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Everyone deserves an easy training experience at work - from the shop floor to the top floor. Sadly, a lot of the training solutions designed to make life at the frontline easier…actually just make it more complex. It’s a misconception to think complex environments like manufacturing require complex tools to deal with problems at the frontline. Where knowledge management, work instructions, and standards are concerned: The key ingredient to productivity is ✨simplicity✨ Just like tech has democratized the process of developing standards on the shop floor - easy access to training democratizes access to knowledge. And no training solution can be considered effective until it’s easy to use. Simple as that. *mic drop*

Tech isn’t a magic pill to fix all your problems on the shop floor. Sorry, but it’s not. Imagine all of your headaches gone in an instant… - Instant visibility and insights into your production - No more human errors - No more unplanned downtime and line stoppages - Instant motivation for your #frontline - Continuous improvement that just seems to fall into place. But it just doesn’t work like that. There’s no such magic pill. We’ve seen frontline productivity stagnate for the last 10 years, coinciding with the onset of #industry40. Why? It's a common trap that many companies fall into: Thinking that tech solutions will suddenly do the heavy lifting in the #lean production and continuous improvement process. Well, it's a hard pill to swallow, but the tech itself is not enough. Digital tools provide an essential foundation on which to build the future of work - there’s no question about that. They give us access to unprecedented flexibility, visibility, and scalability in our operations. At the end of the day, they’re tools. Without a concurrent focus on proven continuous improvement and human-focused lean methodologies, productivity will likely continue to stagnate. And in an industry that is still (unfortunately) dominated by silos, it's important to have a unified ecosystem between tech and the teams that ensures information flows freely across all departments. So, here are some tips for you: 💡 Create a collaborative environment for your frontline with continuous improvements at its core. Listen to feedback, and fall back on lean methodology. 💡 Find the tech solutions that bring visibility and scalability to your processes while bridging silos and knowledge gaps across the organization.  💡 Invest in solutions that help train your team using progressive and effective methods to build competency and keep them at the top of their game. You won't need a pill for any of that.

Manufacturing productivity is declining at an alarming pace. Our strategies for learning on the shop floor (and beyond) need a shift towards: 🧠 Critical thinking 🤝 Collaboration 📢 Communication Check out the post below for a great summary of the IX event recently hosted by LNS Research in #boston.

BOO!!! 👻 🎃 It’s officially spooky season, and we’re thinking about all the horrifying things that are still happening on the shop floor in 2024. Downtime. Product defects. Skills gaps. Ineffective SOPs and work instructions. Employee turnover. Paper-based systems. Scary stuff. What do each of these problems have in common (besides being costly and frustrating)? More often than not, they’re a symptom of a lack of investment in the #frontline workforce - either in the tools they’re given, the systems we have in place to support them, or the culture they’re expected to work in. But life at the frontline doesn’t have to be terrifying. Each of these issues can be addressed by investing in the people that keep our operations running, day in and day out. Which ones sound most familiar to you? Let us know in the comments!

Skills-based ways of working are trending - for a reason. It's a fundamental shift away from the concept of a 'job' that places a greater emphasis on the competencies of the #frontline workforce. It means more effective work, better hiring and promotion initiatives, reduced turnover, and more engagement. That's fantastic - but where do you start? Switching from traditional job-dominant operating models is complex, but it’s easier if you are: - Ready with a clear strategic vision - Invested in a bottom-up approach - Open to continuous learning and upskilling - Set to embrace new strategies and tech Checked all these boxes? Awesome!    Here are 4 key things that you'll need to consider as you start the process of moving to a skills-based approach.

Well said, Masaaki Imai! As this #lean guru points out - there can’t be any effective improvement without standardization. In manufacturing, processes and procedures have to be carried out consistently and reliably. Standardization helps:  - Form a baseline for improvement initiatives (hard to know what's working without a control group). - Make sure your #frontline is all on the same page and keep task execution consistent. - Make work more effective, less confusing, and more likely to produce fantastic results. Shoutout to KAIZEN Made Easy for the quote!

More and more companies are ditching "jobs" and are getting more work done. Sounds hard to believe - but this is a proven benefit of skills-based organizations. Organizations hire individuals and assign work based on unique skills, competencies, and potential, over ‘traditional’ criteria like job titles. Ultimately, this helps deliver high-quality work and drive adaptability and buy-in across the #frontline. When you shift the focus from job titles to skills, you’re hiring based on a person’s capability to get the job done. You’re also promoting a culture of flexibility, agility, and innovation. Bonus? It also makes you 98% likely to retain high performers (and to have a reputation as a great place to grow and develop).

Uh-oh, someone got caught…👀 It’s sad that in 2024, companies still prioritize tools that complicate simple procedures. And just think how much time is wasted on operations that could easily take only a couple of seconds…. And using Excel, after all!😫 Come on, we know your team can do better. It’s time to embrace tools that ACTUALLY help you simplify employee development, close skills gaps, and streamline operations. P.S. Thanks Jake Hall for bringing the issue into the spotlight. More relevant than ever.

It’s foolish to pursue perfection. It just doesn’t exist. True #lean leaders understand that, and instead, they focus on building success from continuous improvement and learning. In the manufacturing industry, every process is an iteration. It’s a never-ending cycle of redoing, rethinking, rebuilding, and learning from all these changes. That’s why we HAVE to have the ability to fail, to reflect, and to iterate on ideas. Over and over again. Only then do you reach the excellence you aim for. Something to think about. 

Why is everyone talking about digital standards? 🙄 It’s simple: because they work. Digital job aids like checklists, SOPs, and work instructions streamline operations by providing real-time, standardized, and easily accessible knowledge. For the #frontline, this means fewer errors, improved efficiency, and instant updates. But if you continue to rely on paper instructions and use Excel sheets for collecting data and scheduling, you only slow down the production processes, increase downtime and errors, and decrease efficiency on the shop floor. Still have questions? Didn’t think so.