Workshops

Do you find that the idea of going back to school and taking a course for the next 10 weeks makes you break out in a sweat?  Even if it’s only one night a week how do you fit it into your schedule?  Between work and family there just isn’t any time left over for you but you know that taking courses are important both to your career and for your personal improvement. 

What do you do? 

APICS – Hamilton Chapter is offering a new series of half day seminars at both Mohawk and Sheridan College (Oakville).  The intent of these seminars is to provide an alternative to the standard course structure by enabling people to take short intensive courses on specific topics as time and interest allows.  This will allow people to take advantage of whichever format best fits their current situation.  For those people looking for certification or a comprehensive education in the APICS Body of Knowledge there is still the full course structure traditionally offered at the colleges.  For those people looking for specific information or an intensive look at a topic there will now be the new seminars available as well.  Specifically there are 4 seminars that will be available on Saturday mornings in both the Winter and the Spring term at each of the colleges.  Each of these seminars will run from 9 AM to 1 PM.  The proposed seminar schedule is :

If you are interested in any of these seminars please refer to the appropriate college calendar and follow the instructions there on how to sign up for these offerings. 

Also, as with any other material we offer, any of these seminars can be presented to your entire organization right at your business.  If you are interested in this option please contact the Director of Education at education@apicshamilton.org.

I look forward to seeing you soon at one of our educational offerings or at a Professional Development Meeting (see our website www.apicshamilton.org for information on the next PDM).  Also, please feel free to forward any questions or suggestions for our educational program.  We are there to serve you, our members, and if we are not providing what you need or want, we need to be to hear about it.

Thank for your time and attention.

Ed White CPIM CIRM

Director of Education

APICS – Hamilton Chapter

Basics of Inventory Management (4 hours)

To most organizations inventory is one of the more visible and tangible aspects of doing business.  Beginning with the management of suppliers delivering raw materials to goods in various levels of completion in the production process and management and delivery of finished goods in the distributions channel, each type represents money tied up until the inventory becomes purchased products.  This workshop provides a broad overview of basic concepts and good inventory management strategies.

Cycle Counting (4 hours)

In this workshop, the participants will learn how to implement or improve a cycle counting program and what the real purpose of cycle counting is: finding and fixing the causes of inventory errors.  Also included are several methods for selecting items to count, using correct accounting techniques, and reconciling any outstanding transactions.  In addition, the participant will learn various reporting methods to illustrate the results of the cycle counting program to employees and management.

Distribution Inventory Management (4 hours)

This workshop focuses on the distribution network model and its objectives, activities, and distribution inventory management decisions and includes interactive exercises to present the fundamental concepts associated with the distribution environment.  It is appropriate for management, sales, purchasing, forecasting, materials management, operations personnel, shipping/receiving, and any other supply chain function tangent to the distribution activity.

Material Requirements Planning and Bills of Material (4 hours)

To effectively use a Material Requirements Planning (MRP) system, it is essential to understand how bills of material (BOMs) are structured and how MRP calculates requirements.  This course includes instruction and exercises so students can practice these important concepts.  From structuring simple BOMs to creating phantom bills, modular bills, and super bills, the participant will learn many ways to use BOMs, how to calculate material requirements, and some common action/exception messages that MRP systems frequently include.

Physical Inventory (4 hours)

This workshop will discuss what works and what doesn't as the participant learns the essential preparation steps and activities to perform in advance.  These activities include everything from cleanup and sorting to working with auditors.  The best physical inventories require the best, most thorough, preparation.  The participant will also learn how to keep the physical inventory under control once it starts.  From tracking of tags to weigh scales and facility maps to handling recounts, this course guides the way.

Introduction to Lean Manufacturing (8 hours)

This is an eight­-hour workshop on the procedures and tools companies use to identify and eliminate waste to become lean.  This workshop, containing 205 slides, covers ten major topics and includes two exercises and a group case study.

Lean Mapping (4 hours)

This four-hour workshop provides seven basic tools for mapping a value stream.  It gives a framework and provides practical step-by-step guidance to recognizing value streams and developing current state maps, future state maps, and the action plan.

5 S (4 hours)

The 5 S method detailed in this four-hour workshop provides a foundation for delivering high-quality products and services in the right quantity at the right time to satisfy customer needs.  The 5 S method is a perfect starting point for companies to begin their journey toward lean as well as an intermediate step to emphasize the value of workplace organization and process discipline.

Process Improvement and Quality in Lean Manufacturing (4 hours)

Improvement and quality are at the heart of lean.  This four-hour workshop discusses the PDCA and DMAIC (six sigma) frameworks and the concepts of kaizen, root cause problem solving, the visual factory, the seven tools of quality, and blitz approaches.  An improvement framework and sustainability of improvement are discussed.

Lean Scheduling (4 hours)

This four-hour workshop covers the essential tools for lean scheduling.  After discussing the relationships with MRP II, APS, and factory physics, the workshop describes six building blocks and eight lean scheduling methods including KanBan, heijunka, and mixed-model production.

Standard Work (4 hours)

This four-hour workshop documents the steps of implementing standard work—a tool to determine maximum performance with minimum waste through the best combination of operator and machine.  Standard work helps eliminate variability from the process, functions as a diagnostic device, and exposes problems to facilitate problem solving.

Lean Teams, Lean Design, and Accounting (4 hours)

This four-hour workshop examines the correlation between teams, design, and accounting in lean manufacturing.  Lean team types, leadership skills, and anchor draggers are discussed.  Lean design covers concurrent design, value engineering, QFD, and FMEA.

Constraints Management Overview (4 hours)      

This workshop covers the basics of constraints management including the business system and various types of transformation processes, the goal of business systems, and the types of constraints.

Performance Measures (4 hours)

Participants learn about the challenges of using traditional performance measures.  Cost-world measures of managerial accounting versus the throughput-world measures of theory of constraints are illustrated through the evaporating cloud technique of TOC thinking processes.

Critical Chain Project Management (4 hours)

This workshop introduces participants to the basics of managing single projects using constraints management.  A four-step process of scheduling a project using critical chain scheduling is illustrated and compared to traditional project management processes.

Production Management (4 hours)

The production paradigm of constraints management is discussed.  Simple games comparing balanced capacity and constraint-based capacity production environments are used to illustrate the impact of statistical fluctuation and dependent events on line throughput.  The drum-buffer-rope scheduling methodology is illustrated.

Supply Chain Management (4 hours)

         The basics of managing a supply chain using constraints management are detailed.  Topics include identifying the constraints of a supply chain, supply chain performance and flow concepts, and the core problems and basic solutions for different links in a supply chain.

Thinking Processes (4 hours)     

Participants are introduced to the theory of constraints thinking processes using powerful logic tools that provide answers to three basic questions facing managers today—what to change, what to change to, and how to create the change without creating resistance.