Join WMS on March 5th and 6th for special events with Doug Hall, America’s #1 Idea Guru, and learn how you can maximize your company’s growth opportunities and profits while minimizing risk.

Olympia – March 5, 2008 – 8:00 am to 12:00 pm
Seatac – March 5, 2008 – 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Spokane – March 6, 2008 – 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm (co-sponsored by the Greater Spokane Chamber of Commerce)

WMS and the Washington State Department of Ecology will be holding a video teleconference statewide on March 25th to discuss new approaches to cost and waste reduction that are not only improving a company’s bottom line performance, but helping them reduce toxic emissions at the same time.

The manufacturing world is on the cusp of a major new trend toward sustainable supply chains that could have a profound impact on how companies source parts, components and products. The trend is being driven by consumers worried about environmental degradation, by high costs of far-flung supply chains and distribution networks impacted by rising energy prices and by a growing legion of investors interested in companies that embrace sustainable business practices.

I recently visited a contract electronics manufacturer with a striking capacity for kaizen – the steady improvement of every step along its key value streams. Dozens of kaizen events were being performed across the company to eliminate wasted steps and to remedy quality, availability, adequacy, and flexibility problems in each value stream. At the same time, kaizen teams were trying to speed continuous flow and to perfect pull systems when flow was not possible.