Blog

When the PDCA cycle isn't running smoothly!

April, 25 2025

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) For some time, I noticed a new trend on LinkedIn: the proliferation of cards intended to explain, with pretty pictures, professional best practices. With the systematic mention (injunction?) at the bottom of the card: "please like, share, subscribe"! This leads me to believe that the primary aim of these cards […]

"Here we work in a firefighter mode!" … Really?

September, 28 2023

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) "Here we work in a firefighter mode!" Many of the teams I support describe their daily work in this way, regardless of the industry. Many managers deplore these situations which exhaust their teams. Others consider that situations unavoidable. Even more, they liken it to agility, as a necessary quality that today […]

Does cost reduction always foster reduction of Working Capital Needs?

April, 15 2022

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Working capital represents the difference between a firm’s current assets and current liabilities. This financial definition isn't really useful for operations' managers. However, managing working capital is of foremost importance for companies, as when Working Capital Needs (WCN) increase, cash flow is reduced, and the need of short-term debt increases. A […]

Good Use of Gemba Walk

November, 19 2020

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) "Go See, Ask Why, Show Respect". The words of former Toyota Chairman Fujio Cho, as reported by John Shook in one of his insightful letters on the Lean Enterprise Institute website, sum up very well the principle of "going to the gemba". Gemba means "the real place", the only place where […]

Master Scheduling in Short-Medium Volume Environments

September, 21 2020

Xavier Perrin

Par Olivier Carré, O2C (olivier.carre@o2c-sc.com) My colleague, Olivier Carré, presents here different approaches for developing a master schedule in low-medium volume production environments. - XP Production planning for short or medium production runs is highly difficult today. Just as it is simple to schedule recurring products, it is just as complex to schedule low-recurring or […]

Just-In-Time Swept by COVID-19?

May, 02 2020

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) The sanitary and economic crisis we are living for several months have tremendous effects on supply chains worldwide: disruptions in supply, insolvencies, stockouts of strategic supplies (protective masks, respirators, hydroalcoholic gel, etc.). Entire sectors of economy are jeopardized and will probably never recover the conditions prior the crisis, as in the […]

Do you really pull your production?

April, 27 2020

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) When I am working with High-Mix / Low-Volume (HM/LV) manufacturing companies for helping them to improve their dependability, reduce their lead times, and reduce their working capital need, a frequent misunderstanding comes from executives about pulling production from customer demand. As they produce only what their customers are ordering, they believe […]

Client is King. Really?

October, 23 2019

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) I often read posts on professional social networks which recall us that "Client is King" or "Client is the Boss". Most of the comments describe situations where it was missed to serve the client as a king, which is considered as a scandal. I'm always very annoyed by such messages. Indeed, […]

Respect, Isn't It ?

November, 11 2018

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Many articles, mostly related to lean principles, insist on "respecting people" as a necessary behavior of managers and leaders. This is often highlighted by quoting Toyota's leaders, like former president Fujio Cho and is famous slogan "Go see, ask why, show respect". Showing respect sounds obvious for most of leaders, especially […]

The Essence of Muda

December, 13 2017

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Different mnemonics are used to help people remembering the 8 muda. Recently, I discovered a video using the acronym DOWN TIME for Defects, Overproduction, Waiting, Not utilizing talent, Transportation, Inventory excess, Motion, and Excess processing. TIMWOOD is another tip for recalling the 7 wastes of Toyota: Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, […]

A Nice Example of Muri

December, 12 2017

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) In a recent issue of the newsletter of the French Supply Chain Magazine (#2600 ; 20/11/2017), I found an interesting topic for illustrating the principle of muri. Muda is a well-known concept of lean, which is translated by "non-value-added activity". Lean thinkers also learn to identify mura and muri. Mura means […]

Forecasts are always wrong. So what?

March, 06 2017

Xavier Perrin

We are teaching that "forecasts are always wrong"… and this is true! But, some people take the opportunity of this truth to assert that forecasting demand is useless...

July, 18 2016

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) For some time, articles and posts about Lean 4.0 are spreading over magazines, blogs and social networks. This idea – Lean 4.0 – is related to the concept of Industry 4.0, whose promoters explain that the emergence of new advanced technologies like 3D printing, robots, big data, and other digital applications, […]

Kaizen Spirit (Part. I)

March, 15 2016

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) The following story makes us understand the deep meaning of the "kaizen spirit". This text has been written by Nampachi Hayashi when he was 70. Hayashi holds the post of senior technical executive, which is said to be the highest technical post at Toyota Motor Corporation TMC). Since being assigned to […]

October, 02 2015

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Last week newspaper headlines were being monopolized by the Volkswagen issue. I couldn't read all these articles, but I have read a lot of them. Most of reporters commented the fall of stock prices, how US administration (and those of other countries) and VW's customers were deceived. Other comments were speculations […]

How to Avoid ERP Implementation Failure?

September, 07 2015

Xavier Perrin

In a previous post I brought some comments about a very interesting survey conducted by Software Advice: Some Key Questions Before Buying An ERP. Today I strongly recommend you a short book also published by ERP software consultancy, Software Advice: How to Avoid ERP Implementation Failure? You can download the book here.

How to be sure to miss the target?

August, 31 2015

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Some of my missions consist in helping Make-to-Order companies improve their On-Time-Delivery performance (OTD). Generally, these companies set up specific OTD objectives for each department, expecting them to deliver their work on-time. Each department being encouraged for one-time deliveries, it is assumed that everyone will manage things for delivering work-orders on-time, […]

Some Key Questions Before Buying an ERP

February, 27 2015

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) I had recently read a very interesting survey conducted by Software Advice, a firm that analyzes ERP Software. The survey results from an analysis of a sample of interactions between Software Advice and prospective buyers in search of guidance to find the best Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software to fit their needs. […]

What do your S&OP meetings look like?

February, 06 2015

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Future is only present that should be put in order. Your task is not to foresee the future, but to enable it.(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) The S&OP meeting you're attending to today has been scheduled a year ago: you planned your agenda of this week depending on this obligation. Beyond the fact […]

Why is Overproduction the Worst Muda?

January, 04 2015

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) It is often said or written that lean is the elimination of wastes, wastes being defined as non-value-added activities (also called muda). For helping teams to implement lean, we teach them the seven wastes and we expect them to identify and eliminate these wastes in their work area. Considering lean as […]

What's the Best Tool For Drawing a VSM?

October, 30 2014

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) As a reminder, a VSM (Value Stream Map) is a graphic representation (map) of material and information flows related to a “value stream”. The same acronym is used to name the Value Stream Mapping process. The value stream is made of all the steps the material flow goes through. Some of […]

How Poor Understanding of MRP2 Can Lead to the Degeneration of Your ERP?

May, 07 2014

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) Introduction Most manufacturing companies strive for enhancing their customer service level, reducing their lead times and reducing their inventories. Two approaches elaborated during the last decades have significantly improved these companies' ability to take up these challenges: The advent of information technology allowed computer-aided planning tools to surface. In that respect, […]

Kanban: 4 Traps To Be Avoided

January, 18 2014

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) A lot of my missions consist in helping companies to set up a pull system. It is surprising to see how many of these companies already tried kanban, without managing to keep it going on. In these cases, talking about kanban with teams remembering the failure is always difficult: why would […]

Generic Kanban: How does it work?

January, 14 2014

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) This article is dedicated to Keith FitzPatrick and all those passionate people who are taking part to the discussion initiated by Keith on the APICS Group on LinkedIn : "Kanban to the masses... not for beer drinking though!" Kanban is a well-known and powerful method. Kanban is the tool which is […]

What is the point of SMED?

December, 03 2013

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) When they are talking about their customers' expectations, all the managers of manufacturing companies say without hesitation products and services quality, short lead times (speed), high customer service level (dependability), and the ability to adjust to the demands (flexibility), in addition to low costs. When they are asked about the evolution […]

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail...

November, 22 2013

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) The lean approach, often discussed in this blog, is now considered essential for our companies' competitiveness. At the same time, this approach is becoming more and more criticized. Disappointment is often observed when the results don't meet the expectations, or don't last. And sometimes, although the lean approach is presented as […]

How do we waste our teams' intelligence and energy?

October, 18 2013

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) In most of the recently published books about lean, an 8th waste (muda) is added to the “7 wastes according to Toyota”. Next to over-production, waiting, inventory, corrections, motion, transportation and over-processing, "unused people skills” is indeed mentioned. Blue collars immediately come to mind: appointed only to manufacturing tasks, they are […]

How Continuous Improvement may continually continue?

November, 26 2008

Xavier Perrin

By Xavier Perrin (xperrin@xp-consulting.fr) It has been about thirty years that continuous improvement (kaizen) has first started being discussed. In many companies though, kaizen is still considered a management “option”. Operators and employees are not involved in the continuous improvement of performance. Kaizen actions are then led by production, quality or maintenance departments. In other […]