able to implement change on their own, with the skills we learned from Supply Velocity. This relationship has been invaluable.”
“We engaged with Supply Velocity to help us embed process improvement at all levels of the business. Our team learned from Mitch to let the data drive decisions, to use Lean tools to help us see our processes critically and objectively, and to create a control plan to manage all of the tasks that were the outcome of the data study.The project turned out to be very significant to the company and most importantly, our customers. We reduced our customer wait times by 40%, and cut in half the labor cost to fulfill customer orders.
Some results are not able to be measured. However, as a result of this project, we have started to build a Lean mindset and culture, which is part of our strategic mission to save our customers money. Supply Velocity has been a valued partner in this mission.”
“Anheuser-Busch Precision Printing had been implementing Lean Operations on our own for the past two years. We needed to move faster and partnered with Supply Velocity, Inc. Through Supply Velocity, Inc.’s mathematical workflow balancing and visual management tools, dramatic improvements were achieved. The entire converting operation was rearranged based on Lean principles. The result is a 20.6% productivity improvement, enabling us to operate with 23 fewer people in production.”
“Many thanks to all three Supply Velocity presenters. I think you guys took a very difficult time for learning and capitalized on everyone’s time and training needs. I truly hope this helps your business as this was a considerable undertaking on the part of Supply Velocity. Outstanding!!”
“In thirty years of hiring consultants, Supply Velocity, Inc. was the first to tell me what they were going to do, set a price they stuck to and substantially exceed my expectations. I have recommended them to friends and acquaintances. They were true partners in assisting with the turnaround of an acquisition we had been struggling with for two years.Their math-based technology, solid down-to-earth facilitation skills, and positive, patient and enthusiastic attitude combined to make our implementation of Lean a very rewarding experience.
We increased our production by 50% in the first month of implementation and continue to see improvements. Improvements have not only been realized in productivity, but also in quality and morale. We have increased profitability by $2M on flat sales of $10M.
Based on Supply Velocity, Inc.’s integrity and our results, I will continue to refer them to others and utilize them in the future as we expand our company through acquisitions.”
“Supply Velocity is driving instrumental change in our inventory management processes. This is critical for us to be competitive in a supply chain environment with numerous disruptions. They are making change happen, which can be challenging in a 182 year old organization.”
“We are pleased that Essex selected Supply Velocity, Inc. as our Lean Implementation Partner. At one facility, we have saved over $350,000 in work-in-process inventory, reduced throughput time from 2 weeks to minutes and increased inventory turns 3 to 8 times per year. All these results are in just 6 months. Our return of investment is very high.”
“Our experience with Supply Velocity was one of the best values we have ever had from a consulting project. Cyril Narishkin brought a structured lean methodology, invaluable experience and engaging facilitation skills to help us streamline a very complex and disjointed sales order process. Just as importantly, our team now has the knowledge and process competencies to address other business improvement opportunities going forward.”
“Myerson engaged Supply Velocity, specifically Ray Davis to visit our plant in Trinidad to conduct a two day assessment of our production procedures and provide us feedback on areas for improvement and where applicable, areas for future analysis.Put simply, we got everything we paid for and in addition to more in depth analysis, we got specific tasks that were immediately actionable. Our local management team found Ray to be engaging, highly credible and insightful based on his wide experience. In other words the cultural differences and lack of specific industry knowledge weren’t impediments to things we could implement immediately and on our own. In a nutshell it was money well spent and will pay itself back many times over.”
“In the spring of 2003, the St. Louis Area Chapter of the American Red Cross engaged Supply Velocity, Inc. to perform a study and make recommendations to streamline office processes, maximize cash flow in purchasing and warehousing and restructure and enhance our maintenance department. Supply Velocity, Inc.’s process was methodical, flexible, staff-oriented, inclusive and, above all, trackable.In the last six months, our Chapter has realized expense savings of over $380,000 annually, and significant improvement in intra-company service levels has been attained. Supply Velocity, Inc. will return to the Chapter periodically throughout the next 18 months to audit our newly implemented processes. We have been pleased with our results and Supply Velocity, Inc.’s professionalism.”
“C&R was struggling with labor productivity. The construction crews were often missing materials that they needed to do their work. This caused significant idle time. Supply Velocity, Inc. and C&R used value stream mapping and visual management tools to make dramatic improvements in operations. Most importantly, two years later C&R is sustaining and improving on the implementation. C&R’s return on investment was 11:1. C&R had a record year last year in both sales and profits and would not have been able to pull it off without the changes Supply Velocity, Inc. helped us make.”
“For several years we have worked with Supply Velocity to support us with their expertise on Lean Operations and Supply Chain Management. Supply Velocity has helped us implement Lean, improve our inventory systems, and educate our people. They are professionals who are always available to help us as needed.”
“Mitch Millstein and his team helped guide our shop fabrication division in the re-layout of our custom pipe and steel fabrication facility when we moved into a new building. It is not only the results but how he helped. We were involved in every step. I personally did time studies and was able to see the non-value added steps required to manufacture in our old layout. When we created our new layout, everyone was involved, from the executive team to our direct labor force. With Mitch’s help we increased our throughput by a 3x multiple, while providing more competitive prices to our clients as a result of the efficiency improvements.This has enabled us to not only make more money but also to expand our commercial reach and serve more, and larger customers. I would recommend Supply Velocity to any company that wants to make improvement in supply chain and operations.”
“Supply Velocity created visibility within our Assurance Services Group… visibility of performance, Client-service, employee satisfaction and processing time. Using the Supply Velocity System, Audit Report Cycle time is down over 50%. We are using his strategies to create greater Client loyalty.”
“We used Supply Velocity to rethink our sales process. By analyzing the entire process we found wasted time in our Sales, Admin and Operations departments. Streamlining this process created extra time for each Sales Rep, allowing them to spend more time with Customers and increase the value we add. Gross profit margins are up 40%!We are now using Supply Velocity to help us rethink our entire Strategic Plan.”
“The role of the Erie Insurance Marketing Department has been evolving over the past several years – from a support role to a more critical role of driving growth in our organization. Because of our increased workload and desire to prioritize the most critical projects, we hired Supply Velocity to teach us the skills of Lean Six Sigma.Participants included the Promotions, Market Research and Agency Licensing sections of the Marketing Department.
We learned valuable tools to help us to prioritize based on the voice of the customer.
I firmly believe these skills made a difference in how we work every day. We are moving new projects forward, eliminating or changing ineffective processes, and we are a much stronger department. We continue to use the tools to help us with our highly-complex and time-consuming projects. Supply Velocity helped us to accomplish our goals.”
“Supply Velocity’s Lean Six Sigma System has given us new tools to help improve our sales performance. We have learned new ways to analyze our business which makes problem solving more accurate and has made us better leaders.”
“I am thrilled to provide this testimonial for Supply Velocity and their outstanding work in implementing Lean Warehouses and processes at Crescent Parts & Equipment through the COVID pandemic. With their data-first focus and Mitch’s exceptional coaching and experience, they transformed our business into a more supply chain-oriented organization, enabling us to grow while prioritizing employee safety and creating a better work environment. Supply Velocity’s expertise in Lean methodologies and their comprehensive evaluation of our customers have been instrumental in optimizing our operations and increasing customer satisfaction. We highly recommend Supply Velocity to any company seeking to implement Lean processes and enhance their supply chain efficiency.”