Amnis News

Friday Focus: Lean by the Dozen

markeaton — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:00:38 +0000

This Friday Focus gives you the opportunity to download our article from the Journal “Control”, entitled ‘Lean by the Dozen’. To read the full article click the link below;

Lean by the Dozen

For more information contact Ruth Bodman on 0870-446-1002 or email ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com.

Emotional Intelligence: The secret to success in Lean?

markeaton — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:00:41 +0000

Although many companies are undertaking business improvement programmes, such as Lean or Six Sigma, not all of them achieve worthwhile results that significantly change business performance in the long term. Although ensuring the team have appropriate business improvement skills is important, for long-term success it is more important to have managers who can motivate effectively.

Work undertaken by a variety of reserchers has shown that managers who are effective motivators not only depend on their IQ to be successful but also make effective use of their EQ, their Emotional Intelligence Quotient. Popularised by Daniel Goleman, managers with Emotional Intelligence have high levels of self-awareness about their own behaviour, and are able to apply appropriate emotions to situations rather than blowing ‘hot and cold’. Equally important to the Emotionally Intelligent manager is their ability to build relationships with others and their levels of self-motivation.

Why is this important? Research shows that Emotionally Intelligent managers are better at motivating teams and creating the right climate for change to occur, both of which are essential factors that determine the success, or failure, of a business improvement programme over the long-term.

If you work in industry, healthcare or government and want to receive a free self-assessment diagnostic to discover your own EQ, or to receive some advice about creating the right environment for change contact us via email to info@amnis.uk.com with Emotional Intelligence Diagnostic in the subject heading.

Lean in Manufacturing: Don’t forget your offices and supply chain

markeaton — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 08:00:51 +0000

With supply chain and material costs accounting for over 50% of the turnover of many manufacturers and a further 5-10% being spent on processing sales orders many manufacturers are missing out on the big benefits that can be realised from focusing business improvement programmes into their supporting areas.

Over 90% of all manufacturing improvement programmes focus on making improvements in their operational areas. This disproportionate amount of focus is partly due to there available information of how to implement improvements in the factory, combined with the fact that results are often achieved more quickly and the results are much more visual.

However, having improved their operational processes, far too few businesses make the transition to an improvement programme focused on their office functions and thus are missing out on significant, and often business changing, savings and improvements.

An efficiently run supply chain can reduce stock levels and lead-times whilst improvements in sales order processing can also improve lead-time it also often helps to improve levels of customer service and thus generate repeat business.

To discuss how we can help you go further and faster contact Ruth Bodman on 0870-446-1002 or email ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com. Alternatively, visit our website at www.amnis.uk.com.

Friday Focus: Developing a Lean Culture

markeaton — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 08:00:09 +0000

With this ‘Friday Focus’ post, we’d like to let you know about our up-coming workshop entitled “Developing a Culture of Continuous Improvement” being run in partnership with the Institute of Operations Management. You can find out more by clicking the link below;

Developing a Culture of Continuous Improvement – 6th March

For more information contact Ruth Bodman on 0870-446-1002 or email ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com.

Concurrent Design: The way to shorten product development times

markeaton — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:00:45 +0000

The lifecycle of products is reducing in most sectors, placing an increased demand on companies to reduce the time taken to develop new products and for many companies this means a complete revision of their working practices.

During WWII, the need for rapid product development was recognised and the concept of Concurrent Design (or more formerly Concurrent Engineering or CE) was born. The basis of CE is the formation of a multi-function team consisting of designers, production, quality and test engineering personnel and key supplier to develop a new product. This changes the cash flow profile of the design phase, but can easily reduce time to market and design changes by 75% and production costs by 30%.

Complementing CE, Rapid Prototyping tools and techniques have evolved to a new level of sophistication over the last 20 years, again reducing the time taken to receive solid models from weeks to hours and contributing to shorter development times.

Reducing time to market has many benefits including increased market share, longer product lifecycles and higher margins, but requires collaboration between departments and companies and the adoption of new practices in design.

To find out more contact Amnis’s Ruth Bodman today on 0870-446-1002, email us at info@amnis.uk.com or visit our website at www.amnis.uk.com.

What type of Lean belt are you wearing?

markeaton — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:00:45 +0000

One of the reasons that the idea of ‘Lean Belts’ is popular is that they allow comparison of the progress of knowledge in the same way that the progression from GCSE to A Levels to Degree do. Unlike formal qualifications though, Lean Belts are inconsistent and unregulated. There is no comparison between a Yellow Belt from Company A and one from Company B. Indeed, I could legitmately issue you a Black Belt certificate for reading this post and no-one could challenge it. This devalues the concepts of Lean inside organisations and makes it harder for those who are truly aspiring to being Lean champions to differentiate themselves from those who have simply been given a certificate without earning it.

To find out more about belts and how we can help you develop the Lean skills within your organisation contact Ruth Bodman on 0870-446-1002 or email ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com. For more information on what we do visit our website at www.amnis.uk.com.

Amnis in the Health Service Journal

markeaton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:30:46 +0000

Amnis are again in the Health Service Journal. This week we have a 2 page article published detailing some of our work in transforming community healthcare. To obtain a copy of this article email Amnis today via info@amnis.uk.com or call us on 0870-446-1002.

Friday Focus: Transformation in Difficult Times

markeaton — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:30 +0000

With this ‘Friday Focus’ post, we’d like to give you the chance to download our article on ‘Transformation in Difficult Times’ that appeared in the Clinical Services Journal. To find out more click the link below;

Leading Transformation in Difficult Times

For more information contact Ruth Bodman on 0870-446-1002 or email ruthbodman@amnis.uk.com.

The Miracle Approach To Transformation

markeaton — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:00:24 +0000

We have discovered a rare approach to transformation that guarentees success without any effort, time, cost or risk to you or your organisation. It neither requires you to do any planning nor give up any time to actually doing anything about the problems you face within your organisation. In fact, your people, who are normally so reluctant to get involved in other transformation initiatives, preferring instead to simply work harder as a way of changing your organisation, will be delighted as they don’t have to do anything at all different.

Of course, this approach doesn’t really exist but it is surprising how common it is for people to follow it. To find out how to successfully transform your organisation then contact us on 0870-446-1002 or email info@amnis.uk.com.

Amnis articles in the press

markeaton — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:00:22 +0000

In a next few posts we will show you some of the things you are missing if you aren’t signed up to our newsletter network. Our monthly newsletter contains a useful management tip and details of downloads, offers and training workshops. We will be reproducing our management tips from 2011 at the rate of 2 a week over a six week period.

If you would like to join our newsletter network visit our website, click here, email us (info@amnis.uk.com) or contact Ruth Bodman on 0870-446-1002.

We hope you enjoy them and find them useful.

Amnis in the Press

Lean in the Supply Chain – Published by The Manufacturer Magazine

Authors: Amnis in partnership with the IOM

Transforming Pathology – Published by the Health Service Journal

Authors: Amnis in partnership with Northampton General Hospital and Sue Stanley

Community Diagnostics – Published by the Health Service Journal

Authors: Amnis in partnership with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Transformational Change – Published by the Clinical Services Journal

Authors: Amnis in partnership with Poole Hospital NHSFT and Hounslow & Richmond Community Healthcare

Reducing Length of Stay – Published by the Health Service Journal

Authors: Amnis in partnership with University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust