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We shared a post on continuous improvement and Lean activities in December 2018. Carrying on with this theme an additional valuable business exercise is to undertake is a "Gemba walk". Gemba is Japanese for "The Real Place" and in business it means "the place where value is created". All too often management are involved in lengthy discussions trying to resolve an issue or find efficiencies without talking to those employees who undertake the tasks. A Gemba Walk means getting out of offices and meeting rooms and going to where the action is! Tom Peters and Robert Waterman also wrote about...

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Business Consultant, Angharad Storrie, interviews CEO of Component Sense, Kenny McGee, regarding selling excess electronic components. AS: What are the basics you need to know about selling excess electronic components? KM: Our clients are primarily focused on building electronic products. Selling excess is a by-product of what you do. When you are building a product there will always be excess or surplus components. There will be components that become obsolete or redundant for your purposes and that is just the natural order of things. Over time stock accumulates and it begins to harm your business. There are many different reasons...

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What is 5S? 5S is a structured way to create and maintain a clean, organised and safe workplace. 5S was developed by Hiroyuki Hirano in Japan and was adopted by the Toyota Motor Company. It helps create and maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of a work area by having everything needed close to hand and any clutter removed. 5S is a common starting point for Lean activities in a company by eliminating waste from processes such as: wasted time searching for items; excess inventory; extra motion and extra processing. What is it for? Using the 5S techniques it is a...

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Cybersecurity is a major challenge for businesses to protect computer systems, networks, programs and data from theft or damage. The risk is increasing due to our growing reliance on technology. ERAI is renowned for reporting organisations that supply suspect counterfeit or nonconforming parts. ERAI also provides identity theft alerts on companies whose identities are being used without consent by imposters who seek to benefit from an organization’s hard-earned reputation. The ERAI have added a new alert type to their database to warn subscribers of the cybersecurity risk. Read the ERAI article posted on 14 November 2018. At Component Sense...

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Component Sense are proud sponsors of the F1 in Schools Challenge which encourages students to pursue their interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). The team, Velocity Racing, is made up of girls aged 14 to 15 who are students at Inveralmond Community High School, Livingston, Scotland. Kenny McGee, CEO of Component Sense, shared the team’s passion for the project and has supported the girls as they progressed through the Scottish, UK and F1 World Championships held in September 2018. Component Sense is financially supporting the team and provided assistance with the design and development of the Velocity...