OpEx Review

OpEx Review is a business journal for leaders who embrace operational excellence. It features the latest insights from TBM Consulting Group, its clients and other guest contributors in the business community. For many years, TBM published a newsletter called Managing Times. Inspired by voice-of-customer feedback from our readers, TBM developed a new, digital magazine called OpEx Review, where we focus on success stories of leadership experiences that you can leverage for competitive advantage and sustainable value creation.

You can read OpEx in multiple formats:

•    Online Digital Magazine – a digital publishing platform that delivers an exceptional reading experience from your desktop, laptop or tablet.
•    Full Journal PDF – a downloadable format using Adobe Acrobat Reader making it easy to print and share the entire journal with others.
•    Single Article PDFs – we suggest copying web links  if you wish to download or share individual articles with other colleague

In order to download OpEx Review in PDF format you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.

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Issues

OpEx Review April 2013

In a highly competitive global marketplace, manufacturers need to look everywhere for an advantage. This issue of OpEx offers a variety of examples. Glatfelter, which was founded as a single-mill paper company during the Civil War era, has taken advantage of demand for new products such as single-serve copy pods and non-woven wallpaper base. Our cover story explains how the company is keeping this growth profitable by standardizing and streamlining its continuous improvement program. Another company, ConMed Corp., improved its design process using Design for LeanSigma, which increases the chances for a profitable outcome from new product designs. Scholle, a food packaging company, improved its injection-molding performance (beyond Six Sigma performance) while responding to a customer's concerns about complaints posted on social media websites. Sigma Kaizen enabled the manufacturer to quickly resolve a packaging defect even though it occurred in a miniscule number of units. Finally, as more manufacturers consider a regional or reshoring approach, consider the advantages Pacific Handy Cutter gained when it insourced one of its core products from a Chinese contract manufacturer to a company-owned plant. 

OpEx Review February 2013

Achieving and sustaining Operational Excellence is hard work. What's the reward? Sustainable growth. Every issue of OpEx guides lean organizations toward their highest growth potential. This issue provides several examples of companies that have overcome obstacles on the path to growth and are steadily marching forward. Read the cover story on Hubbell to learn how its impressive growth was propelled by identifying the "vital few" areas of improvement each year through policy deployment. Another success story is TBM's Perfect Engine award winner Milbank Manufacturing, which used lean to free up cash to expand into high-growth markets. These days, growth rarely happens without technology upgrades, but sometimes these implementations can become a barrier to growth, such was case at the company profiled in our story on an ERP implementation gone awry. Finally, we review the book Lean Turnaround by lean pioneer Art Byrne, who oversaw acquisition-driven growth at pioneering lean company Wiremold when he was CEO. 

OpEx Review December 2012

Whether a company is sourcing garments from Indonesia or manufacturing plastic cutlery in Guadalajara for the Mexican market, very few businesses these days are not global in one aspect or another. Every issue of OpEx tackles important issues about managing Operational Excellence in global corporations. In this issue Richard Holland, V.P. and Managing Director of TBM Europe, explains the benefits of global Operational Excellence programs that share a common foundation. We review how the U.K.'s Alstom Transport leveraged policy deployment to provide project focus and, ultimately, transform the organization's culture. M.L. Phan, TBM Director of Business Development for TBM China, describes how a focus on Operational Excellence is reducing waste and increasing profitability for garment manufacturers. We summarize key LeanSigma practices from five large-footprint companies that have made significant cash flow improvements, increased capacity and grown revenues. And Kurk Wilks, Director of Operations for auto supplier MANN+HUMMELL USA, shares some insights about about their rapid business transformation. 

OpEx Review October 2012

These days it seems the biggest business challenges can come out of nowhere, which makes having a strong foundation of Operational Excellence even more important. This issue's cover story tells how the food and beverage industry can use OpEx strategies to offset unexpected shortages and commodity-price increase from this summer's drought. There's also a case study on a consumer-products company that discovered non-compliance issues lurking in its IT systems when company leaders launched an IPO. Fortunately, the IT Team used classic Six Sigma methodology to rapidly correct the issues. As for what to expect in from the economy in 2013, we offer an insightful Q&A with John Augustine, Chief Investment Strategist with Fifth Third Private Bank. Finally, the product-development phase is not usually where problems are reported in the medical device and drug industries, but our article on the benefits of lean and Six Sigma design principles explains why it should be. 

OpEx Review August 2012

What makes an engine run perfectly? The answer is peak efficiency - the highest possible output from the lowest-possible input. This issue of OpEx features articles on two companies that mimic that model, Pactiv and Seaman Corp., both winners of TBM's 2012 The Perfect Engine Award. Even perfect engines need maintenance, though. If your organization isn't getting all it can from Total Productive Maintenance, it could be because you're taking the wrong approach. Senior Consultant Doug Kiss explains in his article on achieving maintaining excellence. Pre-emptive fixes, of course, always are better than repairs, as this issue's case study on a medical device manufacturer illustrates. Finally, TBM President and CEO Anand Sharma writes about how operational excellence has been essential to Apple's success. 

OpEx Review June 2012

Without effective alignment, continuous improvement efforts fall short of their full potential. The articles in this issue of OpEx provide real-world examples of what happens when organizational leaders do successfully align continuous improvement efforts and strategic objectives. Diversified manufacturer Carlisle Companies, for example, has reaped more than $70 million in cost savings and reduced its footprint by more than two million square feet since 2009. In our Technology Matters column, we describe how Armstrong World Industries and Milbank Manufacturing are applying rapid-improvement practices to ensure alignment is not derailed by the "invisible" wastes and disconnects that reside in IT systems and other transactional processes. Finally, TBM's Lean Progress Assessment Tool is not only helping our clients to identify where they fall on the continuous improvement continuum, but it is also giving our consultants insight into real-time triumphs and challenges at participating companies.  

OpEx Review March 2012 Issue 1

As the stories in this issue illustrate, profitable and intelligent growth require coordination between different functions, geographic regions and business units. Read about our joint research project with IndustryWeek magazine. We learned that mature CI firms really do perform better. The Trail King case study demonstrates how the company removed departmental barriers to reduce time-to-market. The executive interview with Schiff Nutrition Senior VP of Operations, Jon Fieldman, demonstrates how the organization is drive rapid change and improving culture with enthusiastic leadership and a clear vision. 

Roche Case Study - Q1 2010 Managing Times

Please click on one of the links above to access this issue of Managing Times. "Read Full Article" will take you to a page listing each individual article, "PDF" will give you access to the entire issue in PDF format and "Digital" will take you to the digital version of the newsletter. The case study for this issue is about... 

ConMed Case Study - Q4 2009 Managing Times

Please click on one of the links above to access this issue of Managing Times. "Read Full Article" will take you to a page listing each individual article, "PDF" will give you access to the entire issue in PDF format and "Digital" will take you to the digital version of the newsletter. The case study for this issue is about ConMed Corporation. Publisher’s Note: Seeing... 

Norfolk Southern Case Study - Q1 2009 Managing Times

Please click on one of the links above to access this issue of Managing Times. "Read Full Article" will take you to a page listing each individual article, "PDF" will give you access to the entire issue in PDF format and "Digital" will take you to the digital version of the newsletter. The case study for this issue is about Norfolk Southern. Publisher’s Note: Look... 

QuadTech Case Study - Q4 2008 Managing Time

Read Full ArticlePlease click on one of the links above to access this issue of Managing Times. "Read Full Article" will take you to a page listing each individual article, "PDF" will give you access to the entire issue in PDF format and "Digital" will take you to the digital version of the newsletter. The case study for this issue is about QuadTech. Publisher’s Note:... 


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