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Shipping
Now!
Two
new video education courses featuring Chris Gray:
An
Overview of Lean Manufacturing Concepts
Performance
Measurement and Assessment
For
a preview of the new Lean session, click here, and then
click "Launch" on the start page.
Books
Sales
& Operations Planning Best Practices
Sales
and Operations Planning Standard System with Reference Software
Lean
Standard System with Reference Software
The
Right Choice
Courseware
Self-administered
Education: Your instructors, our material
S&OP
Courseware (Instructor's Guide, Visuals)
Master
Scheduling Courseware (Instructor's Guide, Visuals)
Video Education Material
Advanced
Master Production Scheduling - Dealing With Products and Options -
shipping now.

If
you have products made from options (features and options, modules,
etc.) and you want to implement the most effective master scheduling
techniques- then this is the course for you.
Available on data DVD, use it to train your master schedulers, to
supplement you other internal training programs, and as refresher
education for your key people.
This
four hour course contains all the important concepts you need for
implementing and operating a "two level
master scheduling" process.
Handbook
S&OP
Handbook by John Civerolo and Don Rice
Tools and techniques to simplify the implementation or
improvement of a Sales & Operations Planning process in your company.
Samples, examples, specific step-by-step instructions, and internal audit
data are provided to help your company start or improve your S&OP
process.
S&OP Checklist: What
you need to do to organize and implement for a successful S&OP
process in your company. Two parts - how to
implement, and what to
implement. This checklist outlines my basic approach to
implementing sales and operations planning. (FREE)
Have
you seen my 2006 book on S&OP best practices? Sales
and Operations Planning - Best Practices from Chris Gray and John Dougherty.

Now
available in hardcover and paperback.
For
more information or to order
S&OP Best Practices online. Special pricing when
ordered with Sales and Operations Planning Standard
System.
You'll
benefit from this book if you are planning to implement or upgrade
S&OP in your own company.
Books
by Chris Gray
The Right Choice
The
MRP II Standard System (with Darryl Landvater)
The
MRP II Standard System Workbook (with Darryl Landvater)
Sales
and Operations Planning - Best Practices (with John Dougherty)
Sales
and Operations Planning Standard System
The
Right Choice
Lean
Standard System
Classes
Consulting
Software
Research/Software Selection
Assessment/Audits/Class
A Certification
Recommended
Books
Lean
Books
Articles
S&OP
Reference Software
Affiliates
Software
Supplier Lists
Lean
Reference Software
Books
by Chris Gray
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I'm Chris Gray, and my company is Gray Research.
I help manufacturing companies who are frustrated with their manufacturing
and customer service performance - who want to get better on-time delivery
performance with less inventory, who want to improve teamwork and
communication across their organization, who want to lower their costs and
their cost structure by managing their resources more effectively, who
want to make more money today but not at the expense of the future - and
who want to implement changes so that the improvement is
institutionalized, not a one-time event!
I'm proud to say that I've
been helping companies make their manufacturing operations leaner and
better coordinated for the better part of three decades.
I help companies implement and operate more
effective demand driven supply networks using resource planning (better sales forecasting and demand management,
improved planning, capacity management, and financial projections) and lean
manufacturing techniques (flow and pull in
the plant and with suppliers). In many cases,
the improvements that my clients are able to make require no new software at
all.
The Best Performance Requires Both Resource Planning and Lean Execution
I believe that resource planning and lean manufacturing systems work best when they work
together. They do different - and very necessary - things, and you need them both.
Resource planning is a set of forward planning tools to help people balance future
demand and supply, to predict capacity problems with enough time to do something about them, to create a load leveled
master schedule, and to project supplier requirements well in advance. Some of these planning tools - aggregate sales
and operations planning, rough cut capacity planning, supplier scheduling logic - do this better than any alternative.
Lean manufacturing's objective is to create the physical environment that will allow
material to flow - from raw material to finished product to the customer. In doing this, Lean eliminates waste and
wasteful practices, reduces costs and cuts lead times - while synchronizing all production and purchasing activities.
Its primary components are standard work, visual management, heijunka (leveling), takt time, one-piece flow,
EPE I, and the pull (kanban) system.
Lean is strong on workplace management; resource
planning is strong on decision-making
for the future. Lean requires workplace and value-stream transformation; resource
planning can deal with the status
quo. Lean scheduling and pull systems cannot work unless certain important prerequisites are met;
resource planning
will help you deal with nearly any kind of manufacturing environment - one of a kind handcrafted production,
traditional mass or batch production, or one-piece lean flow - as you make the physical transformation necessary to
achieve maximum flow and maximum results.
Click here
for a summary of how to use S&OP and Lean together.
Getting the results you want from your planning and scheduling systems
I can help you understand whether your
existing systems can give you the results you want. You may know of me from
some of the work I've done
in the area of manufacturing software - it's no exaggeration to say that
I've helped more people resolve manufacturing software issues than any
other individual in the field. Along with Darryl Landvater, I
defined the standards for resource planning software: The MRPII
Standard System. I continue to consult and do workshops for
management teams trying to understand what kinds of software functionality
is required to support both planning and lean execution. If your
organization needs help in understanding what functions are key in
planning and execution software and which are not important at all, you
may need my help.
I've also rolled up my sleeves and worked
with hundreds of management teams over the last 3
decades - helping them improve communications between manufacturing,
marketing, and finance; create teamwork across the entire
organization; drive down inventory and increase customer service;
improve supplier delivery performance; and slash lead-times across the
value-stream - by helping them implement new system solutions.
I'm an authority on sales and operations
planning and resource planning; on rough cut capacity planning, master scheduling and sales forecasting;
on the management challenges of integrating effective planning
processes with pull systems for execution; as well as the software requirements for both
resource planning and lean manufacturing (kanban/demand pull/Toyota Production System).
I do sales and operations planning
(S&OP) workshops and seminars; resource planning and lean manufacturing education seminars and workshops;
sales and operations planning consulting;
consulting on resource planning (S&OP, forecasting and demand
management, master scheduling) and lean manufacturing (lean execution systems like the kanban
component of the Toyota Production System); performance assessment and Class A Certification;
sales
and operations planning software; and software selection services to companies trying to
create a lean enterprise.
If you are interested
in improved performance and making more money, and you want maximum
performance from your enterprise and plant level execution systems, I'd like to
work with you.
Review the materials
here, and then give me a call or send me an email:
1 603 778-9211,
cgr...@grayresearch.com
Having advice from someone who's been
successful is the best insurance that you are on the right track.
About this web
site:
This web site provides
products, services and information to help anyone who wants to:
Make
things better, faster, and at lower cost.
Hold
less inventory.
Give
better customer service.
Make
more money.
Have
fewer surprises.
Effective planning and
lean execution are a reality for companies around the world who are trying to implement demand driven supply
networks.
This is where you can get basic information about how to make them
reality in your operations.
If you need specific
help - briefing your executive management, training your
people in the most recent concepts in manufacturing management, implementing
new planning or pull execution systems, selecting planning
or lean execution software that's appropriate for your processes - call me. I can help you get the results that you want.
1 603 778-9211
cgr...@grayresearch.com
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New
Books
My
latest book Lean Standard System (with reference software), shown
above, is the second in a series. If you are wondering how software
can support Lean Manufacturing, you need this book.
Read a description of the book and
comments from some of its early
reviewers.
You'll
benefit from this book if you are evaluating commercial lean software or
writing/enhancing your own.
For
more information or to order
Lean Standard System on-line.

The
Right Choice (my 1987 book on software evaluation) now revised
and updated.
You'll
benefit from this book if you are evaluating and selecting manufacturing
or supply chain application software.
For
more information or to order The Right Choice on-line.
Available
Now
My
2007 book Sales and Operations Planning
Standard System (with reference software). Special
pricing when ordered with Sales & Operations Planning Best
Practices.
You'll
benefit from this book if you are evaluating commercial S&OP
software or writing/enhancing your own.
For
more information or to order
S&OP Standard System on-line.

Gray
Research is proud to be associated with:

Partners
for Excellence
and
In North America and Europe

World-Wide
Excellence Partners
including
Bill Belt Excellence
Don Rice Company
Jack
Gips, Inc.
Bill
Kerber
Scannell
& Wight T
F Wallace & Company
and In
Australia Phil Heenan 1 603 778-9211 cgr...@grayresearch.com
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