4 Reasons Why You Need Lean Coaching Training Consultants While Implementing Lean In Your Company

Lean is an effective method for managing teams in some of the most dynamic and demanding industries such as manufacturing, software development, construction and many others. The methodology is easy to understand and quick to make an impact provided it is implemented properly and hence hiring a lean coaching training consultants in this phase of your company is very important. Not only during transition but they also can have a huge impact on day to day training of your employees in the future.

One of the top manufacturing consultants in India believe the initial stage of lean manufacturing to be the most difficult to manage and hence many companies end up giving up on the whole process.

Here is a list of the 4 reasons you absolutely need them:

1. Preparing The Teams Before The Change

It is not the change that is difficult but the willingness to accept it and prepare for it is what makes me not want to change. Whenever a new process is put in place with lean being no exception, preparing the employees beforehand is very important, something a consultant can do efficiently.

According to job evaluation consultants in India, poor adaptability is one of the major reasons of poor job performance and hence you need to make sure your employees are fully adaptable towards the lean system.

2. Establishing The End To End Processes

Lean system is very easy to understand and gives quick result provided it is implemented properly. A lean consultant can help streamline each and every step of the transition thus making sure that all the processes and resources are in place before the company switches to lean. From mapping the value streams to preparing the flow charts, having an expert by your side in these exciting times can help you achieve a faster and smoother transition.

3. More Adaptability And Less Fall Outs

Apart from preparing the mind set of the employees, it is also important to train them aggressively in lean so that there are no fall outs once the new system in place. Training consultants can thus help prepare your company lean-ready before the actual day.

Proper training plan can help reduce panic in the employees towards any kind of change in the company. Once trained, the adaptability would eventually increase and so is the efficiency and productivity of the employees.

 

4. Ensures Quick Implementation And Smoother Transition

This point can’t be stressed enough. As we move towards a change, making sure everything is planned in advance and each and every stakeholder is equally involved is very difficult. A major impediment in creating a smooth flow are the possible bottlenecks in the process. Having a consultant helps you plan and implement everything with ease, thus ensuring a smoother and quicker transition. Implementing Lean management system needs a deep understanding of the concept that stands behind it, something that a consultant has.

Planning To Manufacture In India? This Is Why You Need A Manufacturing Consultant

The ‘lean manufacturing’ is a Japanese principle of manufacturing proposed by Taiichi Ohno of Toyota in the 1990s. Earlier it was introduced as a concept for the manufacturing industry but with time it has been applied well into many businesses. The objective lies in reducing wastage and maximizing value for customers.  The lean philosophy aims to reduce 7 types of waste i.e. overproduction, wasting time, resources, transportation, processing, inventory and motion.

Scenario In India

Lean manufacturing in India is still in the infancy stage and the Indian firms are far away from enjoying its complete benefits. The awareness level of Indian firms on lean manufacturing is very low. The concept is largely adopted but only by the big firms. One such example is Tata Motors which has created a success story by launching Nano implementing lean manufacturing. Lean philosophy helped to reduce the cost without compromising on size and comfort. Recently, many apparel firms have also opted for lean manufacturing to compete with European companies.

Small and Medium-Sized Firms (SMEs) in India are still mostly unaware of lean principle. The lean principles cannot be implemented as-it-is in every industry and therefore the Indian firms need to choose proper tools and techniques according to the work culture, infrastructure availability and working conditions of the specific industry. The competition is very tough and lean principles can prove very beneficial for the Indian manufacturing firms to compete globally. Manufacturing Consultants can help small businesses in India achieve this. It will help them to improve their product quality and reduce the costs along with speeding up the delivery.

One key concept used by Manufacturing Consultants isJob Evaluation.  The process is based on collection and study of information relevant to existing and new positions within an organization which makes it crucial to look Job Evaluation Consultants in India. This process entails several important considerations related to employee positions and managerial positions. Job evaluation is frequently carried out by means of personal interviews, questionnaires or observations and entails gathering of job-related information.

Lean manufacturing improves efficiency, reduces waste, and increases productivity. The benefits, therefore, are manifold. Lean Coaching Training Consultants are specialists in implementing lean manufacturing in businesses.Here are few benefits:

• Increased product quality
• Improved lead times
• Employee satisfaction
• Increased profits
• Sustainability

India is home of a lot of scope in the Manufacturing sector. But the businesses here are unaware of the modern manufacturing techniques. Needless to say, it can be extremely fruitful for these businesses to capitalise on lean manufacturing as and when they can adapt it.

Cornerstone has passion to multiply client’s business by 10 times. Our methodology increases turnover, built in quality at optimised operational cost.We provide coaching and hand-holding of plant cross functional teams to follow Lean Manufacturing practices.Practical insightful methodology engages teams for sustainable continuous improvement culture.

Getting Familiar With The Various Reasons That Make Business Leaders Sceptical About Lean Management

Despite the fact that lean management has been accepted as one of the most effective ways for reducing wastage and enhancing business performance, a large percentage of business leaders still feel sceptical about it. Even those business leaders who have accepted to implement lean management practices within their organizations, have done opted for some specific aspects. There are in-fact, only a handful of organizations, which having adhered to the advice of lean manufacturing consultants India have invested in the complete management system. This naturally gives rise to the question of why business leaders are so averse to this innovative management system that is bound to improve the problem solving capabilities of the organization besides enhancing productivity and quality while reducing costs.

Need To Maintain Status Quo

One of the key reasons that make business averse to the idea of adapting lean management system in totality is their sense of insecurity. These leaders often believe that implementing lean will cause them to loose their social, economic, political and philosophical rights and benefits within the organization. However, these insecurities are often uncalled for and are perpetuated by professionals favouring the classical management strategies.

Such leaders express an interest in lean management only to the extent where their vested rights, power and control within the organization remain unchanged and unchallenged. This naturally leads to the dilution of the lean management tools and strategies rendering them weak and largely ineffective. Given that these contaminated lean strategies do not provide the promised and desired results, the organizations implementing them tend to reject them as useless and ineffective.

Failure To Understand The Complete Benefits

Another reason that makes senior management executives discard the suggestion of adapting lean management systems is their poor understanding of the concept. These professionals are either unaware of the various benefits that the organization is likely to gain through this significant change, or are no competent enough to implement the changes to ensure these benefits. In either case, the managers feel challenged beyond their capabilities and also feel threatened of losing their good will and even their position within the organization. The best way out of this tricky situation for such professionals is to out rightly reject the idea of lean management. The few aspects of this management strategy that they might acknowledge and accept are carefully chosen to match their own understanding and competence levels.

Finding A Solution

In order to reap the benefits of lean management while also avoiding the above mentioned complications, it is important for business organizations to invest in lean coaching training consultants. These consultants can helps resolve any doubts and queries that executives across different levels might have about this management system. More importantly they can help eliminate the fear of loss of position and control that the senior management professionals might be having with regard to implementation of these methodologies. They will help the executives gain a better understanding about how the implementation of this management strategy can prove beneficial not only for overall organizational growth but also for their own professional and personal development. The training consultants can also provide guidance about the best ways to implement lean technology.

Qualities That Every Good Lean Manufacturing Consultant Should Possess

Business organizations are increasingly adapting lean manufacturing strategies to ensure their sustained growth and profitability. Unfortunately, most organizations adapting these tools and strategies seem to be unaware of the fact that the journey towards bringing about the desired change is a long one and requires complete commitment from the top management. In addition, the organizations that have never used lean strategies before might need to rely extensively on the advice and guidance of the experts professionals from the top lean consulting firms in India. This last aspect might prove somewhat tricky as despite the growing number of such firms, finding good lean consultants is not really easy. However, before addressing the issue of finding the right consultants, it is important to know how they can prove beneficial for an organization.

Role Of Lean Consultants In Organizational Growth

As is well known the focus of lean strategies is on minimizing waste and maximizing profitability and efficiency. The lean consultants help the business organization to develop the right strategies and implement the policies that can help fulfil this objective. They perform a thorough assessment of the current processes and strategies employed by the organization to identify the areas that need to be improved. Following the guidelines of the lean consultants makes it possible for businesses to provide better value to the customers and enhance their satisfaction level as well as the sense of reliability.

Essential Traits Of A Good Lean Consultant

Having learned about the role played by lean consultants in enhancing the profitability and value for customer of an organization, it is time to know about the qualities that define a good consultant. It is a common perception that hiring the professionals employed by renowned lean manufacturing consultant firms in India is all they need to do to solve this problem. However, this might not prove to be the best decision as many such professionals do not actually possess the following key traits that identify a good consultant.

• Most good consultants tend to self-evaluate themselves constantly to gain a better understanding of their area of expertise as well as to explore their strengths.

• The leading consultants do not try to push their knowledge across to their clients, but rather provide the latter with ample opportunities to extract this knowledge from them.

• Most good consultants never claim to have the solutions to all the problems that the clients might be facing, but at the same time they provide complete help and support in finding these solutions assisting with right decision making.

• The top lean consultants are well aware of the fact that lean awareness, lean knowledge and lean training are all different and that they all form an integral part of lean consulting.

• Most importantly, a good consultant is well aware of the fact that lean changes can be implemented only one step at a time.

Need To Implement Lean Manufacturing Strategies For Business Success

Lean manufacturing has become the new buzzword within business markets across the globe. The system promises to reduce operational risks and provide enhanced returns on investment, while also bringing about a significant improvement in the overall performance of the workforce. However, there are still some organizations that feel sceptical about hiring the services of lean coaching training consultants for efficient implementation of lean strategies. They feel that changing the traditional methods of business operation will create many hassles and also reduce the overall efficiency of the workforce. Such organizations can benefit greatly by the below discussed details about the need to implement lean strategies for consistent business growth and success.

 

Learning The Truth About Lean Manufacturing

Before learning about the need to implement lean manufacturing, it is important to know what it actually means. The primary objective of using these strategies is to minimize wastage of materials, time and effort to maximize the value of a product or a service for the customers.  It helps the organizations to focus more on improving the quality of their offerings to the customers. This in turn helps in reducing costs, increasing productivity and minimizing the chances of rework, defects and operational waste. That is why most business organizations consider lean strategies to be a highly effective tool for beating competition and empowering them for attaining their objectives of growth and profitability.

How Lean Manufacturing Strategies Can Help

One of the most important aspects that influence the buying decision of customers is the price of the products and the services. Waste tends to have a significant impact on the overall pricing policies of a business. Customers around the world feel displeased by the idea of paying extra for undervalued products or services. Sadly, organizations that do not implement lean manufacturing strategies unknowingly provide only around 5% actual value to their customers while the remaining 95% is waste. In this context, implementing the lean manufacturing strategies can prove extremely beneficial for bringing down the costs. This is due to the below given reasons.

• It helps in enhancing the quality performance of the workforce and increases the overall output rate per hour.

• It minimizes the number of defects and shortcomings in the end products and services improving the customer satisfaction levels considerably.

• According to the job evaluation consultants in India, implementing lean strategies helps in improving employee morale and involvement.

• Lean strategies are also known to improve the overall stock turnover levels and enhance the delivery system of the business, which in turn enhances service efficiency.

• Most importantly, lean strategies help in reducing waste by a decent percentage, which makes it possible for the businesses to invest their saved time and effort in other growth activities.

With so much to gain with lean strategy implementation they have naturally emerged as the preferred solutions for ensuring business excellence.

The Aspects Of Lean Manufacturing Planning And Execution

Reliable quality and rapid delivery are the two key customer expectations that modern business organizations strive to fulfil for ensuring their growth and success. For this the companies need to work towards minimizing the cycle time for various business processes as otherwise they run the risk of losing customers. In this context, lean systems offer a reliable solution for organizations looking to attain and maintain optimal operational efficiency and highest customer satisfaction levels. However, in order to get the best results from such systems, the top lean consulting firm in India advise their clients to gain an in-depth understanding about their various key aspects.

Lean Manufacturing Implementation

In order to get the best results, it is important for business organizations to first garner firm support of top management for the initiative. This requires making it clear to the management that several processes might need to be changed. The best way to convince the management of the effectiveness and benefits of implementing a lean system is by carefully planning and   test implementing the system for a single product line. Once the management acknowledges the benefits of the system, it can be expanded for a broad-scale execution.

Apart from gaining support from the top management, it is also important to prepare and involve the mid and junior level employees for the change. For this the organizations need to identify and executive, who can be trusted to promote lean program and also become engaged in its planning. The organization should also make sure to educate employees across all levels about the new systems to be implemented. It is also important to lay out the comprehensive designs for the new or modified processes besides developing a plan to test run the system in a single operational area.

The organizations also need to set quantified goals that can help them access the level of improvement attained with respect to various aspects of performance. Once the test run has been successfully approved, they should design plans for implementing the system across the organization in multiple phases. However, even before the initiation of the first phase, a full confirmation should be obtained from the management for the same. The implementation of each phase should be done in accordance with well planned time-tables to minimize any disruptions in the normal business operations.

Measuring The Performance Of  Lean Manufacturing

As per the leading lean manufacturing consultants India, just implementing the lean system is not enough. Organizations need to make sure that they have a well-rounded set of metrics in place to measure the performance of lean manufacturing systems. This might involve performing regular assessments to ensure the following.

• Elimination of delays in information transmission due to smoothening of workflow processes.

• Reduction in useless steps through physical reorganization

• Proper recording of paper and electronic files to minimize confusion

• Balancing of schedules for better utilization of time and enhanced productivity

• Appropriate grouping of similar tasks or those that need to be performed along the same route

By monitoring these aspects, business organizations can gain a better understanding of the steps they need to take to further enhance the benefits and advantages of implementing lean system.

Get The Best Support From Lean Manufacturing Consultants In India

Lean manufacturing principles have become an integral part of business operation in almost every industry and sector in the modern times. In this context, hiring the services of lean manufacturing consultants in India has become essential for ensuring lean implementation in the most effective manner. However, simply hiring the services of these professionals is not enough to get the best results. Rather, the business organizations hiring such services need to consider the various ways in which to gain the maximum benefit from their knowledge and experience. Discussed below are some important tips that can help the business organizations in getting the desired results in terms of the support offered by lean manufacturing consultants.

Having A Clear Understanding Of Needs And Expectations

The business organizations should have a clear understanding of what they need to change and why they need to change it. The consultants can provide much better support and guidance if they have a clear understanding of the needs and expectations of their clients. This is possible only when the businesses are able to identify their problems and are seeking an outside opinion about the best ways to resolve them. In such cases, the consultants can help the clients analyze the depth of the issue and set the priorities.

Continue To Manage The Organization

It is not uncommon for the top management of an organization to relinquish the control of the company to the lean consultants, even if only on a temporary basis. This can easily turn off the consultants, as they might not be willing to take on the burden of running and managing the company on behalf of their clients. More importantly, they might not possess the aptitude and the skills to manage the people and the resources of the company in the most efficient manner. It is important for the business owners to understand that the lean consultants are essentially an external resource and should be treated as such. Handing them the reins of the organization even for a short period of time might prove disastrous.

 

Don’t Become Too Reliant On Consultants

One of the key issues faced by lean manufacturing consulting firms in India is that of the clients becoming too dependent on them. In such cases, the clients tend to seek the help and support of the consultants even long after the contract has been fulfilled. This can prove extremely stressful and even annoying for the consultants and prevent them from working with such clients in the future. Business organizations need to understand that the ultimate objective of working with consultants is to learn working without them after a specific duration of time. That is why they need to train the minds of their employees accordingly to prevent them from becoming dependent on the consultants.

Ensure The Proper Availability Of Resources

It can prove extremely embarrassing and even expensive for a business organization to call over the lean consultants and then not have the requisite resources they need to work with. That is why the organizations should make sure that they mobilize all the resources needed by the consultants prior to their arrival for greater efficiency and avoid time wastage.

5 Mistakes Recruiters Need To Steer Clear Off To Avoid Hiring Mediocre Talent

There is no denying the fact that recruiting great talent has become an exhausting and stressful task. The homogenous mixture of candidates that the hiring organizations often come across for every job vacancy makes it extremely difficult to distinguish the truly worthy candidates from the mediocre ones. There is no sure shot method of identifying the appropriately talented candidates and weeding out the mediocre candidates. However, the lean coaching training consultants advise their clients to avoid making the below discussed 5 recruiting mistakes to minimize the chances of hiring mediocre talent.

Not Reviewing The Recruitment Process

Organizations need to review the recruitment process they are following on a regular basis. They need to modify some aspects or even the entire process itself, to make it in sync with the current hiring trends. Sadly, most recruiters continue to follow the same old recruitment processes without making even the slightest changes. This often results in a gradual reduction in the number of quality respondents with the desired skill set for each job posting over the years.

Unclear Job Descriptions

When it comes to attracting top talent, the kind of job description provided for an opening plays a critical role. An unclear job description might seem like an open invitation for candidates simply looking for an opportunity to work with the hiring organization. Given that most talented candidates have a clear understanding of their needs, they might not even consider a job option with a vague description. As such the recruiters should make sure that every for job posting they provide a well-worded description for attracting the right candidates.

Not  Assess Candidate’s Ability To Overcome Challenges

It is quite normal for the prospective candidates to be nervous during an interview with the recruiter. However, what distinguishes good candidates from mediocre ones is the former’s ability to turn even the most challenging situations in their favour. Sadly, the recruiters fail to present enough hypothetical scenarios to the candidates to gain an understanding of their approach towards the situation and ways of dealing with them. Only the best candidates have the resilience to make the best out any situation, which can help recruiters in making the right hiring decision.

Not Performing Thorough Background Checks

Background checks help the recruiters in gaining valuable insight into the actual performance of the candidates in real work environments. They also provide the recruiters information related to the other aspects of the candidates, which might not be covered in their resume. These might include their general attitude towards their peers and juniors, their problem solving and even their ability to inspire and lead a team.

Overlooking The Candidates Understanding About The Hiring Organization

Most recruiters fail to seek information from the candidate about their understanding of the hiring organization. This, according to the providers of executive onbarding services can prove to be a major hiring mistake. A good candidate will not only have gained vital information about the organization, but will be curious to learn more. A mediocre candidate generally feels satisfied by the limited information they have about the hiring organization and do not display any sense of connectivity with the organization.

5 Most Essential Lean Construction Tools That Are Must To Use

Manufacturing Consultants in India are in high demand as the Construction projects can save billions of Rupees by systematically optimizing processes using modern tools and techniques. Capabilities of the workforce can be enriched manifold by understanding the process of providing value to each customer at the same time achieving the Zero Defect.

One of the most known way of contributing to the increase in productivity is to implement Lean Construction. Top Lean Consulting Firms in India use various tools and techniques to provide basic knowledge and benefits of Lean Construction. Some of the tools are as follows:

1. Waste Elimination

The foremost tool or technique to achieve maximum productivity is to eliminate non-value adding activities in Construction such as Overproduction, Transportation, Waiting, Rework, Inventory etc. Studies have shown that Waiting, Rework and Over-Processing account for almost 73% of the waste in construction. Identifying all the reasons that are leading up to these waste can go a long way in achieving the Zero Defect Goal.

2. Value Stream Mapping

The set of methods laid down to visually display the flow of information and materials all through the production process is value stream mapping. The main objective is to identify non-value-added activities and value-added activities. In other words, it is an account of real world process rather than the bookish process of how the things are supposed to happen in the ideal scenario. This opens up opportunities for improvement as the various lags can be identified and fixed with new knowledge that has been acquired through this process.

3. Fail Safe For Quality

This is the quality first approach and has the capability to save upto 29% of the cost overruns. Fail safe for quality means to remain constantly focused on safety and quality from the beginning till the end. Throughout the process the potential areas of quality improvements are identified and implemented on the go in order to improve the end result. This proactive approach is similar to Poka-Yoke in the lean production system.

4. The Last Planner System

During the life of the project, different levels of planning are required at different time by different people. The entire planning process, however diversified, focuses on particular set of objectives. The tag of “The Last Planner” is being assigned to the individual person or a group who creates the projects or the assignments. The specific objectives govern the entire planning process and becomes a guiding light for all the stakeholders involved.

5. Total Flow Management

Construction are big projects that involve large number of stakeholders as mentioned above. These stakeholders are involved right from the initial stage of idea generation till the time building is being handed-over to the clients. In order to ensure that there is no confusion and all the planning is done in the right way it is very important to have a  properly defined flow. This is also known as Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). It must be clearly put forth in front of all and there should be no confusion in any context. The SOP if followed during life cycle of all the projects, not only it would become a standard but would also create a level of understanding amongst all regarding their respective work thereby eliminating the chances of mistake.

Why Hiring Lean Coaching Training Consultants Is Important?

Studies have shown that the Companies that work using Lean methodologies and tools in their business, are more likely to succeed. They see at least five time more return on their investment as compared to a business that do not follow lean. This return when repeated annually can convert into savings and other benefits which would then be locked in by building and sustaining on the improvements achieved. Many companies opt for Lean Coaching Training Consultants in order to prepare their workforce to use lean to a maximum extent.

Known for being the most cost-saving tool in times of recession, it is even more relevant in times of progress. Companies can truly benefit in a large way by analysing their waste, that can help make sustainable improvements for greater profitability and  competitiveness.

Companies usually attempt to achieve a Lean environment on their own without having to hire any external assistance. Although, there is nothing wrong with this strategy but it often results in a slew of trial and error methods that are being tested until some concrete method sticks. Not only is it time consuming, but is also more costly. Hiring Consultants not only help a speedy adaptation of Lean environment but also helps with Executive Onboarding Services by helping the onboarding executive adapt to the methodology in lesser time.

Apart from this, there are few other advantages because of which hiring a consultant is important:

Expertise

High level of expertise backed by a significant amount of practical experience, is what makes these consultants always in huge demand across a wide variety of industries. Experts take a hands-on approach to every problem and have the capability to swiftly understand your company’s individual processes and specific needs. With the best-in-practice tools and methodologies, you can much easily train your workforce at the same time develop the best solution to ensure your company’s success.

Knowledge Transfer

This is very important. Knowledge transfer is a very crucial component of training program. With first-rate experience and skills in hand, the training turns out to be very specific thereby eliminating the noises thus saving time as well as money.

Independent Partners

The benefit of being an outsider frees the consultant of any prejudice or bias towards any standalone methodology thus providing you the best way to do things. This unbiased professionalism while assessing your needs and developing programmes can be extremely crucial in the long run. Consultants can help you define and work towards the achievement of your strategic objectives and goals.

Results-Orientated

Having a consultant on board can help companies achieve measured results which gives them a competitive advantage over others resulting in improved profitability. These improvements are usually enabled by waste reduction, increased line speeds, improved capacity, better trained/more productive employees and more efficient processes. Studies have shown that lean if implemented correctly can lead to increase in efficiency and productivity of the employees. This combined with a lean trained leadership can set the company on a path of progress.