Originating in Japan by Masaaki Imai, 5S is a disciplined & systematic methodology for creating a clean, safe, orderly, high performance work environment. It is one of the foundations of a Lean System and supports the principles of waste reduction. With SatiStar’s knowledge and guidance, your 5S team will learn and implement the principles of 5S and benefit from improved efficiencies, reduced costs of operation, improved safety and greater team work and pride.
 

Variation is defined as unacceptable deviation from the mean or target. Six Sigma is a methodology to manage process variation that causes defects and to systematically work towards reducing that variation to eliminate those defects.
 
The objective of Six Sigma is to deliver high performance, reliability, and value to the end customer. Pioneered by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986, six sigma was originally defined as a metric for measuring defects and improving quality, and a methodology for reducing defect levels below 3.4 Defects Per (one) Million Opportunities (DPMO). Six Sigma has now grown beyond defect control.
 
This approach to continuous improvement focuses on the use of a number of improvement tools, applicable by individuals and teams.
 

The customer loyalty business model used in strategic management is one in which company resources are employed so as to increase the loyalty of customers and other stakeholders in the expectation that corporate objectives will be met or surpassed. Loyalty measurement includes all of the elements of Customer Satisfaction and adds the dimensions associated with long-term loyalty (repurchase behavior & willingness to act as an advocate).
 

Customer satisfaction is a business term which is used to capture the idea of measuring how satisfied an enterprise’s customers are with the organization’s efforts in a marketplace.
 
We can design and deploy customer satisfaction measurement systems, including facilitating customer focus groups.
 

This statistical approach to improvement is extremely rapid, and enables us to identify those factors that are most important in influencing the output of your processes.
 

People in teams need to work together to solve business issues. The problem is that sometimes they don’t know how to work together, either because they don’t have a methodology, or because of their process of working together, or because they can’t collectively agree on a way forward when things aren’t working well.
 
We can work with and enhance your existing CI program, or use our own 10 Step approach – a team-based, structured approach to solving problems and making improvement in all business processes. We can facilitate your teams through their entire improvement effort, thereby reducing the delays in achieving the desired improvement while minimizing the risk of failure.
 

This structured approach to risk analysis was originally developed by NASA, and can be used to minimize risk across all manufacturing, service and administration processes. Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a Risk Assessment / Risk Management (RA/RM) tool used to bullet-proof processes. It works by identifying those potential and actual failure modes that are likely to have significant performance impact.
 

It’s tough to achieve superb order fulfillment performance if the overall product and process design, development and production launch processes do not deliver reliable cost, quality and delivery performance. Everyone knows even “small” design; development or launch (DDL) errors can cause major grief. These processes are knowledge and communication intensive and often involve multiple design databases, interdependent work processes, frequent changes, and long lead times. It is no surprise that the design, development and launch process is often an organization’s riskiest business process.
 
Initial Stage Control (ISC) is an integrated design and development planning and management control system designed to minimize these risks, deliver smooth launches and meet agreed-upon quality, cost and delivery performance targets.
 

A rapid, team-based approach to improvement that is consistent with achieving Lean systems. SatiStar’s consultants can train and facilitate your teams through our Kaizen methodology.
 

Lean is basically all about getting the right things, to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity while minimizing waste and being flexible and open to change. Lean requires that we:

• Specify value in the eyes of the customer
• Identify the value stream and eliminate waste
• Make value flow at the pull of the customer
• Involve and empower employees
• Continuously improve in the pursuit of perfection.

Lean Manufacturing is an approach that can be implemented in a manufacturing environment. Alternately, you can apply Lean Principles to a service industry, or even in administrative functions.
 

This assessment is designed to provide a rapid and thorough diagnostic that will identify the major gaps and opportunities for improving the quality management system. This project is a QMS diagnostic along with a practical implementation plan for achieving rapid improvement to the quality management system. Through effective management of that system, the company’s process and product quality will be rapidly improved.
 

Mistake-Proofing is a simple yet extraordinarily effective technique for preventing workplace errors using low-cost devices that can be developed by the workers themselves. Mistake-Proofing (MP) is fundamentally a process control technique focused on error elimination through technical means.
 
MP is accomplished by making permanent changes to equipment, processes, or procedures, product design, or information that eliminate errors, or provide an immediate signal if an error occurs, thereby enabling immediate corrective action.
 

A team-based, structured approach to solving problems and making improvement in all business processes. We can work with and enhance your existing CI program, or use our own 10 Step approach.
 
SatiStar’s continuous improvement program covers the facilitation of continuous improvement projects, a CI training workshop and the design of a company-wide continuous improvement program for your facility.
 

Managing multiple projects that rely on shared resources requires highly skilled capabilities.
 
For those who work in organizations that are multi-project environments, where resources are shared across a number of projects, there are usually a lot of things that need to get done. An environment of many projects typically generates competing priorities for project resources and managers alike and can make it difficult to know which project task should be given priority.
 

SatiStar’s project management consultants will facilitate the creation of new Project Management processes tailored to your needs, teach your people the fundamentals of project management and support the implementation of these new skills and business processes for project teams on current projects.
 
We’ll also guide you in the implementation of project management processes that are based on Theory of Constraints.
 

Setup reduction provides for the rapid and efficient convertion a manufacturing process from running the current product to running the next product. These projects are also referred to as “quick changeover”. Quick changeovers are a critical element in reducing overall process cycle time. SatiStar’s proven methodologies minimize the overall time to implement setup reduction improvements.

Statistical process control (SPC) is a method for ensuring that processes are predictable. It is a set of methods using simple statistical tools that are applicable by personnel at all levels to detect whether the process is under control.
 
Statistical Process Control charts enable your employees to distinguish signal from noise, so that they can work on the most critical issues to stabilize processes and improve overall process capability.
 

Continuous improvement depends on selecting and using the proper tools to analyze the data that’s generated by your processes. SatiStar’s knowledgeable consultants will help you to select the proper tools for the job and how to apply the tools to analyze data from your process.
 
We’ll ensure that you achieve rapid improvement in processes through the use of a wide variety of statistical tools (from simple to advanced).
 

A company’s suppliers can play a critical role in enabling major performance breakthrough. Successful companies have learned the value of establishing partnerships. Partners go the extra mile for each other; they’re truthful about deadlines, promises, and pricing; and they’re easy to do business with. This relationship — bound by a common interest — creates loyalty and financial success. You’ll learn how to cultivate successful partner relationships in our Supplier Development program.
 
SatiStar can help implement a comprehensive Supplier Development Program that ensures that your suppliers join you in your performance improvement effort. We help make this a win-win proposition for your suppliers.
 

Theory of constraints (TOC) is a body of knowledge on the effective management of (mainly business) organizations, as systems.
 
It is based on the fact that, like a chain with its weakest link, in any complex system at any point in time, there is most often only one aspect of that system that is limiting its ability to achieve more of its goal. For that system to attain any significant improvement, that constraint must be identified and the whole system must be managed with it in mind.
 
This approach focuses on reducing inventory, reducing cycle times, increasing throughput and treating manufacturing as a system whose performance in controlled by the bottlenecks in the process.
 

Total Productive Maintenance is not the same as a maintenance department that repairs breakdowns (breakdown maintenance). TPM is a critical adjunct to lean manufacturing. It is a series of methods, originally pioneered by Nippondenso (a member of the Toyota group), to ensure that every machine in a production process is always able to perform its required tasks so that production is never interrupted.
 
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) will turn your maintenance from a repair function to a reliability function. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) concentrates on getting the productivity needed from your current equipment assets. “Needed” means high overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) measured over the time you need that equipment to meet daily customer demand. Total Productive Maintenance can give you overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) in the mid to upper 90% without major capital expenditures!
 

Ontario’s Ministry of Environment has enacted the Toxics Reduction Act and supporting Regulation 455/09. This legislation applies to manufacturing and mineral processing companies (NAICS codes that begin with 31, 32, 33, or 212) that operate in Ontario and are required to report to Canada’s NPRI system or under O.Reg 127/01 for Acetone.
 
Unlike pollution prevention legislation that aims to reduce releases into the environment to within acceptable limits, Ontario’s Toxics Reduction Act is focused on reducing the use and creation of toxic substances.
 

The Toyota Production System (TPS) is the framework and philosophy organizing the manufacturing facilities at Toyota and the interaction of these facilities with their suppliers and customers. It was largely created by three men: the founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, his son Kiichiro Toyoda, and chief engineer Taiichi Ohno.
 
A comprehensive approach that improves long-term profitability by implementing actions that results in increasing revenues, while concurrently working on actions that reduce costs.
 

Valuable time is often wasted in uncovering the causes of problems in processes. We’ll help create troubleshooting guides and train your people to effectively and rapidly resolve problems.