Archive for JIT
Kanban at Xerox Corporation
Posted by: | CommentsI had 2 experts, Michael Curry and Rob Piersielak of the Xerox Corporation on the Business901 podcast to discuss Kanban. With so much being written about Kanban in software development in general and in my own writings on the Marketing Kanban, I felt that giving my readers and listeners a perspective on the traditional form of Kanban would be interesting. We stayed on track through the podcast but wandered off for a moment to discuss Lean and Standard Work practices at Xerox. 
To Xerox, a KanBan is a designated area on the production floor where employees stage material that is scheduled for consumption. Once the area empty, a signal is sent to the “supplier” to replenish the Kanban area with the designated quantity. We discussed Internal, Local and Global Kanban.
Michael P. Curry is a Materials Manager for Worldwide Manufacturing Operations at Xerox Corporation. He leads an organization responsible for configuration, planning and purchasing in support of printer products built at Xerox in Webster, NY. He has 15 years of management experience with Xerox in positions such as Operations, Procurement and Materials/Logistics. Curry earned his BS from SUNY at Fredonia, NY and his MBA in International Business from St. John Fisher College, in Rochester, NY. He holds a Green Belt Certification in Lean Six Sigma and is a member of the Institute for Supply Chain Management.
Rob Piersielak was born in Rochester, NY. He received his BS in Industrial Engineering from Alfred University, and his M.S. in Engineering and Global Operations Management from Clarkson University. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is currently a Master Black Belt candidate. Over his 20 year career at Xerox Corporation, Mr. Piersielak has had numerous positions throughout the supply chain, all focused on process improvement and design. He lead projects redesigning manufacturing plants and warehouses in seven different countries, was part of the Global Just In Time Manufacturing Deployment team, and also lead the manufacturing team in rapid Time to Market product delivery project that delivered benchmark TTM results for Xerox. He is currently responsible for worldwide Supply / Demand and Order Fulfillment for the company’s flagship product, the iGen press, and is also responsible for Webster Manufacturing Materials Logistics Operations.
Work in Process is Wasteful even in Sales and Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the tenants I am convinced of is that Work in Process is wasteful and unproductive. If you look at this from a Sales and Marketing Process it basically says that the more people you have in your sales and marketing funnel the more unproductive you are. A blog recently by Jim Benson of Personal Kanban said this (and more) in a recent post Inventory makes Work:
Inventory lowers organizational effectiveness because the time and money spent taking care of the inventory could have been spent making the company more successful. Therefore, Lean organizations tend to receive the things they need to operate at the last responsible moment, this is called “Just in Time” (JIT). A JIT organization does not take on inventory until the moment they need it and therefore spends as little as possible maintaining inventory, greatly reducing the risk of having overstock.
But inventory isn’t just “stuff.” Inventory for us as individuals includes anything we have that requires maintenance or on-going attention. We have responsibilities, they aren’t going away. We will have a yard, it will need to be mowed. Dishes need to be washed. Children need to be raised.
Inventory for sales and marketing is prospects! As you think about what stops your marketing from being effective it is all about trying to appeal to the masses and as a result losing effectiveness both in time and money. As Jim said above, you should be taking the time making your company more successful and working on ineffective or wasteful leads is not going to do it.
The past several years the buzz word has been Inbound Marketing. Though I am a advocate of the basic approach and an advocate of using Social Media I have found that it really has resulted in a failed marketing strategy for many companies. Though it has increased the number of prospects it has done little to increase qualified buyers. That is why there has been push back from many organizations. It just has not been effective as the principle seems to indicate. Just because we automated the process does not mean we are managing Work in Process better.
So what happens if we limit work in process or the numbers of leads that we receive? Marketing to a targeted audience results in a cost savings and time savings. Would you need to hire more salespeople? Would you be able to use more experienced people at the right time and in the right place more often? Would you nurture and promote to a better qualified prospect? I believe the most important part of limiting Work in Process is that your message would simply be better. Not only would your information packet be much more targeted and information rich, it would also have a better chance to be delivered on time or in other words when a prospect is ready for it. Giving a prospect what he needs, when he needs it and how he wants it is a pretty important factor in today’s market. If you look at what vehicles prospects and your customers use to acquire the information they need, you will notice one important factor: they are just about all different. Multiplying that number by the number of prospects should certainly give you reason to start narrowing your field.
Why is now, the best time to convert to this strategy? The market itself has caused a constriction for most companies. This constriction has narrowed your market that should enable you to readily identify your target market. What are the last minute adjustments or concessions you make (JIT) to capture the sale? These are the present value drivers of your business. Are these the value drivers that you are willing to live with in the long term? How do they help you in identifying your present and future market?
Work in process is wasteful. It is wasteful in your personal life when not managed well, it is bad in manufacturing, it is bad from a sales and marketing perspective. Quit marketing at the top of your funnel. Instead learn how to manage your Work in Process!
P.S. By the way, I don’t even believe in a marketing funnel anymore. I will tell you more about that later!
Related Posts:
Improve throughput, cut your customers in half!
Lean your Marketing thru Segmentation
