Is OSHA’s proposal for E-Reporting going too far?
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has put forth a proposed rule that will require many employers to track injuries and illnesses electronically on a new system. If approved, the rule will require this type of reporting take place at least every quarter. For employers with 250+ employees, the website where the data will be sent…
Tony Ferraro | December 19, 2013 | Continuous Improvement | OSHA, Regulations & Compliance, Workplace Safety | 3 min read
2014 Regularity Priorities from OSHA Announced
Each year the US department of Labor, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announces a list of their priorities for the following year. In fact, they often release updates throughout the year, but the one that comes out at this time of the year typically gets the most attention. All companies would be wise to…
Tony Ferraro | December 16, 2013 | Continuous Improvement | OSHA, Regulations & Compliance, Workplace Safety | 3 min read
How Unified Communications and Collaboration can Improve Your Business
A unified communications and collaboration system can help improve just about every type of business in a variety of important ways. Before getting into the specifics of how this type of system can help, it is important to understand what is meant by a unified communications and collaboration program. This type of system will vary…
Tony Ferraro | December 6, 2013 | Continuous Improvement | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency | 3 min read
Are Workplace Homicides Growing?
Violence, or even homicides, in the workplace are something we all hear about from time to time, but never really think it could happen to us. The violence is sometimes directed at an individual (such as an overbearing boss or abusive co-worker) but sometimes it seems random. As much as we’d all like to think otherwise,…
Tony Ferraro | December 1, 2013 | Safety | Workplace Safety | 3 min read
Importance of Proper Respiratory Protection in the Workplace
Everyone knows that when working directly with toxic chemicals or other hazardous materials, it is essential to wear proper respiratory protection. What most people don’t realize, however, is that in many different environments, this same type of protection is still a good idea. In many different work environments, there is often dust, vapors, mist, fumes,…
Tony Ferraro | November 26, 2013 | Safety | PPE, Workplace Safety | 3 min read
How to Hire a Safety Consultant
Hiring a safety consultant is an important task for any growing organization. Whether the position is being opened up because of specific safety concerns, or strictly as a preventative measure, it is important to take the time to make sure you’re hiring the right person for the job. While there are many things that need…
Tony Ferraro | November 25, 2013 | Safety | Workplace Safety | 3 min read
How do you make a Factory Culture Embrace Lean?
Several years ago, I was working as a project manager for a local manufacturing company. The owner asked me how much I knew about lean, and I told them I had about three years experience working on a lean transformation in upstate New York in which we had to completely change the factory climate from…
Tony Ferraro | November 17, 2013 | Lean | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing | 2 min read
Lean Is More Than Its Tools
I talked with a guy yesterday about 5S and how well it would work at his office. I asked him what the problem was, and he said, “Oh, you know, it’s messy and I want people to be tidier.” I didn’t laugh or anything, but I let him know that 5S, under the larger lean…
Tony Ferraro | November 3, 2013 | Lean | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing | 2 min read
OSHA and Continuous Improvement
Any organization doing business in the United States should be familiar with the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, or OSHA. They are a branch of the US Department of Labor and are tasked with helping to ensure all working environments are safe and healthy for those working in them. They were established in 1970, and have…
Tony Ferraro | October 25, 2013 | Continuous Improvement | Continuous Improvement, Kaizen, OSHA, Regulations & Compliance | 2 min read
Practice Running Projects
Projects are a big part of almost every type of business. Most organizations break up different types of work into projects to help ensure they get done in the most efficient and economical way possible. A project is a set of tasks that is interconnected and designed to help achieve a specific goal. Projects should…
Tony Ferraro | October 24, 2013 | Continuous Improvement | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency | 2 min read
Understanding Lean Principles
The lean manufacturing philosophy centers around five guiding concepts which are used to drive the behaviors of an organization. These five principles can help people at all levels of a company to understand what it is they should be doing and how it should be done. Of course, these lean principles aren’t going to layout…
Tony Ferraro | October 23, 2013 | Lean Manufacturing | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing | 2 min read
Heijunka – Creating Flow
The word Heijunka is often used in the manufacturing industry, and it means sequencing, or smoothing of production. The idea behind this term is to help absorb sudden fluctuations or changes in the demand of the market. This is often done by producing several different models of a product, in smaller production batches. In practice,…
Tony Ferraro | October 9, 2013 | Continuous Improvement, Lean Manufacturing | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Lean Manufacturing | 2 min read
Changeover – Creating Flow and Eliminating Waste
For those in the manufacturing industry, changeover is a term which is used when talking about converting a particular machine, or a line from creating one product to another. The most well known example of this would be in the automotive industry where it is necessary to do a changeover when updating to a new…
Tony Ferraro | October 7, 2013 | Lean Manufacturing | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency, Kaizen, Lean Manufacturing | 2 min read
How to Organize Your Shop: Try 5S
Are you needing some organization in your workshop? Do you spend more time trying to find tools and supplies and less time actually working? Are you hoping to improve your efficiency and cut your waste down? Would doing all of this help to improve quality to the customer and possibly even reduce prices? Well, you…
Tony Ferraro | October 1, 2013 | 5S, Lean, Lean Manufacturing | 5S, Facility Efficiency, Lean, Lean Manufacturing, Organized Workplace | 3 min read
Taking a Look at Company Culture
When getting ready to interview for a new position, most people focus their efforts on getting themselves ready to impress the people who they will be interviewed by. While this is certainly important, one should also take the time to try to figure out whether or not the company culture is a good fit for…
Tony Ferraro | September 20, 2013 | Continuous Improvement | Continuous Improvement, Facility Efficiency | 2 min read
