Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing Operations (CIIMO)

Customized Training, Education and Practical Workshops - A Complete Continuous Improvement Program designed for the Manufacturing Industry

Many courses teach advanced Lean concepts but leave students without necessary skills for aligning Lean activities with strategic objectives, or solving real process problems and continuously improving operations. This course moves beyond knowledge into the realm of application. Teaching you advanced techniques and preparing you to participate in your own workplace improvement events. The program has a major focus on value stream mapping combined with Production Control and MRP Planning. We focus on how to identify and remove waste in a process, and how to ensure that waste doesn't creep back into the process after it's been improved. The course content is designed to move quickly beyond the theory of Lean, so you can start solving problems in manufacturing. The "Continuous Improvement in Manufacturing Operations" Workshops can be customized to suite the specific needs of your organization. The advanced modules use real production situations during the hands on exercises. There is also some homework activity required between modules.

Module 0 - LEAN Value Introduction

Learn the Basics of good manufacturing management and how LEAN based projects can be applied to solving unwanted manufacturing situations. (2 day introduction to CIIMO)

Course Content:

  • The Manufacturing Process Model
  • Production Control Building Blocks
  • What is LEAN
  • Simple Value Stream Mapping
  • Using the CIIMO Tools for Improvement Projects
  • Evaluating and Prioritizing your opportunities 
    • Module 1 - Voice of the Customer Basic Training Workshop

    The Voice of the Customer training course is designed for Senior Executives, engineers, product managers, product marketing, and market researchers working in the field of product and process development. It teaches “best practices” in gathering the Voice of the Customer for Product and Process feature development. It is delivered in 3 separate training events and can take between 1-2weeks to complete.

    Module 1a - In Module 1a you will learn how to develop mission/vision and positioning statements that drive the development of your goals and objectives. You will begin to develop your own list of Customer Value Drivers during the workshop exercises.

    Module 1b - In Module 1b you will develop or refine your goals and objects, brainstorm action items and prioritize to achieve your future Goals and Objectives.

    Module 1c - In Module 1c you will learn how to use the Decision Matrix to develop a balanced action plan. We will also introduce more advanced approaches to decision making using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) tools. QFD is a powerful tool for developing ongoing product and process improvement driven by customer requirements.

    Module 2 - Process Mapping Basics Training Workshop

    The flow of activity within an organization that creates customer value is called the value stream. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is the tool used to understand, analyze and improve a value stream. In this module you will learn the basic skills required to develop your own value streams.

    Module 3 - Storm Cloud Analysis Advanced Training

    In this module you will learn how to evaluate storm clouds and align them with the priorities set in the VOC Module. You will learn how to create continuous improvement work teams, how to establish a Continuous Improvement Culture and how to develop a sustainable Continuous Improvement plan.

    The CIIMO Action Modules

    The following modules combine additional training with real continuous improvement projects. The sessions in the module are not continuous days and the length of each module is dictated by the complexity of the undesiable situate we are addressing

    Module x - Process Mapping Advanced Training Workshop

    In this module we learn how to apply the skills from the Process Mapping Basics Workshop to specific situations. In this module we focus on Business Processes such as Order Entry, Quoting, Product Engineering. Homework is assign to uncover storm clouds and other areas of improvement opportunities. This module can be run as many times as there are business units within your organization. The training workshop will be customized to your specific needs.

    Module y - VSM Advanced Training Workshop

    In this Module we will learn how to apply advanced Value Stream Mapping techniques to specific production situations in your manufacturing production environment. Participants are encouraged to bring real examples of undesirable situations from current product structures and production processes. This module can be run as many times as there are production lines within your organization. The training workshop will be adapted to your specific needs.