China Manufacturing Improvement Blog

Let’s do a thought exercise about the typical manufacturing automation strategy in China. Do they invest in getting automation right, or hope that just having the machinery is enough?

One very common mistake I see managers make when hiring new employees in China is hiring for hard skills only. They think: “We just need someone who has been doing XYZ in their previous company.” Here's why that's wrong...

When a factory starts working on a Lean initiative, one of the first steps generally involves putting up lean visual management boards on walls. We are not against visuals. Actually, nearly every project we do in the production area involves putting up or improving on a board. But there can be common issues...

After working closely with a number of organizations, it has become obvious that poor problem-solving abilities are a root cause of poor performance. No wonder GE made Six Sigma (and the DMAIC framework) a company wide initiative in the 1990s...

Today many factories in China that are too close to city centers are being asked to relocate further out as environmental laws, amongst other things, come increasingly into force.

In this post I will categorize factory relocations into the 3 most common scenarios and give more details on each...

I have been working in the quality field for about 10 years now and just recently did I discover a rule of thumb that changed the way I view quality improvements. 

This article will help you avoid some VERY common mistakes that have an impact on OEM manufacturing production cost, quality, and/or timelines...

When a consultant shows a factory how a poka yoke (mistake-proofing) system can get rid of frequent mistakes committed by operators, they look at the consultant like he/she is a genius.

However, anybody with a dose of creativity and an understanding of the main types of poka yokes can come up with good ideas. Here are the 6 main types of mistake proofing techniques...

To explain how effective and important mistake proofing can be, CMC have created a new eBook called: "14 Mistake Proofing Examples: Improve Quality at Virtually No Cost." Read more about this free eBook and get your own copy here...

In this blog post I will count down 5 great lean blogs & 2 lean podcasts that we follow with interest and highly recommend...