QMS & EMS London

Managing supply chains effectively is key to any successful business. This is particularly true in today’s world of global supply chains and in which civil society, the media and non-governmental organisations demand more transparency. Sustainable supply chain management incorporates the tender process to ensure that proper criteria are included, as well as measures to protect profit, such as business continuity, and brand and reputation management.

Businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to implement and manage sustainability policies, research by the trade body for facilities managers has revealed. The annual British Institute for Facilities Management (BIFM) survey found that respondents’ confidence in their ability to implement and manage their environmental and sustainability policies had declined from 60% last year to 40% this year, the steepest year-on-year decrease in the nine years BIFM has been conducting the survey.

If efficiency is the economic use of human, psychological, and material resources, what is effectiveness? Go ahead and think about it. I'll wait… Like many of you, I find the online Business Dictionary to be a useful resource. Here’s how they define effectiveness: The degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent to which targeted problems are solved. In contrast to efficiency, effectiveness is determined without reference to costs and, whereas efficiency means “doing the thing right,” effectiveness means “doing the right thing.”

In all likelihood, your company has already encountered difficulties harmonizing quality management systems (QMS) with product life cycle management (PLM) systems. Synergies between engineering, manufacturing, supply chain management, and service will not materialize on their own—even in a closed-loop QMS. Part one of this three-part series describes how integrating the QMS and PLM can improve quality management processes throughout the enterprise.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a popular tool in the engineer’s problem-solving tool kit. Virtually, it implies that there is only one root cause, when in reality most problems are usually caused by a complex combination of several factors, some of which are more significant than others.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has revealed that “49 percent of establishments survive 5 years or more; 34 percent survive 10 years or more; and 26 percent survive 15 years or more”. In other words, the probability of your business surviving the next 5 year is less than its probability of failing and this is no different online. If you’re not careful, your business will most probably not last 2 years. How could you change this fact? From an individual level to the business level, there are a lot of things you can do to ensure your business not only survives the test of time but that it is also very profitable; here are 5 little changes that can take your small business to the next level.

Samsung -Korean electronics giant- is nipping at Apple's heels. But it is still missing one crucial element. The technology press loves a good narrative. And among the most beloved narratives is a good horserace. Two rivals struggling to better each other with new products or new features. The archetypal tech rivalry, between Microsoft and Apple not only lasted for decades, it helped make Silicon Valley what it is today. During the rise of the smartphone, the great race between mobile operating-system makers has been chronicled in detail. Early leaders like Nokia and Blackberry gave up the lead to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. Microsoft, meanwhile, fought just to stay in this race.

Given the current economic scenario, we expect customers to be spending more on outsourcing to reduce costs and improve productivity. However, we can expect outsourcing to gain some momentum only in the second half of 2013. Generally, political decisions in their true sense are based on their financial viability and it is unlikely that any government will establish an agenda that jeopardizes economic interests. Also, Global business will continue to drive the growth of outsourcing industry in order to achieve core competencies, reduce and eliminate costs and achieve economies of scale.

Benchmarking is the concept of discovering what is the best performance being achieved, whether in your company, by a competitor, or by an entirely different industry.  It is an improvement tool whereby a company measures its performance or process against other companies’ best practices, determines how those companies achieved their performance levels, and uses the information to improve its own performance. 

Kaizen is a japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words ‘Kai’ means continuous and ‘zen’ means improvement. Some translate ‘Kai’ to mean change and ‘zen’ to mean good, or for the better.

"Almost everybody does brainstorming wrong and turns it into an enormous waste of time. When most people do brainstorming, they run all over the place and think outside the box. I think they should think inside the box, the right-sided box". — Ralph Keeney An emeritus professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and a consultant to such diverse organizations as the Department of Energy and, just last month, a German power company with $40 billion in revenues, Keeney has devoted his career to a discipline called “decision science,” helping companies and government agencies bring focus and rigor to their decision-making process so that they can waste less time spinning their wheels and instead get clear on their objectives before they try to meet their goals.