Does Manufacturing Need Lean Methods to Stay Competitive?

By Chad Smith and Carol Ptak, Co-Founders, Demand Driven Institute
Point 8 of the Toyota Production System states, “Use only reliable, thoroughly tested technology that serves your people and processes.” Until now, the prevailing materials and inventory planning and execution technology, while thoroughly tested, have been largely inappropriate to serve the people and process in companies transforming to a leaner approach.
Yet the proliferation and sustainability of Lean implementations have been negatively impacted by the lack of appropriate supply chain materials planning and execution technology. Many well-respected manufacturing analysts have concluded that there is tremendous potential for the incorporation of better planning and visibility software into Lean implementations. Manufacturing needs Lean methods to stay competitive in the more complex environment of the twenty-first century. Lean needs an effective customer-centric planning approach to bring that vision to reality.
Lean advocates often get accused of being anti-technology, but do Lean advocates really want manufacturing companies to abandon the promise of technology? The answer should be yes when that technology is wasteful, confusing, and not reflective of reality, when it force-fits concepts so as to simply permit their use. Unfortunately, this has been the situation for quite some time with regard to traditional MRP and DRP (distribution requirements planning) systems.
What if there were an appropriate technology? What if a reliable, thoroughly tested method for a customer-centric pull-based planning and execution of supply chain materials with high degrees of visibility could be introduced into the MRP world? Under that condition Lean and MRP would both find an effective solution. This method is Demand Driven Material Requirements Planning (DDMRP).
© 2018 Carol Ptak and Chad Smith
In 2012 the Demand Driven Institute develop the Demand Driven Planner (DDP) program. The DDP program was designed to provide consistent global standards for the DDMRP approach and to teach and certify practitioners in those standards. From 2012 to 2017 over 3,000 people took the DDP program on six continents. 2012 also saw a partnership between the Demand Driven Institute and the International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA). The ISCEA provided testing and certification infrastructure and issued the Certified Demand Driven Planner (CDDP) certificate.
In 2016 the Demand Driven Institute released the Demand Driven Leader (DDL) program. The DDL program was designed to provide consistent global standards for the Demand Driven Operating Model (including DDMRP) and to teach and certify practitioners in those standards.
© 2018 Carol Ptak and Chad Smith
In 2018 the Demand Driven Institute launched its own testing and certification capability to support the growing body of demand driven knowledge and the proliferation of the knowledge around the world. These professional endorsements include the Demand Driven Planner Professional, Demand Driven Leader Professional, and Demand Driven Fundamentals Professional certificates.
About the Authors
Carol Ptak, CFPIM, CIRM, DDPP, DDLP, is a co-founder and partner with the Demand Driven Institute. Ms. Ptak spent decades in supply chain management first as a practitioner and then as a consultant and software executive. She is also a past president of APICS, and has authored several books on demand driven methods, MRP, enterprise resource planning, lean, and the theory of constraints (TOC).
Chad Smith, DDPP, DDLP, is a co-founder of the Demand Driven Institute. Mr. Smith spent 20 years in supply chain and management consulting and software co-founding industry innovator Constraints Management Group and working personally with Dr. Eli Goldratt. He has co-authored and contributed to several books on demand driven methods, MRP and the Theory of Constraints (TOC).

Check out our free e-newsletters
to read more great articles.
MORE ARTICLES
-
Manufacturing Automation - Inside Universal Robots Efforts to Empower the Small/Medium Enterprise
By Bill Lydon, Editor, Automation.com
Collaborative robots are re-defining the way manufacturers operate today. To help further that process is... -
Predicting the Future of Industrial Maintenance
By Gernut van Laak, Group Automation Solutions Leader, ABB Food and Beverage
The need for factory maintenance often goes unnoticed. This article... -
Integrators Talk about Collaborative Robots: A Roundtable Discussion
By Jeff Burnstein, A3
The Association for Advancing Automation (A3) reached out to several large automation integrators to get their input on the... -
Lean Manufacturing and the Global Digital Process Automation Market
By Thomas R. Cutler
Digital Visual Management on the manufacturing plant floor is secure by creating virtual meeting rooms for real-time, 24/7,... -
Inside the Top Causes of PLC Control System Failure
By James Davey, Boulting Technology
Despite their resilience and rugged design, PLC-based control systems can still break down and their failure...
RELATED
-
Northrop Grumman Corporation announces appointment Om Prakash as Chief Executive, Japan
As chief executive, Northrop Grumman Japan, Prakash will be responsible for ensuring effective performance on current programs, as well as...
-
Evaluation of Different Additive Manufacturing Processes with Liquids and Pastes
By Viscotec
The use of additive manufacturing processes is increasing within industrial applications, as they bring some significant customer... -
Softomotive announces Softomotive’s RPA Academy online learning portal
The Softomotive Academy is designed to improve the employability quotient of professionals and developers. It provides them with the opportunity to...
-
ISA announces final call for Educational Foundation Scholarship applications
University students who have potential in the field of automation should submit an application. All applications must be submitted no later than...
-
OSI to help Spanish power company enhance SCADA/Generation Management System
This system with replace an aging SCADA/GMS currently servicing the Balearic and Canary Islands, two Spanish archipelagos in the Mediterranean Sea...