SMED Stakes
A More Flexible Production System
As previously evoked, the world industrial context is completely changing. The glorious epic of "all which is produced will be sold" is finished. Exit, the mass production
Let us replace the production by the « manufactured-to-measure», to the « limited series », to the «specific », to the« product personalization», to the « small series». And all that of course without forgetting to reduce the cost and delivery times, without which the risk to lose markets is important.
In other words, the future of a Company will depend on its manager capacities to adapt the industrial tool flexibility to this market evolution. This is the real stake of the next years, this is the real stake of the SMED.
The SMED and your problems
Dubitative with regard to the SMED stakes?
So, take some time just to think about what follows:
- How many delivery breaks, exceptional transports or delivery adjournments because a lack of stock of any reference, while the storage room is cram full of finished products (but regrettably not in the good reference)?
- How many delivery breaks, exceptional transports or delivery adjournments because of a « big failure» while you were just producing "in an only big campaign" the reference to be sent some hours later?
- How many hours spent to make huge « stock sorting » because of quality problems?
- How many resources dedicated to your stock management?
- How many accidents because of the storage conditions?
More generally, how many hours spent by the management to manage the stocks, to perform « wild inventories » just to know or not if we can satisfy the customer request? Most of the time, the answer is eloquent.
Consequently the improvement key is thus to increase the industrial tool flexibility and to reduce the production batch size. Your Company benefits for these strategy changes will be various (stock reducing, impact minimization of a no-expected failure, etc.).
Implementing the SMED is the first condition to obtain this key.
The SMED simplicity and efficiency create an ideal method with the condition to implement it with methodology and with a good understanding of the stakes by the Managers.