Over the years, Plan B team members have been involved in every popular manufacturing improvement programme - with varying degrees of success.

When these programs did not deliver all the expected results, it was because they were introduced either as a “flavour of the month” with no serious management commitment or with no underlying business reason for doing so.

There is an army of professionals pushing various flavours of shop floor best practices; unfortunately, these are long-haul programs and adopting them without considering the how they link with financial performance and competitiveness often leads to disappointment.