Configuration management document control insights for business leaders from Silicon Valley based business consultant and configuration management expert, Dave Gardner.
Recurring Operating Challenges That Affect Customer Satisfaction and Profits
Remember: The best process can’t add value if it is subverted. Our CEO instilled in us that our vendors were our partners, not merely suppliers. We were to treat them as employees or family. Our growth taxed our suppliers to keep up with us. We needed them to keep up.
The primary interface between Engineering and the rest of the manufacturing enterprise lies in your company’s Engineering Change Order (ECO) process. If the underlying process is sound, your company’s business execution will be sound. Conversely, if the underlying process is weak, the value-add of this critical business process is greatly Read more…
I dislike meetings unless they are focused and produce results. I designed and implemented an electronic document control system for a Silicon Valley start-up. I set certain criteria for when a meeting was in order, a threshold that was seldom met. About 90% of engineering change orders were completed and Read more…
Our firm had to be able to monitor the status and progress of a part’s conversion during its migration through the process. Results Achieved: The conversion effort turned out to be as arduous as we had anticipated. Our processes helped us accurately monitor status and progress.
Successful Operations Infrastructure Industry: Large Format Color Printer Role: Project Manager Number of people working on Assignment: 1 consultant/programmer, 9 client personnel Duration of Engagement: 4 months Problem Presented: The client needed assistance defining an operational infrastructure necessary to transition the company from being a start-up “product development” company to Read more…
I’m often asked how part numbering systems evolved. This document is the result of these inquiries. Often though, the question behind the question deals with whether or not a company should change its part numbering system. Permit me to answer that question now. Gardner’s Law concerning Changing Existing Part Numbering Read more…
Configuration Management (CM) is the foundation of a manufacturer’s operations infrastructure. The world’s most powerful MRP/ERP applications cannot overcome the shortcomings of a poorly designed and implemented CM system. In other words, if your CM system has a shaky foundation, the operations infrastructure sitting on top of this foundation will Read more…
Note: This article originally appeared in The Business Journal published in San Jose/Silicon Valley. Manufacturers are continually pressured to improve time-to-market. While there is much discussion about “faster new-product development,” developing products faster is really only part of the issue. The real challenge is decreasing the cycle time between product Read more…