Over the last 30 years several acronyms have sprung up naming essential systems for storing and processing business data, such as MRP (material requirements planning), ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management). Companies invest a lot of time and money in these tools, as executives know that collecting data to report on what’s
Bridging the gap between supply and demand is the prime objective of any business. In the era when manufacturing ruled the roost, demand was generally higher than supply and options for customisation were limited. In fact standardisation was seen as crucial in order to maximise efficiency. Henry Ford’s famous quote, “Any customer can have a
Many executives see mapping out the structure of their organisation as a simple task, involving little more than putting a few boxes and lines on a piece of paper. They don’t realise that there is a science that should influence how an organisation is structured. Understanding and applying the principles behind organisational design will allow
Do you ever find that production grinds to a halt because supplies have run out? And have you ever experienced a slowdown while waiting for tools to arrive and for workers to get up to speed with using them? If you have ever encountered issues like these, it might be that your production planning needs
Joesph Wilkinson, Senior Consultant Do you believe that most people are naturally predisposed to avoid risk? This is the main thrust of a complex behavioural model known as prospect theory. Daniel Kahneman, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on the theory, explained: ‘For an organism operating close to the edge, the loss of
Tom Hryhorysak Project Manager, North America Over the last 60 years, the concept of continuous improvement has been embraced by most industries as a means of achieving excellence and it’s often a key element in corporate success. But interestingly, over the course of my two decades working with organizations in the engineering industry, I’ve found
Yilin Liao, Operations Manager for Renoir South East Asia Organisations around the world choose to have business operations in China, taking advantage of competitive costs and perhaps tapping into the enormous Chinese market. However, rapid change in the Chinese business environment is making these dealings increasingly challenging. After a growth spurt at the start of