Hall of Fame
Members at the TXM Team Recognised at the 2016 Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Gala Dinner.

2017 is proving to be a year of exceptional growth for TXM and the Best Practice Network. As a result we are actively looking for new people to join our business as Lean Consultants and Best Practice Network facilitators.

In Best Practice Network we are on the lookout for new facilitators in Perth and Sydney. These exciting roles involve leading established and growing networks of some of Australia’s leading manufacturing and industrial companies in NSW and WA. The facilitator supports the membership by organising and running monthly events and promoting the growth of the network. To succeed in this role you need to be a natural networker and people person with strong communication skills. You will have a proven track record in manufacturing and a good understanding of Lean and the issues facing manufacturing in Australia today. Your job will be made much easier if you have a strong reputation and existing network in industry in WA or NSW.  Contact Best Practice Network if you are interested in learning more about becomng a Best Practice Network Facilitator in Sydney or Perth.

At TXM we are on the lookout for experienced Senior Lean Consultants, especially in Melbourne. This is a unique opportunity to make a long term commitment to Australia’s most respected and experienced team of Lean consultants. You will be coached in the unique “TXM Pathway” Lean coaching approach and enjoy regular professional development with your peers. Most importantly you will get to take on a diverse range of challenging Lean improvement projects across a wide range of industries. You will be a mature individual with extensive experience in recognised exemplar Lean organisations. You will have excellent influencing and change management skills and, of course, you will have a deep understanding of Lean developed over many years of applying these skills in real situations. You will place a high level of importance on ethics, professionalism and customer value and be committed to making a lasting positive difference to the companies you work with.  If you are interested, please submit your details on the TXM Careers page.

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

Best Practice Network Members Attending a Lean Supply Chain Event at AstraZeneca in Sydney in February
Best Practice Network Members Attending a Lean Supply Chain Event at AstraZeneca in Sydney in February

May is shaping up as a bumper month for Best Practice Network with no fewer than six events planned right around Australia.

In Queensland, Best Practice Network will be heading to Telwater Boats on 10 May learn about the manufacture of Australia’s favourite “Tinnies”. Telwater manufacture aluminium pleasure boats under the Quintrex, Stacer, Savage And Yellowfin brands at their site on the Gold Coast.

Click Here to Learn More about the Telwater Boats Event on May 10 in the Gold Coast

Then, on 25 May, Best Practice Network Queensland is hosting a completely different event. Holcim are one of Australia’s leading construction materials suppliers, but the event in Brisbane will focus on an office environment. It will focus on how Holcim are integrating their customer service functions in a single international centre and answer the question  – how do companies determine the best operating model and implement with minimal business disruption?

Click here to Learn more about the Holcim Customer Service Event on May 25 in Brisbane

In New South Wales, the Best Practice Network starts May with a trip to Emu Plains on 4 May to learn how BlueScope Steel are creating a more flexible an agile operation focused on maximizing customer value.

Click here to learn more about the BlueScope Steel Emu Plans Agile Manufacturing Event in Sydney on 4 May

On 10 May Best Practice New South Wales is then heading in to North Sydney to learn how Vodafone is successfully deploying a national continuous improvement strategy in a service business. There are lots of lessons here for service businesses as well as the office and service functions within manufacturing businesses.

Click here to learn more about the event at Vodafone North Sydney on 10 May.

Social events form part of the Best Practice Network calendar as well, such as this bike ride in Victoria
Social events form part of the Best Practice Network calendar as well, such as this bike ride in Victoria

Down in Victoria, our Facilitator, Victor Caune, continues to innovate and May is no exception. On May 2nd, top networker, Will Day will host an event about Metrics that Matter. This builds on Will’s highly regarded presentation at the 2017 Operational Excellence Summit in Sydney and promises to provide great insights in to measuring performance in your business.

Click here to learn more about the Metrics that Matter event at Leica BioSystems in Mulgrave on 2 May.

One striking aspect of the Best Practice Network is the number of exceptionally talented female operational leaders we have come across at our member companies. Therefore on 18 May Sugar Australia is hosting an event to showcase the talents and stories of a number of these exceptional women. The Best Practice Network Women in Leadership forum will be facilitated by TXM Senior Consultant, Michelle Brown, and will feature a panel of four women leading operations at the highest level as well as the male perspective from Tim Carter of Sugar Australia.

Click here to learn more about the Women in Leadership Forum at Sugar Australia in Yarraville on 18 May.

As a member of Best Practice Network you and a colleague can go on any event on the Best Practice Network Calendar in any state. So don’t just look out for events in your own state, keep an eye on what is coming up in other states as well. To register for events, just go to the events page on the Best Practice Network Website.

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

business network in Western Australia
Perth will be the home of our new business network in Western Australia

The last two years have been an outstanding success for Best Practice Network. There are now well established and fast growing networks in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane boasting approaching 100 member companies, presenting over 60 events per year and making hundreds of invaluable peer to peer networking connections across industry.

Our major national members have highlighted the need for their Western Australian counterparts to be offered the opportunity to participate in the Best Practice Network. As a result, we are pleased to announce the launch of our new business network in Western Australia.

We already have four confirmed events, the first to be hosted on 14 June by CSR Viridian in Perth. Rick Terpstra will outline the National CSR Manufacturing and Maintenance  WAY – a key part of their business improvement journey over the past 10 years. Rick did an outstanding talk at the Best Practice Network Operational Excellence Summit in Sydney in February and his recent event at CSR Viridian in Melbourne was fully booked with over 40 network members filling the room to learn more about the highly successful CSR Way.

Following the CSR event we have three more events already confirmed:

  • Asahi (formerly Schweppes) Beverages in Welshpool on 25 July where the Asahi team will show off their excellent Lean systems based on Asahi’s unique operational excellence system (OES).
  • Kmart Distribution in Jandakot on 22 August. This is a brand new facility for Kmart and is setting the benchmark for distribution centre operations around Australia. A great chance to see one of Australia’s most efficient supply chains in action.
  • Australian Submarine Corporation in Henderson in September will provide a chance to learn how Lean Thinking has helped dramatically improve the availability of Australia’s fleet of Collins Class Submarines.

We are also pleased to announce that US Lean Expert and specialist on Shop Floor (Gemba) coaching, Michael Bremer will run a workshop in Perth as part of his national Best Practice Network tour in November.

We expect to announce more events over the next few months.

Visit the Best Practice Network website and subscribe to our mailing list to stay up to date.

Best Practice Network provides you and your business an unparallelled opportunity to learn and find better ways to improve. This extends beyond the regular events to creating peer to peer and business to business connections that are of immense value to members. As well, as a member, you will have the opportunity to attend our national Operational Excellence Summit, attend training and see leading international speakers for free or heavily discounted rates.

Learn More About Best Practice Network in Western Australia

 

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

On Time In Full – Tim McLean’s New Book to be Released in April – Pre-order Your Copy Now

TXM Managing Director, Tim McLean’s new book, On Time, In Full: Achieving Perfect Delivery with Lean Thinking in Purchasing, Supply Chain and Production Planning is due to be released by leading publishers Productivity Press during April 2017.

On Time In Full is a practical guide for manufacturers and distributors on how to meet a fundamental requirement – how to deliver to the customer the right product in the right quantity at the right time – every time. While the concept of on-time delivery seems deceptively simple, achieving it can be incredibly complex. This book unravels this complexity and provides simple, practical solutions that will enable every manufacturer to delight customers with reliable, consistent on-time supply at a competitive cost. It covers the end-to-end process of delivering an order to the customer, from understanding customer demand and forecasting, through production scheduling, the supply of materials and delivery of finished goods.

  • On Time, In Full directly addresses the key purpose of every supply chain – how to deliver to the customer what they want, when they want it in the right quantity.
  • On Time, In Full cuts through the theory and takes a pragmatic approach, looking for the best solutions for different supply chain challenges.
  • On Time, In Full  looks beyond the software and the math and examines the human and organisational factors that cause supply chains to fail. including managing supplier and customer relationships.
  • The book is easy to read and talks in clear language about the problems that face supply chain professionals every day – and how to overcome them.
  • The book is structured in clear self-contained chapters enabling the reader to select the topics of most interest them.

Pre-order Your Copy of On Time in Full Now

Tim’s first book, Grow Your Factory, Grow Your Profits: Lean for Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises has sold well over 1000 copies globally and is rapidly becoming essential reading for owners and managers of smaller manufacturing operations. Read some of the reviews of Grow Your Factory, Grow Your Profits:

“Brilliantly thought and composed, highly relevant, this book is a lifesaver. The writer has used easy to understand, jargon-free, simple language. The book is worth its weight in gold for its content and message.”

‘The book is fantastic because it clearly outlines the direction we need to take,  As a business employing 30 odd staff and finding it very difficult to break even, manufacturing a very wide range of products lean is essential to us to reduce rework, to become efficient and survive.”

“As a seasoned senior manager in manufacturing, I found Tim’s book a refreshing stand-out in a myriad of academic management literature to give the manufacturer a quick overview of the important things to improve his/her business performance. I highly recommend this book for anyone that wants to compete in manufacturing in the 21′ st Century.”

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

TXM Austech 2017
The TXM stand at Austech 2015

TXM Lean Solutions is pleased to be exhibiting at Stand 503 at Austech 2017 in the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre between 9 – 12 May. Austech is Australia’s Premier Advanced Manufacturing and Machine Tool Exhibition. Austech is the only show specifically targeted at the metalworking, machine tool and ancillary market held in Australia. This year Austech will be run alongside National Manufacturing week, providing a huge range of things for manufacturing professionals to see and do.

“TXM has featured at Austech for over seven years. The relationships we have built at the show over this time have helped us build a great understanding of advanced manufacturing, metal working and machine tool manufacture, which remains one of our core business sectors”, said Tim McLean, Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions.

This year TXM has taken a larger stand reflecting our growing national and global presence. The stand will also provide an opportunity to highlight TXM’s business networking venture, Best Practice Network. Leading advanced technology companies like ANCA, Form 2000 Sheetmetal, Resmed, Refuel Engineering, Hawker Pacific, Leica Biosystems and Toyota  are already benefiting the unique learning and networking opportunities provided by Best Practice Network.

Tim McLean, Director, TXM Lean Solutions said that he is looking forward to exhibiting among innovative industries and being in a trade show that demonstrates the latest developments in the Manufacturing and Machine Tool Sector. He hopes to contribute TXM’s considerable manufacturing experience to assisting advanced manufacturers to improve their operational performance through the application of Lean Manufacturing.

TXM are Australia’s leading Lean Consultants with offices around Australia and globally. Apart from working with iconic Global and Australian companies, TXM has assisted many small and medium sized manufacturers (SMEs) to reduce lead time, increase productivity, reduce waste, improve customer service, increase flexibility and reorganize their factory layouts.

“TXM’s unique approach with SMEs has been particularly effective in the the advanced manufacturing sector, where we have been able to increase productivity by over 25% and reduce lead time by more than 50% in businesses we have worked with”, said McLean. “Most importantly, TXM is very proud to have helped unleash the potential of these businesses enabling them to innovate and grow”.

Be one of the first to obtain at the stand Tim McLean’s New Book for 2017 On Time-In Full – Achieving Perfect Delivery with Lean Thinking in Purchasing, Supply Chain and Production Planning which will be published in time for Austech 2017

Tim McLean’s earlier popular publication, “Grow Your Factory, Grow Your Profits: Lean for Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises” will also feature on the TXM Stand.

TXM Lean Solutions is looking forward to seeing you at its exhibition stand # 503 at Austech 2017.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT AUSTECH 2017

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

2017 promises to be a milestone year for TXM’s business networking venture, Best Practice Network. The network directors in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane already have over 60 events scheduled and national membership is already over 70 major companies.

In February alone the network has five major events including:

Attendees at the Best Practice Network Two Day Value Stream Mapping Workshop at Burra Foods in July 2016. This event was facilitated by TXM Consulting Director Anthony Clyne and Senior Consultant, Justin Tao. Members attended free of charge.
Attendees at the Best Practice Network Two Day Value Stream Mapping Workshop at Burra Foods in July 2016. This event was facilitated by TXM Consulting Director Anthony Clyne and Senior Consultant, Justin Tao. Members attended free of charge.

The summit is shaping up to be an outstanding event with over 100 confirmed attendees and presentations from some of Australia’s most respected Lean and Operational leaders.

All of these events, including the summit, are free to Best Practice Network members, who just pay a single annual membership that enables their company to attend any event in any state. Over 90% of members have signed up for a second or third year. Our recent member survey found that 98% of members would recommend Best Practice Network to a friend or colleague. Based on this, it is clear that Best Practice Network is delivering fantastic value for members.

Members also benefit from peer to peer connections, the ability to find answers to almost any business question from the Best Practice Network and TXM networks, a growing knowledge base on the Best Practice Network Website and the Best Practice Network LinkedIn Group, which is open to non-members as well.

TXM’s business networking venture, Best Practice Network

However there is much more to come. In 2017, following on the success of the visit by Cheryl Jekiel in 2016, we are currently planning to invite more international speakers to provide members with access to world leading thinking on Lean and Operational Excellence. We also have our first confirmed event in Western Australia at CSR Viridian on June 14th and will be announcing several more over the next few weeks. We expect to have a fully fledged network running in Perth by the end of 2017. Increasingly major companies such as Parmalat, CSR and Asahi Beverages are seeing the benefits of connecting to Best Practice Network nationally and so our WA network will further enhance our national offering.

Click This Link to Contact Best Practice Network and Learn How Your Business Can Benefit from Networking.

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

Auspack LogoTXM Lean Solutions is pleased to be taking part in AUSPACK 2017, Australia’s largest exhibition for the processing and packaging industry.

AUSPACK 2017 will be held at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park between 7 – 10 March and TXM will be at Stand 591

TXM Lean Solutions Exhibition Stand will showcase our considerable experience in implementing Lean in process manufacturing. This experience encompasses the food, beverage, chemicals, coatings, packaging and pharmaceutical sectors.

The stand will also provide an opportunity to highlight TXM’s business networking venture, Best Practice Network, to the FMCG and Packaging Industries. Leading companies like Murray Goulburn, Wrigley, AstraZeneca, Sugar Australia, and Ontex are already benefitting the unique learning and networking opportunities provided by Best Practice Network.

Tim McLean, Director, TXM Lean Solutions said that he is looking forward to exhibiting amongst innovative companies in the FMCG and packaging industries. He hopes to contribute TXM’s considerable manufacturing experience to assisting FMCG manufacturers to improve their operational performance through the application of Lean Manufacturing. TXM are Australia’s leading Lean Consultants with offices around Australia and globally. Apart from working with iconic Global and Australian companies,

TXM has assisted many small and medium sized manufacturers (SMEs) to increase productivity, reduce waste, improve customer service, increase flexibility and reorganise their factory layouts. “TXM’s unique approach with SMEs has been particularly effective in the food and beverage industry, where we have been able to increase productivity by over 25% and reduce waste by more than 50% in businesses we have worked with”, said McLean. “Most importantly, TXM is very proud to have helped unleash the potential of these businesses enabling them to innovate and grow”.

Tim McLean’s highly regarded book, “Grow Your Factory, Grow Your Profits: Lean for Small and Medium Sized Manufacturing Enterprises” will feature on the TXM Stand

TXM Lean Solutions is looking forward to seeing you at its exhibition stand #591 at AUSPACK 2017.

Find Out More about Auspack

 

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

The challenges of designing a supply chain that delivers on time in full every time is the focus of Tim McLean's new book
The challenges of designing a supply chain that delivers on time in full every time is the focus of Tim McLean’s new book

On Time-In Full – Achieving Perfect Delivery with Lean Thinking in Purchasing, Supply Chain and Production Planning is the title of the latest book from  Tim McLean, Managing Director, TXM Lean Solutions.

“The title pretty much explains the theme of the book,” says Tim McLean. “It seems like such a simple concept. Your customers place an order and you deliver to them what they need when they need it. However, for a large proportion of businesses, simply delivering products on time in full every day remains a major challenge”.

Tim has spent decades in factories and warehouses analyzing why supply chains fail to deliver and the steps needed to achieve reliable on time in full delivery. He has distilled this experience into an easy to follow step by step guide to building a high performing Lean supply chain.  The book covers key topics such as forecasting, inventory management, purchasing, production scheduling, ERP systems, managing international supply chains and design distribution networks for both manufacturing and distribution businesses. It is designed as a complete end to end guide to improving your business’ delivery performance.

On Time-In Full is a Productivity Press publication which will be available in April 2017.

Grow Your Factory Grow Your Business

Tim McLean is also the author of “Grow Your Business-Grow Your Profits: Lean for Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises” published by Productivity Press, 2014.

 

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

Operational Excellence Summit
TXM Director Ron Spiteri (centre) facilitating a group discussion at the 2015 Operational Excellence Summit

Following on from the success of the 2015 Operational Excellence Summit in Melbourne, TXM and Best Practice Network are proud to announce our second Operational Excellence Summit to be held at the Atura Hotel in Blacktown, Sydney on February 22nd, 2017.

Register for the Best Practice Network 2017 Operational Excellence Summit before 16 December 2016 and go in the Draw to Win a fully professional DJI Phantom 3 Drone worth over $1200

The 2017 summit will feature eight outstanding keynote presentations from some of Australia’s most respected industrial business leaders including:

  • Professor Roy Green – UTS Business School.
  • Rick Terpstra – National Program Manager – CSR Way.
  • Wayne Angus – National Operations Manager – Asahi Beverages
  • Will Day – Director Straining Instruments – Leica Biosystems

The day will also include structured opportunities to network and discuss the key topics and will finish with an interactive Q&A session with the keynotes.

Some of the comments from the 2015 Summit were:

The 2105 Best Practice Network National Summit was a really good opportunity for me to connect with other industry practitioners and share war stories (both good and bad) of implementing process improvement initiatives across the diverse manufacturing environments that we work in”

Joe Ovenden – Lean Manager ANZ – PPG Industries

I found the summit inspiring and a credit that the Best Practice Network team can assemble such a large group of passionate “manufacturing minds” in the one room. The environment was stimulating and speaking on behalf of my Ontex Team, we came away very motivated indeed with a number of key business improvement items.

Rod Evans – General Manager – Ontex Australia

Register Now for the Best Practice Network Operational Excellence Summit 2017

 

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.

Cheryl Jekiel
Cheryl Jekiel

Making the most of all your peoples’ abilities, remains one of the largest opportunities to achieve better profitability, quality and service levels. This can be critical to your organisation’s survival and growth.  TXM and Best Practice Network are proud to bring Keynote speaker and leading US Lean Human Resources expert, Cheryl Jekiel to Australia for the first time to run a series of national innovative HR workshops. Cheryl will provide you with a range of strategies, methods and techniques for improving the contribution of your Human Resources, the implementation of an effective work culture and the development of your lean leaders.

Workshop Details and Registration
BRISBANE 22 August 2016 – Re-thinking HR for Your Operational Excellence and Culture Change
SYDNEY 23 August 2016 – Re-thinking HR for Your Operational Excellence and Culture Change
MELBOURNE 24 August 2016 – Re-thinking HR for Your Operational Excellence and Culture Change
MELBOURNE 26 August 2016 – Strategies and Insights for Developing Your Lean Leaders

Our facilitator Cheryl Jekiel, brings a tremendous passion for continuous improvement in her commitment to building Lean HR as a recognised field of work. Ms. Jekiel has over 20 years of manufacturing experience. Previously, Ms. Jekiel worked for a Chicago food manufacturer as the director of Human Resources and completed her employment by serving for five years as the Chief Operating Officer.
Ms. Jekiel has developed an expertise in Lean Manufacturing with a particular focus on Lean Cultures. Ms. Jekiel has made countless significant improvements in reducing operating costs and leveraging a Lean Culture to obtain new business. Her Lean experience has been greatly enhanced with her active involvement with the Association of Manufacturing Excellence (AME), which has included board roles for the National board as well as Regional Midwest Board in the USA.

Timothy McLean

Author: Timothy McLean

Timothy McLean is the Managing Director of TXM Lean Solutions and is an author of Lean books.