Find out what being a ‘Lean Business’ is all about this December
2 November 2022
Manufacturing Advisor Nick Brandwood will be leading a special one-off online workshop on 13th December focusing on the processes and practices of an efficiently-run and profitable business.
The Lean Business workshop is open to SMEs from any sector in Greater Manchester and will share Nick’s expert insight on:
- How to recognise the different types of waste in any business
- Common tools we can use to take the cost out of a business
- Understanding what a value stream is and how this can be used to improve processes
- What a ‘learning business’ is
- How to maintain quality when cutting costs
- Why people management can be the key to profitability.
The workshop is part of GC Business Growth Hub’s #HereForBusiness campaign to help Greater Manchester’s businesses respond to the rapidly rising costs of doing business.
On 1 November, Nick joined a panel of experts for a shorter #HereForBusiness webinar on cost reduction (which can be watched back online), where he gave an overview of how any business can use lean to become more efficient, productive and profitable:
“The key principle of lean thinking that makes it relevant to every business is listening to the voice of the customer – really understanding what the customer values in your process to identify and eliminate non-value added activities.
“Examples could be duplication, things not being right first time, where there’s any waiting in your process, or even where there’s over-processing – giving the customer more than what they are actually paying for. Lean thinking is to look at the cost that you’re building into your business around those non-value added activities, and everybody solving problems every day to eliminate those.”
Also speaking on the webinar was Martin Kirkland, Managing Director of Rapid Colour Services Ltd in Leigh, who has worked closely with Nick to implement lean in his business and gave several examples of approaches he has used to improve competitiveness.
The Lean Business workshop on 13th December will go into further detail over a three-hour session, exploring other examples of lean businesses and breaking down the key tools they use to reduce costs.