Related Courses

Cost Reduction

Root Cause Failure Analysis

Delivery Performance Improvement  

Group Size

5-20

Prerequisites

The course assumes a manufacturing background. 

Course in a Nutshell

Manufacturing Leadership is a comprehensive and intensive 3-day training program that presents the essential elements of an effective and proactive manufacturing management system, with a special focus on developing an effective first-level manufacturing management  team.  Topics include lead person, supervisor, and executive manager roles in the manufacturing environment, and how these key positions influence quality, cost, and delivery performance. This is a practical course taught from the perspective of an experienced manufacturing manager, with a special emphasis on real-world solutions, the “nuts and bolts” of manufacturing leadership, and delivering quality products on schedule.  The course develops and presents a results-oriented roadmap for implementing an effective manufacturing management system.

Customize It!

• Add a “workshop day” to the course to allow the participants to work together to analyze manufacturing leadership issues specific to your organization.  The workshop day can be scheduled a few weeks after the course to allow time for applying the technologies presented in class under an experienced practitioner’s guidance.

• Schedule post-class follow-up consultation for ongoing manufacturing leadership and management improvement. 

Learn How To

• Develop an effective leadership development system.

• Objectively identify manufacturing improvement opportunities.

• Work together to improve your manufacturing team.

• Identify and address the causes of delinquent schedule performance.

Course Outline

Session 1:  Introduction

• Course content

• Historical manufacturing perspectives

• Manufacturing enterprises

• Organizational approaches

• Organizational cultures

Session 2:  Leadership

• Leadership

• Leadership traits and styles

• Characteristics of a good leader

• Situational leadership

• Supervision versus management

• Executive management

• Responsibilities versus organizational position  

Session 3:  Theories of Motivation

• Hunsaker-Allesandra personality styles

• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

• The power/achievement/affiliation motivation model

• Identifying individual motivational factors

• Motivators and demotivators

• Exercise  

Session 4:  First-Level Supervision

• Lead responsibilities and authority

• Supervisor responsibilities and authority

• Maintaining the supervisor/subordinate relationship

• Selecting leads and supervisors

• Coaching leads and supervisors

• Role of the lead and supervisor in shaping the culture

• Exercise  

Session 5:  Building a Manufacturing Team

• Team development

• Elements of a successful team

• Building trust

• Cross training

• Competition

• Exercise  

Session 6:  Work Assignment

• The nature of the production control challenge

• Planning, scheduling, and priorities

• Matching individuals to work requirements

• Basic MRP operating systems

• MRP dispatch lists and transactions

• Lead and supervisor work assignment responsibilities

• Improvement opportunities

• Exercise  

Session 7: Manufacturing Standards

• Standards definition

• Developing standards

• Standards accuracy issues

• Standards updating

• Making standards effective

• Communicating standards

• Lead and supervisor standards responsibility

• Exercise  

Session 8:   Measuring and Improving Productivity

• Productivity definition

• Utilization definition

• Productivity and utilization challenges

• Identifying productivity and utilization detractors

• Delay ratio analysis

• Efficiency evaluation

• Recognizing and rewarding superior productivity

• Lead and supervisor productivity responsibility

• Exercise  

Session 9:  Assessing Capacity and Load

• Capacity and load definition

• Using standards for load determination

• Comparing capacity versus load

• Theory of constraints

• Identifying and resolving production bottlenecks

• Lead and supervisor capacity and load assessment responsibility

• Improvement opportunities

• Exercise  

Session 10:  Overtime

• Overtime definition

• Overtime assignment and authority

• Overtime budgets and budget monitoring

• Assessing overtime effectiveness

• Lead and supervisor overtime responsibilities

• Exercise  

Session 11: Quality

• Quality definition

• Quality responsibility

• Prevention versus detection

• The inspection function

• Lead and supervisor quality responsibilities

• Quality measurement and reporting  

Session 12:  Problem Solving

• Identifying problems

• The 4-step problem solving process

• Identifying all potential causes

• Converging on most-likely causes

• Corrective action identification and implementation

• Lead and supervisor problem solving responsibilities

• Knowing when to call for help

• Exercise  

Session 13:  Conflict Management

• The nature of conflict

• Identifying and understanding conflict

• Positive and negative aspects of competition

• Resolving conflict

• Lead and supervisor conflict resolution responsibilities

• Exercise  

Session 14: Training

• Job-specific success factors

• Recognizing training needs

• Training newly-assigned personnel

• Refresher training

• Manufacturing instructions

• Lead and supervisor training responsibilities

• Exercise  

Session 15:  Work Center Organization

• Work center definition

• Work flow

• Lean manufacturing concepts

• Cellular manufacturing

• Work center cleanliness

• 5S and Mr. Clean programs

• Lead and supervisor responsibilities

• Exercise  

Session 16:  Visual Manufacturing and Communications

• Productivity metrics

• On-time delivery metrics

• Overtime metrics

• Utilization metrics

• Schedule/MRP compliance metrics

• Metrics posting

• Lead and supervisor responsibilities

• Exercise

Session 17:  Interviewing

• Interview purposes

• Interview questions

• Interview preparation

• Overcoming interviewee reluctance

• Selling the organization

• Exercise  

Session 18:  Time Management

• Personal time management

• Lead, supervisor, and manager time management considerations

• Keeping a personal schedule

• Prioritizing

Session 19:  Meetings

• Meeting purposes

• Meeting logistics

• Minimizing meetings

• Agendas

• Meeting follow-up

• Supervisor responsibilities

• Improvement opportunities  

Session 20:  Counseling

• Assessing work from quality and productivity perspectives

• Providing feedback

• Eliminating blame, fear, and intimidation

• Recognizing and rewarding superior performance

• Knowing when to ask for help

• Lead and supervisor responsibilities

• Improvement opportunities

Session 21:  Staying on Schedule

• Delinquent delivery root causes

• Process yield

• Productivity

• Supplier performance

• Purchasing

• Planning

• Organization

• A delivery performance improvement roadmap

Session 22:   Course Wrap-Up

• Course review

• Course evaluation

How You Will Learn

• A seasoned manufacturing executive/consultant/instructor will present this course in an interactive lecture and workshop format. 

• Along with the lectures, we use exercises, puzzles, case studies, and interesting group activities to enrich the instruction and emphasize the essential points.  

• You will receive a printed Participant Handbook that includes all materials presented in class, which will help you remember and retain what you learned and apply it on your job. 

• You will learn key manufacturing management concepts from theoretical, practical, and organizational perspectives.