The two metrics KgMS/FTE and Cows/FTE are not effective, meaningful metrics. These two standard Dairy Industry labour efficiency and farm productivity metrics do not reflect our REAL productivity on farm.  They do not compare apples for apples and can lead to disillusioned benchmarking for farms and the industry in relation to labour. These metrics can […]

How productive are we in New Zealand? Our farm’s productivity/ labour hour has increased by 72% over 12 years, an average of 6% per year. New Zealand’s productivity has only increased by between 0.2-0.6% annually over the last 10 years. Why does this matter and how does lean thinking fit in? Farm productivity Many organisations […]

Lean thinking for sheep and beef farmers Last week I ran workshops in Waikato and Northland for sheep and beef farmers thanks to @ Beef and Lamb NZ and @ruraltrust for sheep and beef farmers. Some feedback I received: “what a fantastic workshop”, “I could listen to you all day!” “such a refreshing approach to […]

A TALE OF THE UNLEAN KAIZEN ACTION If there is poor planning, then even a Kaizen action can be unlean! The PDCA Cycle Many many years ago (close to 20!) I was sitting in a pub with a Toyota colleague and we were discussing the PDCA cycle. On a napkin my colleague drew a visual […]

Farm Metrics & ownership Last week during a webinar I ran with sheep and beef farmers, one farmer asked a good question – “How do you display those metrics so they are owned by the team?”. There are multiple things you need to do with the team to develop the metrics, collect the metrics, ensure […]

  This week we met with Halter to discuss the new features on their app for feed management. Ensuring that our animals are fed well is critical. As we are a system 4 we feed mainly fresh pasture but combine this with other supplement feed. Quantity and Quality of feed To get optimum efficiency we need […]

The Cost Conscious Farm To stay profitable in these tough times your farm business MUST focus on cost reduction. When I was working with Toyota, cost reduction was a key focus for every single person in the company. It was a consistent message delivered by senior management at every opportunity. This is an example of […]

Should I implement Lean? Should I implement lean if I am a Contract Milker or Manager? I get this question a lot and my answer is absolutely YES. Lean is helping you and your team so it is going to be you that benefits from implementing the tools. It is you that is in the […]

Reliability, capacity and our farm equipment effectiveness When I first came to farming 10 years ago from manufacturing environments where reliability and OEE are inherent measures and critical to good operational performance, I was astounded that this was not really considered at all. So what is this key metric? OEE stands for overall equipment effectiveness […]