New slideshow uploaded to Slideshare. Hopefully it will give you some ideas if you are developing your own plan to get your MRP system working properly. Giles Johnston ...optimising MRP systems and re-engineering business processes

I was tied up in a conversation the other day about how I was too focussed on the 'little' things when we should be focused on the 'big' things. The conversation was going back and forward until I wrote this on their whiteboard in their office:

I see a lot of frustration in businesses when it comes to implementing continuous improvement projects. I see it so much that it reminds me of a phrase I heard from a performance psychologist called  Dr John Eliot . He was talking about the frustrations of performances not turning out exactly as planned and talked about the ability to 'win ugly'.

I was giving a potted history of my working life to an undergraduate Engineer yesterday. After a few minutes I noticed the haunting theme that was running through my stories, about the need for good data to make informed decisions .

Something that I have observed (consciously at least) over the past few months is the correlation between clear project actions (such as on meeting minutes) and the rate of actions being closed out. How many times have you read the notes from a meeting and wondered what on Earth the tasks really are? I'd bet that a lot of people feel the same way.

I delivered a really interesting training session last week. I was working with a team of managers from a local engineering business, which has been growing rapidly over the past couple of years. What worked a couple of years ago was creaking at the seams last year, and this year.... well some things have broken. As part of the training session we talked about continuous improvement ideas that we could apply to the business and one of the guys started to explore some of the problems that were zapping his time. This then lead to an idea to vastly improve the situation, which was almost dismissed because of the work involved...

This weekend I succumbed to buying a barbecue. I bought one from a local shop and thought it would be fun to build and use for the first time. I was quite impressed with the packaging and the instructions were pretty good... until I got to about three quarters of the way through the assembly.

I once heard a phrase that said 'there's never a good time, so do it now'. I see so many projects and improvements that never get started that I used to wonder why that was the case. Thinking through that further I believe that many people don't realise just how little effort is required to get certain tasks moving. The breaking down of activity into tiny steps is often referred to as 'Kaizen'. This is a really great way to quantify tiny packets of activity / improvement that you can lose in your day to day busy-ness. So, as I reflect on the opening sentence I ask you, can you break down some of your immediate tasks into tiny steps and get your stalled improvement projects moving? It really is a great strategy. Giles Johnston ...fixing MRP systems and re-engineering business processes

A Sunrise Meeting is an effective gathering of your routines. Click here to find out more about my book on the subject. One of my clients who has been going through a significant period of change in their business said to me the other day 'it's all about forming good habits, isn't it?' When you look at our operational issues, things that stop us from getting our products out the door in a sane manner, then a lot of the time it does depend on how good your habits are.

Click here to read. I have just uploaded a PDF copy of a free report that I use as an introduction to what services I deliver. You can grab a free copy (no sign up required) here. I hope you find the simple to apply ideas useful. Enjoy, Giles Johnston ...fixing MRP systems and re-engineering business processes

Check out my book for more ideas: click here. Everyone is busy. During the day we received additional requests for help, ideas that pop into our heads and there are other project tasks that we need to undertake. How we capture and then process these items can affect our productivity and effectiveness. Having an approach that suits you is key to making sure that progress gets made.

When you start out on a new path of change it can often be a little messy. The idea you have in your head doesn't always appear when you try the 'new thing' for the first time. As this is so true of many continuous improvements I thought I would share a few of my thoughts on the matter. When a business identifies improvements in its communication then some form of meeting is usually instigated to improve the said communication issue. I'm a big fan of standardised meetings. These are meetings that are focused on very specific outcomes, are usually as short as they possibly can be, and support the effective routines already defined by the business. Often the first few meetings bring up all kinds of additional issues that the business is facing. This noise can be distracting and it may take a few meetings to get past this confusing stage and into short productive meetings.

It was nice to see yesterday that one of my past articles on improving the productivity of office teams was being tweeted and re-tweeted. You can read it here. Giles Johnston ...fixing MRP systems and re-engineering business processes