Flexpipe Blog

Running a lean and efficient warehouse provides endless benefits for warehouse managers and employees. Warehouse waste reduction lowers costs, improves employee morale, simplifies material handling, and ensures a seamless workflow. With the right warehouse layout optimization strategies, inventory damage is minimized. However, getting there requires a plan, one where your warehouse layout is maximized for efficiency and complemented with customized material handling carts, trolleys, flow racks, and other structures.

The Simplicity of Lean Processes

Warehouse managers who embrace lean concepts rely upon well-established continuous improvement methodologies like Kaizen and 5S. Kaizen emerged from the Toyota Production System (TPS). It borrows aspects of statistical process control, and the Shewhart Cycle – a simple but incredibly effective process commonly used in manufacturing and often referred to as the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) process.

5S stands for Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. It is a continuous improvement methodology aimed at improving workflow by streamlining individual workstations so that all parts, materials, tools, and consumables have their rightful place and are easily found.

By combining Kaizen’s focus on warehouse waste reduction, 5S’s ability to create an improved workflow and more organized workstations, and the Shewhart Cycle’s simple process of identifying problems and eliminating them, warehouse managers can enact substantive changes that increase efficiencies.

Here is some insight into some simple warehouse layout optimization strategies with examples of modular systems for warehouses.

Strategy 1: Eliminate Motion Waste with Efficient Kitting and Picking Carts

Motion waste is perhaps the most overlooked of the eight forms of waste in Kaizen. Motion waste in manufacturing refers to any movements or repetitive processes that do not add value. In terms of warehouse management, this can include warehouse employees performing redundant and repetitive material handling tasks.

Think about how much time your employees spend traveling to different parts of your warehouse to store or pick up different materials and finished goods. Think about what’s involved when those employees perform these material handling tasks. Warehouses must allow for efficient material handling movements. There should be a seamless transition when moving items from one warehouse location to another.

Warehouse employees encounter issues in material handling, such as having to move these items with kitting and picking carts that can’t support the weight of materials or items, don’t have proper placement locations or storage areas for materials, consumables, or bins, or don’t properly secure large materials or parts.

To better understand this problem, think about the two most common carts found in warehouses. The one on the left is a standard welded platform truck and the one on the right is a simple two-level welded cart.

Both carts lead to a substantial amount of motion waste. Neither of them allows warehouse employees to properly secure materials or parts. Neither provides slots or designated locations so that warehouse employees can properly store parts and maximize their transit times. Instead, the material is allowed to move freely.

In most situations, warehouse employees simply pile on as much as possible onto these carts as a way of cutting down their material handling transit times. Invariably, inventory damage becomes commonplace. The material often falls off platform trucks or even causes injury to other warehouse employees if the material exceeds the platform’s width.

In terms of the two-level welded cart, with no placement locations for bins, material, or parts, inventory damage occurs frequently as these items are allowed to hit or bounce off each other. In every measurable way, both carts lead to high levels of warehouse waste.

Flexpipe Kitting and Picking Carts

With Flexpipe’s steel tube and joint system, warehouses can create, assemble, and change customized kitting carts and picking carts. These can be specifically designed to hold materials, parts, and consumables with different profiles and part geometries. 

Each Flexpipe cart can be configured to support a different-sized material and support that material with safety foam to ensure parts are not damaged or become dislodged.  

Flexpipe kitting and picking carts can be designed and assembled with customized bin locations to ensure the safe transport of materials, consumables, and parts directly to their destination. 

Parts don’t move, and won’t become damaged, and warehouse employees can only place the right-sized parts in their proper locations to properly transport materials to their location.  

Whether it’s a stand-alone warehouse solely responsible for processing incoming and outgoing shipments or a warehouse that supports manufacturing, Flexpipe kitting carts and picking carts provide endless advantages.

For warehouses responsible for providing kitting bins to production, Flexpipe kitting carts can be assembled so that a complete kit can be provided to manufacturing with just a single transit time. That kitting cart can then travel through production until its eventual return to the warehouse for the next kitting requirement.

Customized Flexpipe kitting carts can be designed and assembled with right-sized placement locations for bins, materials, production packages, work orders, and other instructions. Easily changed and modified to fit any material handling need, Flexpipe carts can be made to fit between any standing shelving or racking.

Flexpipe kitting and picking carts can be configured for any material dimensional requirements. This kitting cart includes electrostatic discharge (ESD) material, boards, and panels of different sizes for one kit requirement. The kitting department adjacent to the warehouse assembles the kit – ensures that each is placed in the right-sized location and then the entire kitting cart is provided to production.

Strategy 2: Minimize Inventory & Motion Waste with FIFO Flow Racks

Companies typically have two options in terms of how they manage or consume inventory. They can adopt a Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) approach where the inventory received this week is used before the inventory received in the prior weeks. However, this involves holding older inventory longer which means inventory carrying costs – financing, inventory damage, obsolescence, storage, and handling – are higher, which means warehouse and inventory waste is higher.

LIFO increases the cost of goods sold (COGS) which means profit margins are lower on sales. However, LIFO provides some tax advantages as a company’s taxes are lower when running LIFO.

Unfortunately, running a lean warehouse doesn’t lend itself well to the waste within LIFO. The goal of a lean warehouse is to minimize inventory carrying costs, which means having an inventory that is used or consumed quickly. Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory and supply chain management is an essential aspect of Kaizen and lean methodologies. JIT reduces inventory waste by focusing on quick-moving inventory. LIFO doesn’t do that, but FIFO does.

FIFO inventory practices reduce the cost of goods sold (COGS) because FIFO ensures that the first inventory received within the warehouse is used first. In layman’s terms, inventory received last week would be used before any inventory received this week or next. With FIFO, inventory carrying costs – in terms of financing, storage, handling, obsolescence, etc. – is lower and therefore the profit on sales is higher.

Flexpipe’s FIFO flow racking systems are the ideal solution for running lean FIFO warehouse management practices.   

Slightly angled roller tracks ensure that bins and packages are held in place by the bins and packages in front of them. Stoppers at the bottom of each level ensure the next bin or package is safely secured. 

Multiple Flexpipe FIFO flow racks in use within a warehouse.

Easily customized, Flexpipe FIFO flow racks can be adjusted or modified, allowing for the inclusion of additional stocking levels, a wider rack, or additional roller tracks. 

Inventory waste is minimized with Flexpipe flow racking. Damage to inventory is less likely to occur both because of how securely the inventory is held and because of how quickly the inventory is used. 

With Flexpipe FIFO flow racking, inventory is stored in the rack from behind, ensuring that the inventory in front (older inventory) is used first. Motion waste is also eliminated as warehouse employees aren’t forced to constantly adjust packages or materials on shelves to perform their pick and place responsibilities.

With Flexpipe, you can customize your FIFO flow racks to match the exact size of the packages and bins your warehouse receives, moves, and ships.

Strategy 3: Reduce Waiting Waste with Flexible Workstations

Another often overlooked form of waste includes waiting for waste. In Kaizen, this is commonly referred to as unused resources or misused talent. However, they ultimately mean the same thing; employees standing idle because of uneven workflows, poor work instructions, or because they lack the proper tools and consumables to complete their material handling processes. All are forms of waste.  

In many instances, warehouse employees will travel repeatedly to get tools or consumables to perform a specific work task. This form of waste is easily solved with a mobile workstation.

The Flexpipe steel tube and joint system allows for the design and assembly of customized mobile warehouse workstations that can easily be positioned at different warehouse locations. 

This mobile Flexpipe warehouse workstation perfectly encapsulates the importance of adopting 5S practices – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. 

By using Flexpipe Kaizen foam, each tool has its proper place. The Kaizen foam acts as a fail-safe Poka Yoke solution that ensures only the specific tool fits in the given slot.  

Poka Yoke is a common approach in Kaizen philosophy and is used to eliminate human error. Instead of randomly throwing tools and consumables on a welded cart where they can damage one another, this Flexpipe mobile workstation ensures every consumable, tool, and material needed is properly secured and protected.

With Flexpipe’s steel tubes and joint system, mobile 5S workstations can be created in any configuration and use simple Poka Yoke solutions like Kaizen foam to ensure warehouse employees put the right parts and consumables back in the correct places.

Strategy 4: Enhance Efficiency with Narrow Aisle Pushing Carts

One of the more common forms of waste within warehouses is when the physical space between in-place shelving makes it extremely difficult for warehouse employees to perform common pick-and-place work tasks. This issue is only made worse by fixed welded carts whose dimensions leave little to no room for warehouse employees.

In many instances, warehouse employees must move welded carts back and forth to access different portions of the inventory on racks. This unnecessarily wastes time and can be a safety concern as employees must constantly work around obstructions.  

Flexipe steel tube and joint system is a simple solution that allows for the design and assembly of narrow-aisle push carts and trolleys. Instead of adjusting existing in-place shelving to accommodate a fixed welded cart, the approach is to design and assemble a customized narrow-aisle Flexpipe cart to fit the current space between that shelving. 

A Flexpipe narrow-aisle cart can be customized for maximum efficiency, giving warehouse employees more than enough room between tight-fitting, in-place shelving and racking.

Strategy 5: Optimize Space Utilization with Customizable Packing and Cutting Stations

Fixed-structure packaging stations are not the ideal solution when adopting lean methodologies. Given how often packaging requirements change within warehouses, fixed-welded packaging stations are anything but efficient. Consuming more space than needed, fixed welded workstations lead to high amounts of waste and inefficiency. They consume important space, can’t be changed, and quickly become obsolete.

Optimize Your Packing Station with Lean Principles 🎥

Check out this short video to see how an effective packing station setup can eliminate waste and boost efficiency in your order fulfillment process. Learn how the right layout, tools, and ergonomic setup can help you implement Lean principles in your packing stations. 👇

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqp2ItrjRMg

In addition to packaging, warehouse employees are often asked to perform additional work tasks outside of picking and placing. These work tasks often include reinforcing shipments with wood pallets or creating much-needed temporary wood support structures.

The image on the left is a 5S Flexpipe mobile customized packaging station. Easily moved and transported to different locations within a warehouse, this mobile packaging station can be configured or adjusted as needed. On the right is a Flexpipe mobile cutting station, allowing for easy transport to different locations within the warehouse.  

Both structures can be modified and adjusted based on the constantly changing requirements that are common within warehouses.

Mobile warehouse packaging stations can be designed and assembled to any dimensions and include whatever features your warehouse needs.

Strategy 6: Reduce Transportation Waste with Customized Trolley/Tugger Carts

Another common form of waste includes the material handling transit times to move incoming shipments to different warehouse locations. In worst cases, multiple trips must be taken to transport what should only take a single trip.

Welded platform trucks have fixed dimensions and are often inhibited by weight restrictions. Two-level welded carts simply don’t have the space to accommodate larger incoming shipments. The solution lies in designing and assembling customized trolley/tugger carts which can be linked together in a single tugger or trolley train.   

This Flexpipe tugger cart includes an upright tow arm for a battery-operated tugger, allowing for multiple carts to be combined within a tugger train to reduce material handling transport times.   

The tugger cart uses a high-strength square steel base for increased weight support and industrial-strength casters for easy transport and maneuverability. 

Another important feature is the incorporation of rollers which are positioned at an angle to allow for easy loading and unloading of bins, parcels, and packages.

When multiple tugger carts are connected by each cart’s tow bar, they form a tugger cart train. This simple solution reduces the amount of time needed to move parts and materials within large warehouses. Instead of making multiple trips with a forklift, a single trip can be accomplished with a tugger cart train.

Using Modular Systems for Warehouse Waste Reduction

Adopting lean methodologies within warehouses requires lean tools. Flexpipe is that tool. Its origins come from the very same company that created the Kaizen and Lean philosophy. Toyota was the originator of the steel tube and joint system and relied upon it for its flexibility and ease of use. 

Warehouse waste reduction is a never-ending process. It always requires a commitment to continuous improvement. Fixed, welded material handling solutions like truck carts and welded carts do not lend themselves well to lean environments – but Flexpipe’s system does.  

If you would like to learn more about how Flexpipe’s modular systems can reduce waste and optimize warehouse layout, visit our custom-made structures page. 

If you are a warehouse manager wanting to implement some of these waste-reducing strategies and are interested in a free consultation, contact us now.

Every journey starts somewhere. In lean manufacturing, that journey begins with a continuous improvement (CI) workshop. A CI workshop provides the foundation by which your company can make significant lean improvements that reduce waste, increase throughput, and reduce costs. When Flexpipe customers want to learn the most efficient, proven ways to run a successful CI workshop, they combine the scalability of Flexpipe’s steel tube and joints with the insight, expertise, and lean teaching solutions provided by Flexpipe’s global partner – Quadrant 5.  

So, how can the combination of Flexpipe’s ease-of-use material handling system and the lean subject-matter experts at Quadrant 5 help your manufacturing location adopt a continuous improvement, lean manufacturing mindset that provides endless returns?

A Global Partnership Focused on Lean Manufacturing

An experienced consultancy group based out of San Francisco California, USA, Quadrant 5 comprises Toyota Production System (TPS) experts with extensive international experience over three continents and 17 countries. Quadrant 5 has helped some of the most recognized global manufacturers adopt lean manufacturing solutions and best practices. 

Needing a lean manufacturing workstation and material handling assembly system that allows for quick, immediate, low-cost, near-instant changes to workstation structures led Q5 to Flexpipe’s steel tube and joint system. Flexpipe’s system – whose origins can also be traced back to the Toyota Production System – was a natural fit for Q5’s CI workshops and continuous improvement initiatives.  

This partnership provides customers with the tools, training, and expertise needed to make CI workshops that all-important first step to adopting lean manufacturing.

What is a CI Workshop?

Think of a CI workshop as a sequential, step-by-step process to prototyping the perfect manufacturing workstation. In the case of Q5 and Flexpipe, that includes using the steel tube and joints to create a new, lean, much improved, and far more efficient workstation. So, what’s the first step? 

1. Embrace Kaizen 

Long before any changes begin, management and employees must embrace the Kaizen, lean manufacturing doctrine. Kaizen is Japanese for “change for the better”. However, Kaizen is not a one-time event – as some North American manufacturers sometimes assume. It is an every-second-of-the-day, never-ending process where daily improvements are made to increase efficiencies and eliminate waste. 

Within manufacturing, waste can take many forms. Think of waste not just in terms of physical parts and defects, but in the extra movements and steps production technicians often take unnecessarily. Waste can include excess inventory. It can include lost time from machine downtime, and missing parts, tools, and instructions.  

Waste can include high transit times to move work-in-process (WIP) parts across the shop floor and between each workstation. It can include redundant and time-consuming work processes, incomplete and unclear work orders, confusing bills of materials (BOM), repetitive work tasks, and redundant approvals. Most importantly, waste can include production technicians lacking sufficient clean workstations. 

Ultimately, waste becomes much easier to spot once you start the CI workshop. The essence of lean is to allow production technicians to eliminate this waste by empowering them to be proactive. This is the mindset that must be adopted for a CI workshop to be successful. Without this all-important mindset, any incremental improvements will be abandoned. 

2. Identify a Production Area That Requires Improving

In our example, we’ll focus on a workstation that is poorly laid out, poorly structured, and needs to be properly redesigned. We’ll assume this workstation has been chosen because it has high manufacturing cycle times that create unnecessary backlogs for the adjacent workstation. Ultimately, cycle times to complete work tasks are high, backlogs build up, space is at a premium, workflow is constantly interrupted, and production volumes suffer as a result.

Quadrant 5 hands-on consulting provides production technicians will all the tools they need to design lean manufacturing structures and workstations

3. Focus on Small Incremental Improvements

This particular workstation’s frame includes a wooden structure that is dilapidated and warping, insufficient space for the operator or technician to perform their work tasks, and an obvious lack of structure and organization for tool placement and storage. In addition, there is an oversized welded worktable and steel cabinets.

Tools and consumables are often misplaced, and semi-finished parts are often strewn about. With no designated place for tools, accessories, and consumables – and with limited space to perform work tasks – it’s easy to see how this workstation has high cycle times and why backlogs are commonplace.

By focusing on small, incremental improvements, this waste can eventually be eliminated. A new workstation structure can be designed, assembled, changed, and quickly adjusted with Flexpipe’s steel tube and joints and the insightful guidance and lean teaching of the Q5 team.

The welded worktable can be replaced with a right-sized, tailor-made Flexpipe worktable with the proper decking material while all the tools, accessories, and consumables can be properly stored using 5S principles, Flexpipe’s Kaizen foam and either Flexpipe’s white HDPE Peg Board or Flexpipe Rigid Honeycomb Board.

A perfect example of how 5S principles ensure that every tool and consumable has its rightful place.

While this is just an example, the experience, guidance, and insight provided by the Q5 lean manufacturing team along with the scalability and flexibility of the Flexpipe steel tube and joints system allows these incremental changes to produce incredible results.

4. Measure the Performance of the New Workstation

Throughout this entire process, it’s essential to gather feedback and suggestions from the production technician. Their input is invaluable, and they must feel like an active participant in this process. Determining the success of these adjustments ultimately comes down to measuring the performance – or put differently – the production throughput of the newly designed Flexpipe Workstation.

The Q5 team can provide invaluable insight into how this improved performance can be measured and quantified. The result is a much-improved workstation layout where cycle times have decreased, production volumes have increased, the production technician has a cleaner work environment, tools are easily found, and future backlogs have been eliminated.

Quadrant 5’s consulting provides in-class training for senior management, line-side managers, and supervisors.

5. Duplicate Success

The goal is to duplicate this success throughout all the workstations on the shop floor with the overriding purpose of creating a true, lean manufacturing environment. This quickly becomes a necessity as improving one workstation – while not improving the next – would eventually lead to additional backlogs as the improved workstation would easily outproduce and outpace its counterparts.

Customers and Industries that Use Flexpipe and Q5

The strategic partnership between Q5 and Flexpipe has helped numerous manufacturers in the USA, Canada, and Mexico. From automotive manufacturers to aerospace Primes and contractors to corrugated packaging companies and furniture manufacturers, Q5 and Flexpipe’s partnership has had a direct, bottom-line impact on numerous manufacturers.

Some of Q5’s most recognized customers include Acme Corrugated, Bay Cities, President Container, Kento US, AICC, Cartro SAPI de CV with current projects including L&M container, Royal Container, Construction Innovations, Rexmoore, and M3 Components – just to name a few.

A clearly defined daily plan of attack, metrics, KPI, Master Schedule, and performance tracking are staples of Q5 lean manufacturing training and consulting.

A newly transformed crib station designed and implemented by Q5 using customized Flexpipe portable workbenches, customized flow racks, and shelving units with special bins to hold consumables, fasteners, and hardware as well as Flexpipe shadow board for tool placement and storage.

Q5 Workshop Consulting Services With Flexpipe Steel Tube and Joints

The global partnership between Quadrant 5 and Flexpipe provides the tools, training, and insight manufacturers need to create bespoke workshops and lean manufacturing best practices that increase speed, eliminate waste, improve product quality, and reduce costs.

This unique global partnership empowers manufacturers to create unique solutions for their operational teams allowing them to reduce costs and increase production throughput faster than any other solutions on the market today.

To make the best of your CI Workshop with Quadrant 5 and Flexpipe’s steel tube and joint material handling system, training for senior managers (10 Hours) is available to ramp up everyone in the latest lean techniques.

Technical training is also given to your CI personnel during the construction of the workshop. Additional visits can be created, depending on the level of support needed.

Quadrant 5 and Flexpipe: A Global Lean Manufacturing Consultancy Partnership

As a North American designer, assembler, and provider of modular, scalable material handling systems, Flexpipe combines its steel tube and joint system with multiple support products to help manufacturers improve efficiencies and reduce costs.

To learn more about Flexpipe’s modular and scalable material handling solutions, please visit Flexpipe.

By combining its services with the knowledge, experience, and in-depth TPS and lean manufacturing consulting offered by Quadrant 5, both companies provide global manufacturers with the best and most proven solutions for improving operational effectiveness. 

To learn more about how Quadrant 5’s consulting services can help your business gain the upper hand, please visit Quadrant 5.

Innovation and continuous improvement are essential pillars of modern manufacturing, and Flexpipe is proud to support university engineering programs. A perfect example of this fruitful collaboration is the recent project carried out by the robotics department at the University of Memphis.

A robotized gravity flow rack project

The robotics department at the University of Memphis undertook an ambitious project using the Flexpipe tube and connector joint system and 80/20 aluminum extrusions to design a gravity rack. Their aim: to create a gravity rack structure that is robust, efficient and compliant with lean manufacturing principles. This rack will serve as a demonstration and will be integrated into a supply chain where a robot, equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) system, will load and unload boxes.

Using RFID for efficient management

At the heart of this project is the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system. Thanks to this technology, the robot can determine the destination of each box with greater precision and speed, optimizing workflow and reducing errors. This intelligent inventory management system not only saves time, but also improves product traceability.

https://youtu.be/Br2rkDApyHk

The video comes from Kevin Berisso, Associate Professor and Director of the Automatic Identification Laboratory at the University of Memphis.

An innovation laboratory for students

The gravity rack structure created with Flexpipe and 80/20 offers students at the University of Memphis an exceptional platform for developing and testing their own solutions. They can work on similar activities, such as loading and unloading pallets of products using barcodes and RFID systems for box identification. This hands-on approach enables students to implement lean manufacturing principles and innovate in a real-life environment.

Flexpipe; A partner for engineering education

By supporting projects like this, Flexpipe demonstrates its commitment to engineering education and innovation. By providing robust and adaptable solutions, Flexpipe enables universities to train the next generation of engineers with state-of-the-art tools. This collaboration with the University of Memphis is just one example of how Flexpipe is helping to shape the future of lean manufacturing.

Collaborations between companies and academic institutions are essential to promote innovation and continuous improvement in the manufacturing sector. Thanks to Flexpipe, engineering students can acquire practical skills and develop innovative solutions that will benefit the industry as a whole. By integrating advanced technologies such as RFID into educational projects, Flexpipe paves the way for more efficient, smarter manufacturing.

By collaborating with Architecture Sans Frontières Québec, Flexpipe has helped provide a safe, welcoming space for marginalized young people seeking stability and support through the organization En Marge 12-17. This project is a perfect illustration of what we can achieve together to improve the daily lives of those who need it most.

Credit: Caroline Perron

A lighthouse in the 24/7 fugue

En Marge 12-17 is a non-profit organization in Montreal, dedicated to providing a safe shelter and support for young people aged 12 to 17 in runaway situations and in transition to adulthood. More than just a shelter, En Marge 12-17 is a healthy living environment for these young people. They offer a variety of services, including emergency and short-term accommodation, providing an alternative to running away and living on the streets. Their mission is to welcome and house runaways, while supporting those around them.

Maira, Architecture Sans Frontières Québec, et Esteban, Flexpipe, as they assemble the sturdy furniture!

A Sturdy and Attractive Furniture

As part of our commitment to supporting social causes, we had the opportunity to collaborate with Architecture Sans Frontières Québec to refurbish the furniture in five bedrooms and the living room at En Marge 12-17. The aim of this project was to create a safe, caring and welcoming environment for the young people taken in by the Montreal-based organization.

Sturdy, made-to-measure bunk bed designed by Architecture Sans Frontières Québec, and assembled by Flexpipe with the help of cabinetmaker Marc-Antoine Goyette.

One of the main challenges of this project was to design furniture that was solid, safe and sober, while avoiding colors such as red and black, which can evoke an emotional impact relating to danger, excitement and violence. Young people in precarious situations need a place where they can feel safe and confident. This is where the Flexpipe modular system comes into its own. Flexpipe's sturdiness and ability to be adapted to specific needs made it the perfect choice for this project.

The challenge of making the rooms more attractive and functional was met! (before/after)

Together, we designed and installed single and bunk beds, wardrobe storage, bookcases and TV stands, creating a functional and welcoming space for young people. This initiative reflects our commitment to using our expertise to support community initiatives and improve the quality of life of the young people housed by the organization.

Before and after of the living room at the En Marge 12-17 shelter.

This project with En Marge 12-17 and Architecture Sans Frontières Québec is a perfect example of how thoughtful collaboration and the right materials can transform living spaces, bringing safety and comfort to those who need it most. Thanks also to the collaborators who helped make this project a success, namely Erick Desmarais (building mechanic) and Andrew Woodside (painter).

We're pleased to share an inspiring project that came to fruition thanks to the collaboration between Flexpipe, Atelier Majuscule, and Architecture Sans Frontières Québec. This project highlights the importance of social reintegration through innovative community initiatives.

Much More Than Printing Services

Atelier Majuscule, formerly known as Imprime-Emploi, is a non-profit organization founded in 1996. The company's mission is to promote the socio-professional integration of people experiencing certain difficulties, by offering paid on-the-job training to enable them to acquire the skills they need to enter the job market and stay employed. Thanks to this mission, Atelier Majuscule provides high-quality printing services, while offering its employees a chance to reintegrate into society.

Multi-purpose room before redevelopment with Flexpipe's tube and joint system.

Redevelopment Project

The project involved refurbishing the multifunctional and computer room for employees in training at Atelier Majuscule. The main challenge was to reuse as much of the existing furniture as possible, giving it a new lease of life. This is where Flexpipe comes in, with its modular tube and connector joint solutions. These materials were used to create new high tables and benches, bringing renewed functionality and aesthetics to the space.

A Collaborative Achievement

Assembly of the new structures was carried out by ASFQ's project manager, assisted by a small team of dedicated volunteers and an experienced carpenter. This collaboration created a more welcoming and functional work environment for employees in training, reinforcing Atelier Majuscule's social mission.

Partnership with ASFQ

Architecture Sans Frontières Québec, through its Urban Solidarity program, provides professional design and architectural services to community organizations in the Montreal area. Operating on a cyclical basis, ASFQ is committed to supporting initiatives that promote social equity.

A Sustainable Impact

This project is a fine example of what can be achieved when various organizations join forces for the common good. Thanks to the joint contribution of Architecture Sans Frontières and Flexpipe, Atelier Majuscule now has a refurbished space that contributes not only to improving working conditions, but also to the social and professional reintegration of trainees.

We're proud to be involved in initiatives that make a real difference in our community. Flexpipe remains committed to supporting projects that combine innovation, sustainability and positive social impact.

Flexpipe is proud to announce the success of its charity market in support of the CAB Farnham. The event raised $3,140 to support many essential programs and services offered to the community.

Encouraging regional circular economy

Every year, Flexpipe organizes a family BBQ for its employees and their immediate families. Why not take the opportunity to support a local organization that supports community self-help through a charity market. Donations of household goods, mostly provided by company employees and a few community members, helped fuel the sale of second-hand items and foster the region's circular economy.

The voluntary sale ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and many visitors took advantage of the family activities on offer: inflatable games for young and old, BBQ, cotton candy and second-hand shopping. The Centre de réussite éducative pour enfants La-le-li graciously provided colorful face painting, creating a festive and convivial atmosphere.

Support local community

The mission of the Centre d'Action Bénévole of Farnham is to promote volunteerism and meet the needs of citizens through a variety of programs. The funds raised through this charity market will enable us to continue offering valuable support to seniors, individuals with disabilities, families in difficulty and all vulnerable people. The Farnham CAB serves over 200 families in a territory that includes Farnham, Sainte-Brigide-d'Iberville, Sainte-Sabine and Ange-Gardien.

Jean Valiquette, General Manager of the Farnham CAB, emphasized the importance of this initiative:

"The current socio-economic context is rather difficult and affects the entire population, including people in vulnerable situations and those on low incomes. The rising costs of food and basic necessities continue to rise, while disposable income is not keeping pace. For the CAB, this represents a 30% increase in demand, but a 40% decrease in what we're able to fetch."

Flexpipe would like to extend its warmest thanks to all the employees and citizens who contributed to the success of this event through their donations and active participation.

When manufacturers think of Kaizen, they think of the Toyota Production System (TPS). Kaizen is actually a combination of two Japanese words. The first portion of the word Kaizen – “kai” – translates to “change.” The second portion – “zen” – translates to good. Ultimately, Kaizen means “good change” and its principles like 5S allow manufacturers to adopt good changes that reduce costs and improve workspace efficiency.

So, what do Flexpipe’s steel tubes and joints have to do with Kaizen, 5S, and transforming workspaces?

Kaizen and 5S

A pillar of Kaizen philosophy, 5S defines a set of essential steps that manufacturers should take to ensure that workspaces are properly organized and efficient. 5S is the essential building block of how to design, construct, and position efficient workspaces so that delays are minimized, workflow is optimized, and waste is eliminated. 5S refers to Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. 

Sort: Determine what essential items, tools, and consumables are needed within the workspace. 

Set In Order: Ensure everything is properly identified, labeled, and has a designated place. 

Shine: Ensure the workspace is always clean and well-maintained.  

Standardize: Make your improvements standard across all workspaces. 

Sustain: Ensure workspaces are always efficient with 5S audits and inspections.   

To gain a more in-depth understanding of how 5S works, please go to 5S Guide – A Lean Manufacturing Tool.

The Flexpipe Solution and Workstation Efficiency

Flexpipe’s steel tube and joint system is a cut-to-length-and-assemble continuous improvement system that perfectly aligns with Kaizen and 5S principles. The steel tubes are high-strength cold-rolled, galvanized steel tubes covered with a protective polyethylene (PE) coating.  

Available in multiple colors and varying thicknesses, these steel pipes are assembled along with joints, rollers, casters, square pipes (base of large carts), decking, Kaizen foam, fasteners, and other accessories.

Flexpipe’s tube and joint system allows manufacturers to customize workspaces along the 5S philosophy. More importantly, Flexpipe’s solution allows them to adopt the never-ending continuous improvements required to continuously improve those workspaces by making minor adjustments – if needed.  

Flexpipe workspaces are modular and easily scalable. As a cut-to-length and snap-in-place system, Flexpipe allows manufacturers to make simple adjustments at a fraction of the costs and time compared to welded, permanent structures. 

Case Studies and Testimonials

The Kaizen mindset and 5S philosophy sound great, but are there any working examples of where Flexpipe’s tube and joint system have improved workstation efficiencies? Yes, there are. 

Aldes Canada Reduces the Cost of Its Workstations by 65% 

Founded in 1999, Aldes Canada has over 50 employees and manufactures residential and commercial products for ventilation and airflow. Over 85 percent of the company’s departments rely upon mobile Flexpipe workstations. Using Flexpipe, Aldes assembled over 125 upgraded modular workstations and realized an incredible 65 percent reduction in the cost for each workstation.

The Ideal Ergonomic Workstation

Here is a perfect example of an ergonomic workstation that Aldes Canada assembled using Flexpipe’s steel tube and joints. Before this workstation was assembled, production employees had to constantly raise their arms to lift and retrieve power drills – which caused a tremendous amount of strain. With Flexpipe, those power drills were secured overhead for easy retrieval.

Lower Costs and Improved Flexibility

The previous Aldes Canada workstations were custom-made welded structures that cost over $1,000.00. Flexpipe’s workstations aren’t welded. Flexpipe’s solution represented a 65 percent savings for Aldes Canada. With Flexpipe’s tube and joint system, employees can make whatever changes they need to their workstations within an afternoon or a day at a fraction of the costs. This simply isn’t possible with a welded structure.

5S Efficiency Optimized

Kaizen Teian and 5S require flexibility, which simply isn’t possible when workplaces are made from welded structures. The entire purpose of Kaizen Teian and 5S is to always improve things. That requires the ability to make changes as needed. That can easily be accomplished with Flexpipe’s steel tube and joint system – it simply can’t with welded, fixed workplace structures.

The Final Score Card for Aldes Canada Using Flexpipe

Safran Landing Systems Reduces the Costs of Its Workstations by 40%

Safran Landing Systems is one of the preeminent designers and manufacturers of aircraft landing systems and braking assemblies. A lean manufacturing adopter, Safran Landing Systems is constantly striving to improve and relies upon Flexpipe’s tube and joint system to reduce costs and improve the efficiencies of their workstations.

Over 600 workstations were assembled to help over 200 production employees. Currently, over 80 percent of the departments within this Safran location rely upon Flexipe in some form or another. Not only were their workstations more efficient, but they reduced the costs of their workstations by 40 percent.

Outdated, Heavy Welded Workstations

Unfortunately, this production location had far too many welded workbenches and workstations. Production managers and planners were unable to maximize the square footage of their production floor with these fixed welded structures. Parts and tools were strewn about and often misplaced.

Incredible Savings and Superior Flexibility

The older mobile workstations and cabinets were cumbersome, heavy, hard to move, and incredibly expensive at $1,130.00 each. Flexpipe’s solution was only $372.00 and the flexibility opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

The Final Score Card for Safran Landing Systems Using Flexpipe

Medicus Doubles Productivity Using Flexpipe

Medicu – an orthopedic company – designs, manufactures, and assembles a wide range of prosthetics and orthotics products. Needing a refreshed atmosphere, the manufacturer had older workstations assembled from wood and steel that were cumbersome, heavy, costly, and almost impossible to adjust or modify.

A more serious issue was how these workstations were organized and structured. It was common for critical tools and consumables to go missing at the most inopportune times. Assembly times were affected, and the movement and transit times of semi-finished parts and materials were simply too high.

A Perfect Example of 5S

Whereas everything was “dumped” on the older workstations and easily misplaced, the new Flexpipe workstations had clearly labeled locations for all tools and consumables. The Flexpipe structure was customized to fit a specific shadow board size so that all parts were neatly placed at the end of a given shift.

The Ideal Cut-to-Length-and-Assemble System

Just like an erector set, Flexpipe is a simple-to-use and extremely flexible cut-to-length-and-assemble system that provides manufacturers with the greatest possible flexibility and cost controls.

The Final Score Card for Medicus Using Flexpipe

Practical Implementation Tips

A hallmark of Flexpipe structures is the ease with which parts, tools, and consumables all have a place.

In every one of these situations, manufacturers decided to replace their welded or permanent workspaces, workbenches, and mobile cabinets with a modular and scalable Flexpipe solution. Not only were these welded structures extremely expensive, but they were fixed solutions with fixed dimensions and weights that could never be adjusted.

Not only were the existing welded structures hard to manage, but each of these manufacturers would have needed to purchase the same expensive welded structures to ensure uniformity across their shop floors. By switching to Flexpipe, each of these manufacturers can now customize their workspaces at a fraction of the costs compared to having welded structures.

When implementing Flexpipe, think about all the fixed/welded material handling structures throughout your manufacturing facility. Think about how much time and labor is involved in managing these large, welded structures and how much time is needed to move them. Next, itemize each of these welded structures and decide whether they’re essential to operations. Finally, think about how replacing them with Flexpipe can reduce costs.

The Flexpipe Crib: A Perfect Combination of Flexibility and Mobility

The ability to customize workspaces when needed provides manufacturers with numerous benefits. However, to ensure that any workspace can be optimized and adjusted, Flexpipe came up with the Flexpipe Crib. This mobile-optimized solution can easily be maneuvered to different locations on your production shop floor.

The Flexpipe Crib includes a mobile cutting station, a mobile shelf unit, and a mobile tube storage cart. This makes it ideal for situations where you need to adjust different workspaces in different locations. It’s also a great solution when looking to make larger changes to workspace structures when expanding your production capacity.

Designed with lean concepts in mind, the mobile cutting station has a platform for a saw, multiple storage shelves for fasteners, nuts, bolts, and other accessories, in addition to a drawer with Kaizen foam where all your tools neatly fit in place. The shelf unit easily stores various sizes and thicknesses of pipes while the main crib area opens to reveal two doors.

https://youtu.be/9sqPSen2Ab0

Fully Embracing Kaizen

To fully embrace Kaizen and 5S, managers, supervisors, and employees must always be thinking of ways to improve their workspaces. When production employees have this continuous improvement mindset, they’ll quickly bring up roadblocks, delays, and wasted time within their workspaces to their production managers or supervisors. This is especially the case if these issues are repeatable.

Even small, incremental improvements to your workspaces add up to big improvements over time. Once that momentum builds, efficiencies follow, processes are improved, and costs are reduced.

Flexpipe: The Ultimate Solution for Workspace Efficiency

The steel tube and joint system has been around – in one variation or another – for well over 70 years. Countless manufacturers across various industries have used the tube and joint system to create customized, 5S workspaces. For these companies, steel tubes and joints and lean manufacturing are one and the same.

To learn more about how Flexpipe has helped companies improve their workspaces, adopt lean manufacturing, and reduce costs, please go to our case studies.

Kaizen is a continuous improvement methodology incorporating multiple practical applications like 5S, value-stream mapping, fishbone diagrams, spaghetti diagrams, Pareto charts, control charts, and the Shewhart PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle. However, at its core, Kaizen is ultimately about fostering an environment where employees and management are motivated to improve where they work, how they work, and how work flows from one step to the next.   

Make enough small improvements, and your company will achieve substantial returns like stronger product quality, improved workflow, reduced waste, and increased efficiency. While this might all sound theoretical, there are real-world Kaizen examples where companies have transformed workspaces and achieved incredible results – and the tool they use is Flexpipe.

Workspace Efficiency and Flexpipe

Throughout its lifetime, your manufacturing business will most likely experience periods of rapid growth, followed by brief lulls before growing/expanding again. That continuous change requires an efficient workspace solution that can adjust and change as needed. This is exactly what the Flexpipe solution allows.  

Given that the very nature of Kaizen is continuous improvement – coupled with the fact that manufacturing is never static or stationary – a modular, low-cost, scalable solution is needed that allows your employees to design, assemble, and change workspaces/workstations as needed.  

These workspaces can’t be welded. They can’t be fixed structures and they can’t be haphazardly made with suspect materials like wood. These workspaces must be flexible, scalable, and comprised of durable, high-strength materials.   

The Flexpipe’s steel tube and joint system is like an erector set. It is a modular and scalable workspace solution that allows you to design, assemble, change, modify, and adjust workspaces. This increased flexibility is the perfect solution for lean manufacturing/Kaizen environments and their continuous improvement efforts.

Flexpipe in Action: Workspaces Before and After

There are multiple real-world examples of how companies/manufacturers have used Flexpipe to workspaces into extremely efficient, safer, and more functional workspaces. These new Flexpipe workspaces provide employees with increased flexibility, and ideal space, and eliminate wasted movements so often associated with poorly conceived and poorly designed workspaces.

In the example above, a large cabinet manufacturer – that had adopted lean manufacturing – decided it needed to improve its workspaces by doing away with its welded, heavy, and hard-to-navigate workbenches and workstations. By using the Flexpipe modular and scalable solution, this manufacturer created a much safer, more ergonomically friendly workspace which helped to reduce trips, falls, and stumbles.  

This new Flexpipe workspace allowed the manufacturer to increase their 5S score from 64 percent to 75 percent, representing a 17 percent improvement. They were also able to reduce the average distance traveled by employees within the workspace – for each unit assembled – from 180 feet to 18 feet, representing an astonishing 90 percent waste reduction. The operator no longer had to walk around the welded bench or bend over the side to get critical parts.

Another example of how a welded workbench and permanent shadow board did not allow the manufacturer to make any layout changes without incurring a substantial amount of wasted time and labor. This example comes from a corrugated packaging company that experienced high amounts of wasted time due to misplaced tools, consumables, and spare parts. 

By adopting 5S principles – and using Flexpipe’s steel tubes and joints – the company was able to create a mobile-capable workspace where every tool, consumable, and spare part had a proper place. A simple solution of incorporating Flexpipe casters in the design of this workstation eliminates all the wasted time and labor required to move the workbench. Whereas two people were needed before – one is needed now and without any strain involved.

The example above comes from a manufacturer of retail refrigerated merchandisers. At this manufacturing location, efficiency was seen as a critical requirement. Unfortunately, their workspaces were large, heavy structures that didn’t fully adopt the essentials of 5S. Parts and consumables went missing, work instructions and BOM were misplaced, and operators often retained critical tools that could be used by co-workers – as evidenced by the two hand-held cordless drills on the workbench.  

By using Flexpipe, this manufacturer designed a 5S workspace that was cleaner, more compact, easier to see, and had proper placement locations for parts, consumables (fasteners), and tools. Visibility increased substantially and critical parts and consumables were no longer stashed away in underutilized, hidden drawers. This represented huge savings in movement and time as employees always followed 5S end-of-day practices by putting everything away in its proper place.

Real-World Practical Tools for Kaizen Workshops

If you are a current practitioner of Kaizen and lean manufacturing – or are thinking of pursuing these continuous improvement methods – having a customized Kaizen Workshop ready and able to cut, assemble, and adjust your Flexpipe workspaces and workstation structures is an absolute must.  

Here are some examples of Flexpipe structures that Flexpipe and our customers use inside their Kaizen Workshops. Each of these structures has been built using Flexpipe’s steel tubes and joints.

Pipe Cutting Saw Station

Cutting pipe generally takes the longest when assembling your Flexpipe workspaces and workstation structures. As such, a well-designed and well-laid-out “pipe” cutting station is essential. It streamlines the cutting process and makes it easier for a single operator to lay out, measure, and cut the steel pipes.  

This pipe-cutting station above has two designated overhead storage areas to hold pipes so that the operator doesn’t have to leave the cutting station. The operator simply removes the pipes from one of the storage areas on either side of the miter saw. A shop vacuum is positioned beside this saw station so that the operator can ensure a clean and debris-free area at the end of their shift – which is a critical part of 5S.

In some cutting stations, customers choose to use a rigid pipe cutter (image above to the left) or a large bandsaw (image above to the right).

Mobile Pipe Kitting Carts

Mobile pipe-kitting carts are a great way to organize all your pipes in various lengths. These mobile carts are ideal for supplying new pipes for your pipe-cutting saw station, storing pipe that’s been cut but can still be used, or bringing new pipe to a workspace or workstation that needs minor adjustments.

Height-Adjustable and Mobile Worktable

A height-adjustable and mobile worktable gives your assembly team an ergonomic space where they can prepare and assemble pipe structures until those structures are ready to be placed on the floor. This height-adjustable worktable has Flexpipe’s casters so it can easily be maneuvered to different locations on your shop floor. 

A height-adjustable worktable is an ideal solution when assembling larger workstations or other large Flexpipe structures. The table can be adjusted up or down, depending on what’s needed. For example, a larger or taller structure can be lowered so that it’s easier to work on.

Assembly Tool Shadow Board Platform (Kaizen Foam)

Another Kaizen solution is the assembly tool shadow board platform above. This platform uses Flexpipe’s Kaizen Foam – a simple foam solution where employees can trace their tools onto the foam and then cut out that trace to ensure the tool is secured. The Kaizen Foam acts as a Poka-Yoke in that only the right-sized parts will fit in the foam cutouts.

Mobile PC Station

A mobile PC station with a large flatscreen is especially useful when building your Flexpipe workspace or workstation and relying upon digital assembly drawings. It can also be used by production employees for any complex integrated assemblies. Simply display the drawing on your screen near the assembly area for reference. Some customers, replace the PC with a simple display board with the printed assembly drawings on the board.

Mobile Support Carts

The small, mobile support cart above has storage locations for consumables and fasteners both on the main level and underneath level. In addition, an angled shadow board using Flexpipe’s Kaizen foam makes sure that tools are properly placed in the right area. This mobile support cart can quickly be moved into a given area to support employees when assembling or changing workspaces.

Flexpipe Crib - Part Storage Rack

It’s critical to have a designated assembly area for all your Flexpipe parts and that those parts be stored in that area. The Flexpipe Crib includes a mobile rack for consumable and part storage and a mobile cutting cart.  A good rule of thumb is to store all the highest moving parts at waist height for easy and immediate retrieval.

Flexpipe Steel Tubes and Joints: Your Ideal Kaizen Workspace Solution

Empowering your employees to be their best in a Kaizen environment so they reduce waste and make improvements requires giving them the tools they need to succeed. Those tools must be easy-to-use, simple, and straightforward and allow your employees to make a real difference.

Flexpipe is that all-important tool for workspace optimization and efficiency.

To learn how Flexpipe can help your manufacturing facility adopt Kaizen and lean manufacturing solutions that reduce the costs of each of your workspaces, contact us now.

Flexpipe embarks on a digital lean transformation, implementing just-in-time and "5-zero" principles to enhance operational efficiency and manufacturing sustainability.

Eliminating bureaucratic waste to streamline processes

Cumbersome bureaucratic procedures are now a thing of the past for Flexpipe. Initiating a digital shift in 2019 regarding the digitization of all administrative documents, the company has now moved on to digitizing assembly drawings, marking a new chapter for Flexpipe, combining innovation, profitability, and manufacturing sustainability.  

Reading of printed drawings by assemblers - Flexpipe 2019

RATHER COSTLY OPERATIONS

The company's digital lean, distributing electronic tablets to assemblers for reading assembly drawings, particularly reflects its commitment to zero paper, a pillar of "just-in-time." By eliminating bureaucratic waste and printing costs totaling over $30,000 annually, the company takes a proactive approach to reducing lead times and enhancing productivity.

The integration of tablet computers underwent rigorous processes, involving key players and focusing on employee training and support to ensure a smooth transition to the new work tools. This approach aligns with the "zero defects" and "zero breakdowns" philosophy, aiming to detect anomalies early and maintain production process continuity.

Training and coaching employees to overcome reluctance to change

GROWTH AND INNOVATION

Flexpipe's growth and innovation showcase its ability to pursue operational excellence while integrating just-in-time principles. Lean methodologies create a significant competitive advantage, leading to doubled sales while maintaining the same workforce.

The company's commitment extends to achieving "zero delay" in operations, optimizing every manufacturing stage to reduce downtime and meet customer deadlines. This approach relies on meticulous production flow management, supported by seamless communication and effective digital tool utilization.

Sur la photo: Mathieu, directeur de la distribution, Benjamin, directeur général et Ian, directeur de production

A CONCEPT OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Today's "paperless" objective necessitates a comprehensive process overhaul, encouraging the adoption of new, paperless methods. Rather than banning printing for paper enthusiasts, the emphasis is on transitioning to digital documents, eliminating previously associated superfluous steps. This concept remains relevant across all sectors, emphasizing the need to comprehend its principles and limitations. Achieving the "5 zeros" demands continual improvement commitment, evolving gradually rather than abruptly.

Lean manufacturing isn't just about cutting costs — it's a philosophy of continuous improvement and strategic planning that transforms the entire production process. Among the many lean tools, Hoshin Kanri stands out as a methodical approach to aligning company goals with practical, on-the-ground operations. This guide explores how manufacturing engineers can apply Hoshin Kanri to achieve operational excellence.

What is Hoshin Kanri?

Hoshin Kanri, originating from the Japanese business management system, is a strategic planning process that integrates Lean principles to ensure that every employee is working towards the same objectives. It translates to "direction management" or "policy deployment." By focusing on KPIs, cross-functional teamwork, and the PDCA cycle, Hoshin Kanri empowers engineers and managers alike to steer their teams toward common goals effectively.

The PDCA method or the Deming cycle

This disciplined approach involves several key steps:

Identifying Key Business Objectives: It starts with the vision of the company and breaks it down into clear, actionable steps. 

Developing Strategies for Goals: It involves devising strategies to achieve these objectives, often with the help of cross-functional teams. 

Implementing Action Plans: These strategies are translated into action plans, which are then carried out by employees at all levels of the organization. 

Reviewing and Adjusting: Regular reviews are essential to assess progress and make necessary adjustments.

Benefits for Manufacturing Engineers:

Manufacturing engineers who employ Hoshin Kanri can expect several tangible benefits:

Improved focus on value-added activities. 

Enhanced process efficiency and waste reduction. 

Better resource allocation and inventory management through JIT principles. 

Stronger alignment between management objectives and operational activities.

Planning and online Tools for Hoshin Kanri

The digital transformation of the manufacturing industry has introduced a suite of online tools tailored to support strategic planning and the Hoshin Kanri process. These tools offer a multitude of features that support the various stages of the Hoshin planning cycle, from conception to completion. Here's a curated list of tools that can facilitate each phase of your Hoshin plan: 

Trello: A visual tool that's perfect for monitoring the progress of Hoshin initiatives. 

Asana: Streamlines task assignment and tracking related to strategic actions. 

Monday.com: Offers templates for creating an X-Matrix, a fundamental Hoshin Kanri document. 

Smartsheet: Provides robust planning capabilities for complex strategic documents. 

i-nexus: Tailored for strategy execution, ensuring goal alignment and tracking. 

businessmap: Delivers advanced Kanban boards and analytics to support the Catchball process. 

Lucidchart: Ideal for process visualization, crucial for A3 reports and strategy mapping. 

Understanding the X-Matrix: The Planning Backbone of Hoshin Kanri

A cornerstone of Hoshin Kanri is the X-Matrix, a comprehensive planning matrix that visually maps out the strategic plan, aligning long-term goals with tactics, metrics, and responsible parties. This tool is invaluable for ensuring transparency and coherence in your strategy. This kind of tool facilitate the creation and tracking of the X-Matrix, allowing teams to see how their efforts contribute to overarching company objectives in real time. By leveraging such platforms, engineers and managers gain a birds-eye view of their strategy's execution, ensuring that all actions are purpose-driven and results-oriented.

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Leveraging Online Tools for Strategic Planning

Incorporating these online tools into your Hoshin Kanri strategy can yield transformative results. 

Ensure Alignment: Use the tools to align individual and team activities with strategic objectives. 

Foster Collaboration: Enhance collaboration across departments by providing a common platform for sharing progress and feedback. 

Monitor Performance: Keep track of performance metrics to ensure strategic outcomes are being met. 

Hoshin Kanri is a powerful lean methodology that, when supported by the right set of online tools, can help manufacturing engineers and organizations ensure that every team member is working towards the same goals. By integrating these tools into your Hoshin Kanri framework, your team can work more efficiently, adapt to changes quickly, and achieve strategic objectives with greater precision. 

We're eager to hear about your experiences with Hoshin Kanri and these online tools. Leave a comment below to join the conversation and help others in the lean manufacturing community find the best strategies for success.