SegueNews
The Segue Manufacturing Services Newsletter
December 2009

Welcome to SegueNews! I am excited to introduce the Segue Manufacturing Services newsletter dedicated to you and to your success. We will share with you the latest trends in advanced manufacturing methods, lean operating principles, value chain management, company news, customer success stories, best practices and more. Our goal for each issue is to provide you with at least one useful piece of information that helps you maximize your operational efficiency, lower your true cost, and optimize cash flow.

In this newsletter I would like to share results from a recent customer survey, which indicated that a strong business continuity plan is a leading decision criterion for choosing a supplier. Manufacturers are reducing their vendor base, entering into single source relationships and having vendors manage their inventory in order to obtain the lowest cost.  Relying on this strategy compels vendors to have a robust business continuity plan in place.  ISO 27002 is a developing standard focused on protecting your critical business processes during business disruptions, security failures, and disasters. There are four key areas to be considered:

• IT and information infrastructure including drawings, BOMs, process procedures, email and record retention,

• telephone and mobile phone strategy,

• building, tooling and special equipment,

• material and supply chain

Segue has a comprehensive business continuity plan in place to comply with the developing standard. For more information on the ISO standard, refer to this straight-forward Wikipedia guide.

As with everything we do at Segue, we value and welcome your opinions and feedback.  After reading SegueNews, I encourage you to share your thoughts and ideas with me at pfrasso@segue-mfg.com.

Happy holidays,

Peter Frasso
President and CEO
 

 Events

Segue has partnered with DemandPoint and will be sponsoring practical training for advanced manufacturing practice and value chain management.  DemandPoint is a world leading consulting and training company that specializes in Demand Flow Technology and Value Chain Optimization.

DFT Principles Workshop

Segue will be sponsoring a Demand Flow® Technology (DFT) Principles workshop in Boston, MA on February 23-26, 2010.  This workshop is specifically designed to enhance your workforce by addressing every organization in your company to reduce manufacturing cycle times, working capital and the cash conversion cycle.  You will learn about customer demand and its relevance in creating a solid foundation of production flow while also working with process variation across flow with optimization and flexibility. The DFT Principles workshop uniquely integrates process and supply chain design with pull replenishment and flexible employee strategies.

By taking the initiative to implement these World Class Manufacturing techniques you are effectively positioning your company to shift from the forecast driven, push-based, MRP approach to a Demand-Driven strategy. To learn more about this workshop and a discounted rate through Segue please click here. 

Demand-Driven Value Chain Workshop

Segue will be sponsoring a workshop for client companies to fully understand that there is a proven, defined mathematically-based methodology that can be applied to their specific environment that will allow them to transition from their current state to a true Demand–Driven Value Chain. Participants will participate in several hands-on exercises that demonstrate the difference between a forecast-driven pushed-based (MRP) supply chain approach vs. a Demand-Driven Pull Replenishment-Based Value Chain strategy. These differences include: 

• Interval planning vs. traditional cycles of SIOP planning

• Replenishment execution vs. lead time management of supply

• Customer integration vs. forecast technologies

To learn more about this workshop and a discounted rate through Segue please click here.

Customer Highlights

“Segue manufacturers from start to finish 400 complex solar cabinets per year for our organization. Within the first year, Segue scaled to support upwards of 20 systems per week, delivered an 80% reduction in inventory, and delivered a 15% cost reduction with more cost cuts on the way.” - Full Story

 Materials Manager
Leading Alternative Energy Company
 

Survey Results