How to Choose Organic Beauty Products ?

The mean of word 'organic' is that the product has been made from something natural or that was once alive; if it has been refined from a plant or animal source, a substance is organic. Is it enough to guarantee that all thing are good ? the answer is not enough, after all there are many plants that are poisonous. It is difficult to say what to look for in organic beauty products, but here are three things you should avoid. 1. Faith in Standards Surprisingly, there are no FDA standards for beauty products, so don't put your faith in standards and government regulation. There are, however, some products which have obtained USDA certification. These have been able to prove that over 95% of ingredients have been organically grown, hence the addition of non organic chemicals is minimal. 2. Irritant Chemicals Many cosmetics and beauty products have a major ingredient which is derived from one or more plants, but most products need something more, an additive to create the right texture, to extend the shelf life, or even just to make the product bubble or foam. Sadly that 'something more' often comes in the form of a chemical irritant. Sodium Lauryl sulphate (SLS) is a common ingredient in many beauty products, it is an ester of sulphuric acid and is also known as sulfuric acid monododecyl ester sodium salt. The American College of Toxicology(ACT) has shown that as little as 0.5% of this can cause irritation, yet some products (often soaps) contain as much as 30%, which the ACT has described as 'highly irritating and dangerous'. There is another form of the chemical, more commonly used in cosmetics, which is slightly less irritating: Sodium Laureth Sulfate is often abbreviated to SLES. Before you buy a product, check the percentage of SLS and SLES. In the 1980's these chemicals were studied to see if their long term use could cause health problems. Some were found to penetrate the skin, leaving deposits in the liver, lungs, heart and brain. Consumers were concerned, and in answer to those concerns, and a desire to produce more environmentally friendly products, the organic beauty products market was born. Years later and despite the studies, these chemicals are still used in many beauty products. 3. Misleading labels Organic beauty products are quite easy to make at home, yet their shelf life may be short, and they may have to stored in a refrigerator, which means they have a low convenience factor. For most of us, the DIY approach is not an option, so, when we go shopping for a commercially available organic product, we have to know what to look for, and sadly the label means very little. The product may be labeled 'organic', or even SLS free, but this is no guarantee. As consumers, all we can do to avoid misleading labels s is check the product's list of ingredients. Most companies with genuine 'organic' credentials want you to know what goes into their products, so read the list. If it includes a lot of long chemical sounding names, the product may not be as organic as the label indicates.
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Benefits of Using Organic Lotion

What do you know about organic lotion? There are different types of skin sensitivity that makes the decision to choose any one is very difficult. just any type of lotion or any other skin product without causing any skin irritation. One of the best alternatives for people suffering from skin sensitivity is to try using organic lotion which has mild ingredients that's known to cause less or even no skin irritation at all. It's proven to be a lot safer to use than any other known beauty products that's commercially manufactured. One form of disease that can cause very frustrating adverse skin reactions is Coeliac Disease. It may not be a commonly talked about disease, but for those people who experience it has great difficulty in purchasing cosmetic products that wouldn't cause any adverse reactions. What primarily happens to people with Coeliac disease is experiencing allergic reactions with certain products that contain gluten. Gluten is primarily identified in products with rye, barley, wheat, and oats. Using organic skin products that is gluten free may be a viable solution. Sadly there are a lot of products, including cosmetics ones, that contain gluten, which can become harmful or even fatal in small amounts. But with organic based products, and organic lotion it's assured that its gluten free and safe to those who have a high degree of skin sensitivity, like people with Coeliac disease. There many different types of organic lotion existing in the market today, which makes it more available to a lot of consumers today. There are a lot of benefits that can be achieved in using organic products, such as lotions. It's not just mild to the skin but some also have therapeutic effects which can help in healing various skin conditions. Sunburn, various wounds, and skin irritations are just some skin conditions which can be remedied with organic lotion. It's not only helpful in treating skin problems, but organic lotion also has moisturizing effects on your skin to keep it hydrated. Organic lotion is safe for people of any age. Even children can use it daily without worries of damaging the skin. It has no identified strong or toxic components, which makes it safe for anyone to use, so you don't have to be anxious about applying too much on your skin since it is completely safe. Sometimes it's even preferred by people with a skin condition because of its hypoalergenic properties and its Beneficial effects on their skin. For those people having sensitive skin and are dealing with acne problems, it's really difficult to settle for a product that can deal with both. There is a number of acne fighting products that have ingredients that are too strong for sensitive skin, which sometimes causes skin irritation. When Worse comes to worst, the simple acne problem can developed into a major skin problem that needs serious medical attention. That's why it's safer to try using natural organic skin care and organic lotion treatments to see if it can provide you with excellent results.
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How To Choos A Healthy Pet Food ?

There are so many different brands, all shapes and sizes of pet food to choose from and pet owners are provided with very little information to base your decisions on (other than advertising) - it can get so confusing! Well, buckle your seatbelt depending on how much you know of the pet food industry, this could be a bumpy ride! You are about to learn seven secrets - well kept secrets - of pet food. Sit back, brace yourself, and keep reading. Baneful says it's 'Premium Dog Food for a Happy, Healthy Dog' and sells for around $18.00 for a 31 lb. bag, Science Diet "promises" 'precisely balanced nutrition through continuous research and the highest quality food backed by your Vets endorsement' and sells for around $21.00 for only a 20 lb bag. Then there are numerous pet foods that make the very same statements - 'Premium Dog Food, Highest Quality' - that sell for $30.00 or more for a 20 lb bag. And the same holds true for cat owners...Do you choose Whiskeys that states 'Everything we do is about making cats happy!' or do you choose one of those high end cat foods that make the very same claim of a happy, healthy cat but cost 3 times as much? Secret #1... All pet foods use descriptive words like choice and premium, though few of them actually use premium or choice ingredients in their food. The 'secret' is that per the rules of the pet food industry, no pet food can make any claims or references on their label or advertising as to the quality or grade of ingredients. You see, the word 'premium' when it's related to pet food DOES NOT mean that the ingredients in the food are premium. With pet foods, premium does not (can not) describe the food nor does it (can it) describe the quality of the food. It is a marketing term and that is all. Per the pet food industries own rules and regulations, "There are no references to ingredient quality or grade" (regulation PF5 d 3). So, words like premium, or choice, or quality are just marketing or sales terms. They should not be interpreted as terms describing the quality of the food. Now why wouldn't a pet food label be allowed to tell a prospective customer the quality of their ingredients? Doesn't a pet owner deserve to know what they are buying? This leads me to the next secret... Secret#2... If I can compare 'people' food to pet food for just a second, we all know there are different qualities of people food. There is White Castle (I'm guilty here, I love the little guys!) and there is Outback Steak House (another favorite). Both restaurants serve meat and potatoes. At White Castle for under $3.00 you can get a couple of hamburgers and an order of fries. While at Outback you can get a steak and baked potato for around $16.00. Both serve beef and potato - yet you already realize that there are huge nutritional differences between a fast food hamburger and a steak...right? The problem in the pet food industry - is that most pet owners don't think in the same terms when it comes to pet food. They don't think in terms that there are fast food types of pet foods and there are sit down restaurant more nutritious types of pet foods. In fact, several years ago a young man tried this very experiment with his own diet - eating nothing but fast food for 30 days. In just one month of eating fast food three meals a day, he gained a great deal of weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels sky-rocketed. Now, imagine your pet eating this type of food its' entire lifetime. OK, so back to our two meals...if a chemical analysis of your meal at White Castle was compared to a chemical analysis of your meal at Outback - both would analyze with a percentage of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Regardless whether you consider a steak at Outback a higher quality of protein than the burger - it would still analyze as protein. The analysis doesn't measure quality of protein. So here is the secret...All pet foods come with a Guaranteed Analysis stating the percentage of protein, fat, fiber and moisture in the food. The REAL secret lies in the quality of the percentages of protein, fat, and so on. In a chemical analysis of a pet food - chicken feet would analyze as protein, although granted it provides very little nutrition. And as well, a cow that was euthanized (put to sleep) because of a disease that made it unfit for human consumption - would analyze as protein although that could be considered dangerous for consumption. Both of those things - chicken feet and a euthanized cow - are allowable ingredients and commonly used in pet food. You see the secret within the pet food industry is manufacturers have a WIDE OPEN door to where they obtain their ingredients. The only strict rule they must follow is an adult dog food must analyze with 18% protein and an adult cat food must analyze with 26% protein. Sources to acquire those particular percentages range from a 'human grade' meat, to chicken feet, to euthanized animals, to grain proteins, to even man made chemical proteins and many variations in between. Pet food labels do not have to tell - are not allowed to tell - the sources they use to obtain that required 18% or 26% protein. And to make matters worse...quality minded pet food manufacturers - the companies that use 100% human grade ingredients - are not allowed to tell customers or potential customers that their products are quality, human grade ingredients. So how can you know if your pet's food uses chicken feet or euthanized cows or if it contains human grade ingredients? Secret #3... If the words premium and choice mean basically nothing with regards to the quality of pet food, and if some pet foods use chicken feet and euthanized animals in their food - how can a pet owner know what they are getting in their pets' food? This big secret is found in ingredient definitions. Unlike 'people' food where you can pretty much look at the food to determine the quality, pet food is far different. All 'people' food must meet particular USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) guidelines. The same is not true for pet food. Chicken feet and euthanized cows are NOT allowed in people food for obvious reasons - they have no nutritional value or they could be dangerous to consume. The same is NOT true for pet food. The only way to know if those chicken feet or euthanized cows are in your pet's food is to know what ingredients they can be used in. The common pet food ingredient 'Meat and Bone Meal' is basically a combination of many different discarded left-overs from the human food industry. Components of 'meat and bone meal' can be anything from cow heads, stomachs, and intestines, to (horrifying but true) euthanized animals including cows, horses and dogs and cats from veterinarian offices, animal shelters, and farms. And along with those euthanized animals the pet food also contains the drug pentabarbitol that was used to euthanize the animal. 'Meat and bone meal' can also contain left-over restaurant grease, and diseased (including cancerous) meat tissues cut away from slaughtered animals. In other words, this commonly used ingredient is a mix of highly inferior and potentially dangerous left-overs from the human food industry. The pet food ingredient 'Meat By-Product' or 'Meat By-Product Meal' is pretty much the same thing as 'meat and bone meal'. It is a highly inferior pet food ingredient containing literally who-knows-what. Another similar ingredient to the above is 'Animal Digest'. As to the chicken feet I mentioned earlier - this item can be found in the ingredients 'Chicken By-Product' or 'Poultry By-Product' or 'Chicken By-Product Meal' or 'Poultry By-Product Meal'. Any left-overs in the chicken or poultry division - including but not limited to chicken feet, skin including some feathers, chicken or poultry heads, and intestines are found in these ingredients. It does NOT matter as to the health of the bird - sick, healthy, dead, dying...all is included in these ingredients. So here is what you need to do...BEFORE you purchase any pet food, flip the bag over and closely examine the list of ingredients. The above mentioned ingredients would be listed within the first five or ten ingredients. If you see ANY of those ingredients - it is my suggestion to NOT purchase that food. Remember - chicken feet and euthanized animals do analyze as protein. That is all that is required in pet food - just the correct analysis. Another little trick some pet food manufacturers use in this category is using grains and chemical additives to grain products to boost the protein percentages. Which is exactly the cause of the pet food recall that began in March 2007 - chemical proteins. Two different chemical additives - that have NO nutritional value to pets, but that analyzed as protein - were added to a grain product (wheat gluten, corn gluten, or rice gluten) solely to provide a cheap protein. Thousands of pets died and countless others became ill because no one counted on the problem of the combination of these two chemicals would cause kidney and urinary blockage. Again, their secret is the product has to analyze as having a particular amount of protein - no one is required to provide a quality meat protein. While you are looking at the ingredient listing - you should also take note of how many grains (corn, wheat, rice) and/or how many grain products (corn gluten, whole corn, ground corn, whole wheat, ground wheat, wheat gluten, rice, brown rice, brewers rice, soy, and on and on) are listed within the first five or so ingredients. If you find more than one grain listed in the first five ingredients - that is telling you this pet food is acquiring some of its protein from grains. Why is protein obtained from grains important for you to know? Several reasons - first off science proves that cats and dogs alike require and thrive on a meat protein. If a pet food is obtaining protein from grain sources, the pet is not getting the meat that it needs to thrive. Second, if the grain products are a corn gluten, wheat gluten, or rice gluten you take the risk of chemicals such as melamime added to it used strictly to boost the protein analysis. By the way, melamime is one of the chemicals found to be the cause of the March 2007 pet food recall. And there is one more concern with grains - aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a deadly mold that is common to corn, wheat, and soy and it's responsible for several other pet food recalls you probably never heard about. In December 2005, Diamond Pet Food contained moldy grains that killed over 100 pets before the product was recalled - all due to aflatoxin. It is my recommendation to avoid any pet food that contains corn, wheat, or soy in ANY variation. The risk is simply too high. Secret #4... I've got more suggestions for you to look for in the ingredient listings...chemical preservatives. A very well kept secret of the pet food industry is their common use of chemical preservatives. BHA/BHT are very popular chemical preservatives used in pet food and science has linked them to tumors and cancer. Another common preservative is ethoxyquin which has known risks to cancer. Ethoxyquin is ONLY allowed in human food in some spices because of the very tiny proportions. However it is allowed in much higher proportions in pet food. If you scan the ingredient listings, you will be looking for BHA/BHT and ethoxyquin listed anywhere. Commonly BHA/BHT is used to preserve the fat in the food which usually is found higher on the list. And also look for any of these chemicals towards the end of the ingredient listing. Personally, I wouldn't touch a pet food that contained these chemical preservatives. You want a pet food that is preserved naturally - common natural preservatives are 'natural mixed tocopherols' or 'vitamin E'. Secret #5... The very best food to provide to your pet is a well made food using human grade ingredients. That should be simple enough...How do you find that? You already know that pet food manufacturers are NOT allowed to make any statement as to quality or grade of ingredients, the only way you can find out the grade or quality of your pets' food is to call the manufacturer and ask them. Now, let's say you call the ABC pet food company and ask the question "Is your Premium dog food and Premium cat food made using human grade ingredients?" It could be that you get the response yes, we use human grade ingredients - when actually only a couple of ingredients are human grade. Here's the trick to asking...ask them if they are APHIS European certified. Pet food manufacturers that are APHIS European certified assures you that ALL ingredients in their pet food are human grade. APHIS - Animal Plant Health Inspection Services - is a division of the USDA. APHIS European certification provides this pet food manufacturer with the opportunity to ship their foods/treats to Europe. When importing pet foods from the US, European countries demand that all ingredients are human grade and thus require this certification. Most pet food manufacturers that have APHIS European certification do not ship their products to Europe - they simply use this as a means to assure their customers to the higher quality of their ingredients. Again, you WON'T see this listed on the label - it's not allowed. You must call the manufacturer and ask. Often times the representative of the pet food won't even know what you are talking about when you ask about APHIS certification - if that's the case, you can assume they are not APHIS European certified. APHIS European certification is a bonus to pet owners - it is not required or even suggested that any pet food manufacturer go through the extra steps to obtain this. This is a special effort some pet foods go through to tell their customers they REALLY CARE about the quality of their products. Personally, I would NOT buy a pet food that doesn't have it. And by the way, if you can't reach the pet food manufacturer, or they do not return your call within a short time frame, lose their number! Any company that does not place a priority on answering customers questions - doesn't deserve your business! Secret #6... Minerals are a required ingredient in human diets as well as diets for our pets. Copper, Iron and Zinc are common minerals found in pet foods. Just as they are - copper, iron, and zinc are basically rocks, very difficult for anyone or any pet to utilize. Science has developed several ways to introduce minerals into the body (human and pet) for better absorption thus benefiting the individual far more. This scientific development is called chelating or proteinating and it's been around for years. Through the chelating or proteinating process minerals are absorbed about 60% better than just the minerals alone. This secret is spotting the minerals in your pet food to see if they are chelated or proteinated. Notice the minerals on your pet food label, way down on the list of ingredients. You are looking for minerals that read 'copper proteinate' or 'chelated copper'. If you see just the mineral listed, your pet is sort of like Charlie Brown at Halloween saying 'I got a rock'. If you want your pet to have the best, chelated or proteinated minerals are part of the best foods! Secret #7... This secret is called 'friendly bacteria'. Although 'friendly bacteria' sounds a little scary, the reason for it lies in your pets' intestinal system. A large portion of your pets' immune system is found within the intestinal system. Keeping the immune system healthy helps to keep the animal itself healthy. This friendly bacteria is similar to what's found in yogurt, however in pet food it is introduced in a fashion so that the cooking process doesn't destroy it. Looking at the fine print on your pet food label, this time you are looking for lengthy, scientific words like Lactobacillus Acidophilus or Bifidobacterium Thermophilum. If you do NOT see these words or some very similar, that pet food is not addressing the care of your pets' immune system. And again, if you want your pet to have the best, you want 'friendly bacteria' in their food. There are your seven very secrets to help you find the absolute healthiest and best pet food for your four-legged friend. Armed with those secrets - you now have the knowledge to find your pet the best food possible! A pet food that can extend their life and prevent early aging and disease. If you don't want to bother doing the homework involved, I urge you to subscribe to my monthly magazine Petsumer Report(TM). Through Petsumer Report(TM) I've done all the homework for you - each month I review and rate over 40 different pet foods, treats, toys, and various other pet supplies. It's the ONLY publication of its' kind providing pet owners with the information they need to know regarding their pet product purchases. I want to share just a couple more things... It's best to feed an adult dog or adult cat two meals a day. The nutrition they consume with two meals is better utilized than with just one meal a day. If you are currently feeding your pet one meal a day, split that same amount into two meals and feed in the AM and PM. You should know that all canned or moist pet foods are anywhere between 70% to 85% moisture. This means that 70% to 85% of that can or pouch of food is useless nutrition - its water. Granted our pets need water, cats especially tend not to drink enough water. But since all canned or moist foods are mostly water, they do not provide adequate nutrition to be fed strictly a canned or moist diet. Use a canned or moist product to supplement your pet's diet - not as the only food. The best pet foods are preserved naturally (secret #4) - but there is a concern with naturally preserved pet foods...freshness. Take notice of the expiration date on your pets food label - typically with naturally preserved dry pet foods (not as much of a concern with soft foods because of canning - very little need of preservatives) the expiration date is one year to 18 months from the date it was manufactured. Let's say the pet food you are considering to purchase on July 1, 2007 has a 'Best if Used by' date of January 1, 2008. This would tell you that this particular bag of pet food is already 6 months old. While it is still 'good' a fresher food - a bag that is only 2 or 3 months old - is better. Naturally preserved pet foods lose nutritional potency with time. Always try to find a very fresh bag. If you are considering changing your pets food, ALWAYS consult with your Veterinarian first. You should always keep your veterinarian advised of any changes you make with your pet. Don't take chances. And if you do switch pet food, make the change over very slowly. I always recommend to pet owners ¼ new food to ¾ old food for 4 to 7 days, ½ to ½ for another 4 to 7 days, and so on. Switching food quickly can cause intestinal disorder! Its short term, but we don't want intestinal disorder!!! One last thing, as you are already aware dogs and cats have a far better sense of smell than humans. Their food bowl can be a wealth of smells - both good and bad. Some times a pet will refuse to eat simply because he or she smells a previous food in their bowl. Plastic food and water bowls retain odors the worst. And surprisingly so does stainless steel bowls. The best type of food and water bowl is a ceramic one. They retain odors the least. "Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms." George Eliot.
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What do you know about Organic Beauty Products ?

The men are be more sensitive with regard to their feelings. They should also take more interest in the things that our wives or girlfriends care about. We try to provide you with enough information about organic beauty products for you to be able to have a meaningful discussion about the topic and how to choose the beaut products. If you are able to have an intelligent discussion about organic beauty products with your wife or girlfriend (and their friends) you will impress them hands down. Organic beauty products encompass everything that women use to help them look more beautiful for the men in their lives. These products would include skin care products, hair care products, eyeliner, blush and a whole range of other cosmetic products. To prevent confusion we will stick to beauty products as a group and not individualize. Firstly you need to know what organic beauty products are. In short it is products that are made from natural or organic ingredients like plant extracts and fruit extracts, with no chemicals or synthetic derived ingredients used in the manufacturing process. Organic products are biodegradable and will therefore not have a negative impact on the environment. Secondly do you know why women would want to use organic beauty products? The answer is that most of the non-organic beauty products available today in the world contain dangerous chemicals and synthetic ingredients. Your skin absorbs up to 60% of what is placed on it and the chemicals or synthetic ingredients in non-organic cosmetics can pose a health threat. Thirdly what are the benefits of using organic beauty products? There are a lot of benefits but the most important ones are: • It is safe to use and beneficial to your health. • It can be used on all skin types and for all ages (including babies). • Only naturally occurring organic ingredients are used to manufacture these products. • The products contain minerals and vitamins that feed and protect your skin. • Most of the skin care products contain natural moisturizers and ingredients that protect your skin against the sun. • The majority of the manufacturers of organic beauty products do not test the products on animals. • Skin irritations and allergies are minimized due to the lack of chemicals in these products. Lastly you need to know a little bit more about choosing the best organic product. Manufacturers of cosmetics can legally use the terms "natural" and "organic" on the labels of their products even if the products are not 100% organic. Read the label of a product carefully and make sure that all the listed ingredients are in fact organic in nature. Manufacturers are able to have their products certified as 100% organic by governing bodies and products that are certified as organic are the best bet. Now you are able to hold your own in any conversation about organic beauty products. Go out there and amaze your wife or girlfriend with your sensitivity and your knowledge of organic cosmetics, organic hair care and organic skin care. Good Luck!
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How to Choose the Right Weighing Scale for Your Business ?

Industrial scales by far, have found their rightful place in the field of business. These weighing tools are considered the most suitable solution when it comes to calculating the weight of the loads, fulfilling all your industrial requirements, providing you with accurate and well balanced weighing solutions, and more. However, the commercialization of these scales has put a great impact on the overall functioning of businesses. In general, there are ample of options available when it comes to choosing the right weighing scale for your business. Some most used ones are mentioned below. Counting • Bench Platform Floor Shipping Pallet Crane • Digital, and more. All the above written weighing scales can be used for various purposes in industries like agriculture, transportation, pharmaceutical, medical, petrochemical, food, etc. Moreover, these scales are categorized on the basis of size, design, capacity, style, and price, so it's better to make an appropriate choice in order to achieve high-efficiency and avoid unnecessary hassles, which may include wastage of both time and money. Written below are a few points that you may think of considering in order to buy the one that fulfills all your industrial needs and requirements at first place. a) Identify your business needs - it is important that you determine all your business related needs first, which includes considering factors like loading and cost. Once you're done with the identification part, then you can easily move on to the next step, i.e. evaluating different options. b) Evaluate different options - you must look out for different options that are available in the market these days and choose the one that satisfy all your identified requirements. Also, you can request for quotations, explore endless opportunities, and can even compare prices of your different selected options. c) Request for a demo - no doubt choosing an appropriate industrial scale is a daunting task to carry out; therefore it is important that you ask for a demonstration whenever you go out to buy an industrial scale. Moreover, many dealers provide a free demo to their customers, so it's better to approach those companies first and then think of buying the one as per your needs. d) Proper consultation - No matter what your requirements are, it's better to consult someone who has immense knowledge in this field, or you can even do a bit of research before starting up with the next BIG task, i.e. buying the right scale for your business.
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what do you know about Poka Yoke ?

Thrashing out mistakes in manufacturing engineering was developed by the Japanese as a tool of mistake proofing that helps reduce waste in areas such as time, energy and resources. The idea stresses on producing zero defects as a part of a quality tool kit to prevent human errors. Although Poka Yoke is applied differently in different situations, the common thread that binds them all is its simplicity; it uses small tools at the point of the anticipated mistake generation itself. Empowerment of Employees As A Tool of Poka Yoke Development The beautiful part of mistake-proofing is the empowerment of employees to identify, suggest ways out and execute the plan to iron out the cause of the mistake at its point of origination. In fact, anybody from a manager to a line employee can be allowed to complete mistake proofing planning. It applies to every other area, including commercial transactions, in the same way. How Can Activities Be Mistake-Proofed? Mistake proofing is simply managed by presence of mind. Sometimes it so happens that an employee notices a mistake in the way things are done in his section or line. Generally, exposure to multiple aspects such as work content and execution procedures let the employee think about ways of rectifying the mistake. One who has noticed the mistake will come up with suggestions for eliminating the mistakes by rather simple methods. Empowered environments nurture enthusiasm in employees, which ultimately results in success. Lets take different simple examples. Colgate Palmolive was losing its market share to a rival toothpaste producer and the people in their marketing department could hardly help reverse the trend, despite their best efforts. This was until an employee in the packing department suggested a rather simplistic idea that ultimately has shown results. The employee suggested enlarging of the tubes opening, which increased the amount of paste issued each time the consumers wanted to brush. Where does mistake proofing figure into the equation in this instance? The mistake was not in the manufacturing, packing or quality of the product but in the way it was marketed. The marketing was centered around an emphasis on quality and not on the quantity the consumers should use, which was irrelevant in the absence of severe competition. Mistake elimination need not have complex solutions that consume lot of time and resources. Simple solutions can sometimes be arrived at by those who work on the shop floor. Let us look into another example which significantly explains Poka Yoke. Take a small mistake in the assembling of pens, such as a forgotten spring for operating the writing tip by a button located on top of the pen. The assembly worker would not have forgotten if he was given all of the components in sets rather than each part like springs, refills etc separately. The Simplicity Of Poka Yoke Quite evidently, Poka Yoke is pretty simple. It does not involve spending huge sums of money, time and complex procedures. It employs making the best use of empowered human minds. If it is used on a continuous basis with the goal of eliminating many smaller mistakes, the results can be wonderful.
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Value Stream Mapping - Common Mistakes

During many first time Value Stream Mapping exercises, we have noticed some common mistakes. Many times when the mistake is made, it is not recognized and the Value Stream Mapping tool is called into question. It's like trying to use excel as a word processor, it kind of works but you just don't quite get the results you were expecting. So here are some of our observations. 1. You start to follow the people doing the work. We all start out understanding that we are doing Value Stream Mapping on a product or service however at some point, the person doing the job leaves the product and does something else. Rather than staying with the product we start to follow the person. It may even seem like we should follow the person as the task they are doing is related to the product we are following. For example in a dentist's office, the product we will follow is the patient. The patient comes in, they register, they sit down and they wait. They get called into the office and the dentist performs the work, they leave. The nurse takes their folder and does some work to it, she then works on the computer to update the file and finally, she puts the file away. In this case we have stopped following the patient and we have started to observe the work being performed by the nurse. 2. Trying to do a final Value Stream Map without the product or service actually being performed. We all know that it is sometimes difficult when you are training people to do Value Stream Mapping to always 'see' the product move through the entire process. It is sometimes necessary to leave the client with homework to actually observe the process and fill in all the boxes. There are cases however where companies think that there is not enough time to get a complete Value Stream Map, the process is too long or won't be running for another month and they need to present to management a savings plan by the end of the week. They frequently think that they can go to their engineered standards and fill in the information boxes and then predict their savings. In this case the person has forgotten some of the basis of Lean. First without observing the inventory, they don't have a Value Stream Map, they have a Process Map. Second without observing how the time standards were arrived at, how will you determine waste opportunities. Third the person doing the work may have many distractions - for example it may take me an hour to change the brakes on a car but every time I start, I have to do 3 oil changes. We need to observe the work and more importantly what's happening to our product when the work isn't being done. Office Value Stream Mapping A close relative of point number 2 is doing Value Stream Mapping in the office. With so much information on the computer today, many companies have all the information on their processes and value streams on their computers. If you want to know how many people are in an area we can get it, how much inventory between processing steps and what the processing times are are all kept in real time. Layouts of the plant floor are kept and actual distances traveled can be calculated right from the drawing. For many companies it really is possible to put an entire Value Stream Map together in an office and for it to be technically correct. Although the Value Stream Map may be technically correct we are missing the opportunity to observe what is happening. For example a company knew from their standard that a pallet of material could be wrapped in 2 minutes and 30 seconds. They had to be forced out to the floor to actually observe the operation and to prove they were right that they went out there. What they observed was the pallet took closer to 25 minutes to complete because the operator had to answer 4 phone calls. They didn't realize that this was part of the job of the operator. If you don't observe, you will never figure out why your lead-time is so long. Much of what takes place in day-to-day operations is never recorded in any standard. Things like phone calls, interruptions, or reprioritization of work. 4. Double counting of time. It takes a while to understand what to put into an information box and what is a processing step. For example Changeovers. We know that they go into the information box because all the books say so. Sometimes however people still ask why that time doesn't get recorded on the lead time line. How about travel time? I have to travel for 15 minutes between processing steps so I should have a box on my Value Stream Map representing travel time. Should it be counted as processing time? What do we include in processing boxes? The key here is to separate the things that cause inventory to build up, from the actual work to complete the part or service. Long changeover times cause inventory to build up, long distances to travel cause inventory to build up. Therefore these items are causes to be eliminated. They are responsible for the inventory we see in the company. We will account for them in our lead time calculation when we count the inventory. Understand the causes of inventory build up versus the actual steps to completing a product or service for the customer. Shared Resources 5. Ignoring shared resources. In most companies there are resources that are shared. These resources are required to support more than one product family. They may be people, assembly lines, equipment, instruments etc. An example would be a laboratory receiving area. They receive the samples for many labs and distribute them. If we forget this during our Value Stream Mapping process we would get the wrong results. Let's choose a simple example. A receiving area receives samples for 2 labs. Each lab receives 80 samples a day. Therefore they receive 160 samples and over an 8 hour period must supply each lab, 10 samples each. Therefore, they need 20 samples an hour and this requires 2 people. During the Value Stream Mapping, we mistakenly only account for the one product families' work. We believe that they need to supply only 10 samples per hour and we only require one person for 8 hours. This is a simple example and we would probably catch it. However, lets say you have hundreds of products and many product families you may miss this error. Remember to identify the shared resources. If you don't you will incorrectly calculate important numbers like the Takt time and cycle times. 6. Mixing product families. Sometime when Value Stream Maps start to get really complex with many branching streams going in and out of the main Value Stream, it is because the people doing the Value Stream Mapping didn't do a good job of defining the product families before starting the Value Stream Mapping. This problem is generally aggravated by one or both problems identified earlier - either not identifying a shared resource or following a person and not the product. By not doing a good job with the product families we can get distracted and follow the wrong processing path. Let's say we are following a product family that only goes through a lathe machine and is then shipped. The lathe may also be used in a product family that goes to a welding and, then to an assembly area and onto a de-burring area etc. If we haven't properly identified the family we may start to follow the Value Stream Map through assembly and de-burring when we should have gone from the lathe straight to the shipping area. Make sure you know your product families before you start Value Stream Mapping. These are not the only mistakes you can make during your initial Value Stream Mapping sessions; however they are common to many companies when they start to learn about Value Stream Mapping. Avoiding these mistakes will help you to use the Enterprise Value Stream Mapping ® tool better. Like anything else the more you practice the better you will get. Chuck trained in statistical process control at the University of Tennessee and in the design of experiments at MIT. He is certified by the American Society for Quality as a Quality Manager. His diversified technical background leading Lean and other major improvement initiatives across a wide range of industries has provided him with the professional expertise necessary to direct others on how to implement Lean the 'right' way.
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6 Benefits of Using Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Statistical process control is a method that uses statistical approach to achieve the monitoring and controlling of manufacturing processes, particularly. This will ensure the processes under monitor are able to achieve their full potential and produce the highest rate of conforming products. Real-time statistical process control means instance or near instantaneous data acquisition from measuring equipment or tools to give input to the statistical process control system software. The data can be immediately plotted onto the control charts and tested toward the control limits that are set for the charts. Real time statistical process control software system will provide immediate data update from the shop floor. It gives the operation crews the alert of "out of control" incidence when the upper or lower control limit for the control chart has been violated. The alert can also be triggered by various kind of rules such as trending towards out of control situation, so that immediate action can be taken from the operation crews before it is too late. When statistical process control system is implemented properly, there are tremendous benefits that can be achieved. In this article, 6 benefits are highlighted and these benefits are very crucial to improve the competitiveness and profitability of an organization. The 6 benefits of implementing real time statistical process control software are: The company can achieve a very fast return on investment from the software. Usually this can be achieved in less than a year depending on the processes and the results can be justified by data. Real time statistical process control system is highly acceptable by customers owing to the reliability of data and faster feedback. This is definitely going to improve the customer satisfaction. It will help the operation team to respond to the problem quickly during situations of "out of control", thus it will reduce waste, scrap and rework in the manufacturing processes. It will eliminate human error in the data entry step, as compared to the conventional method that the data is entered by operators. This system will improve the product and process quality tremendously by closely monitoring the performance of the process. Real time statistical process control software enables audit-ability across the processes. This will enables the company to cost effectively meet ISO, TS, FDA and USDA requirements. A real time statistical process control system will have a reporting tool to summarize the data and present it according to the user's requirements. The reports can be used by the process engineer to identify the root cause of process deviation. Proper actions can be taken by the process owner for a short-term and also long-term remedies. Other than this, the data also can be used to calculate the process capability. Once the process is stable and under control, the process capability can be measured to understand how good is the capability of the machine and other process. Continuous process improvement can be carried out by the process department to strive for higher process capability rating. Real-time statistical process control system can help to prevent problems and save the companies millions of dollars that otherwise would have been paid for lost in scrap, rework, warranty, litigation, and market share decline.
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why we use Pareto Analysis?

The more you analyze business performance and company position in various external environments the more information you get. This information is used in strategic planning and decision-making. As known, it is really impossible to succeed in business without making plans for the future and without getting yourself ready to face difficulties and challenges. The company may face problems that arise in the internal environment. On top of that there are challenges that show up in external environment, and these challenges do not depend on the company. Thus the only thing a business owner can do is to adapt to such changes. Through various analysis types business owners obtain information on what should be done to improve current performance or to achieve adopted future plans. It should be noted that a great variety of analysis types have been developed by business experts. Some of them deal only with internal environments, while others focus on external markets. However most of analysis types deal with both. These are well known PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, ANOVA and others. Some analysis types come from mathematics and statistics. Pareto is one of them. Pareto analysis is known as statistical method that is widely used in decision making. This method claims that a limited number of tasks and variables influence overall performance. Pareto analysis is also called 80/20 rule which means that by performing 20% of work it is possible to get 80% of benefits. Pareto is used in various business management models for example in quality improvement and performance evaluation. This is to say that 80% of problems are actually caused by 20% of mistakes. The name for Pareto analysis was suggested by business guru Joseph M. Juran who offered to use Italian economist's name Vilfredo Pareto. It was observed that 80% of income in Italy was going to 20% of citizens. Studies were performed in other countries as well and results were pretty much the same. Pareto analysis is used in various business models, as already said above. Some of the rules include •20% of company products and services cause 80% of customer complaints •20% of causes resulting 80% of schedule delays •80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your products and services •80% of company revenues are generated by 20% of sales staff Sure thing this list is not complete. Quality control has so many issues, as well as systems of budgeting and cost control where Pareto is particularly helpful. Continuous improvement is a key principle in quality control and Pareto helps obtain very valuable information in this sense. Besides, Six Sigma and quality control systems use special Pareto diagrams that are very important tools. Pareto analysis is successfully used in combination with other performance evaluation, quality control and strategic management tools. Balanced Scorecard is not an exception here as it uses performance evaluation principle for strategic planning purposes. Pareto model is perfect for improvement of co performance, locating problematic areas and focusing on most profitable products and customers.
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How a Just-In-Time Can Increase the Profit of Your Business ?

If you are still striving to increase the profit margin of your business, do not overlook your inventory management system. The just-in-time inventory method may be what your business needs to increase its profits. Indeed, the ultimate goal of any business is to generate profit. This is accomplished when revenues exceed all the expenses needed to sustain a business activity. Financial analysts have many ratios at their disposal to measure how well a business is performing. Return on Investment (ROI), defined as the "net income divided by the average of total assets," is by far the most important ratio used to measure the profitability of a business. The ROI ratio basically measures how much profit a business is able to generate with the assets it has available within a certain operating cycle. If this concept seems strange to you, just imagine two companies, A and B, which manufacture the exact same product. If the only difference between the two companies is that company B needs to utilize more assets to generate the same amount of profit (because it operates more plants for the same production output for example) it becomes clear that company A is more efficient and profitable than company B. Inventory is an important portion of any business' assets. In the manufacturing industry, inventory is usually divided into three separate segments: raw materials, work-in-process and finished products. Because inventory is often a company's largest asset, the way it is managed can greatly affect a company's return on investment. Generally speaking, with all other things being equal, a company can increase its ROI by keeping its inventory low. Why? Because inventory is an asset item computed in the denominator of the ROI ratio. Any reduction of the denominator will increase the ratio. The amount of inventory that sits on a company's shelves also affects the company's profitability in other ways. For one, inventory ties up capital that the company can no longer use elsewhere. When raw material is purchased on credit, the company will incur an unnecessary interest expense. Second, excess inventory will also cause an increase in the inventory carrying costs, which are costs associated with holding an inventory. Carrying costs can range between 15% and 25% of the inventory value. It is comprised of storage cost, handling cost, utility costs as well as insurance and taxes to be paid on warehouses. Finally, an inventory can also become obsolete, meaning that the parts held in storage are no longer useful (and salable) if the company decides to manufacture a new line of product in order to keep a competitive edge in the market. Obsolete inventory becomes waste which translates into a loss to the company. The just-in-time inventory management is a strategy that was developed by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota in the 1970s, whereby inventory is kept at a minimum. The objective of a just-in-time inventory is for a company to acquire only the exact amount of raw material needed to manufacture the exact amount of finished goods for direct sale. This inventory management has been summed up as "having the right material, at the right time, at the right place, and in the exact amount." This inventory management requires that a company maintains long-term relationships with reliable suppliers and maintains a very accurate production and inventory information system. When correctly implemented, the just-in-time inventory system will effectively increase a company's return on investment and boost profitability by reducing inventory carrying costs and preventing capital and investment from being tied up in unnecessary assets.
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Benefits of Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance is a sort of practice that started during Middle Age when Guilds assured their clients with certain standards of quality while delivering different types of services. Guild was an association that consisted of merchants and artisans. This association controlled the practice of their craft with a dedicated territory. This concept of maintaining certain standards of quality was taken well by the people and soon more and more organizations started adopting this amazing concept. Important Components of Quality Assurance In order to know more about QA, it would be really great if you gain knowledge about the different components of the QA. Here are all those important components explained in detail. Failure Testing The first and the foremost important point is Failure Testing. This is a process that involves checking the product or process until it fails. Another name given to failure testing is called as stress testing. The data that is collected during testing is utilized for the improvement of the product or service. During the Quality Assurance process, failure testing is implemented and as a result the final product that is being delivered becomes more polished, refined and of high quality. Statistical Control With the help of statistical control process, you can collect data during different stages of production or service delivery. This will help you to keep a strong check on the quality of the product. If anything goes wrong during any stage then you can easily improve and deliver high quality product. The same goes true for IT industry where this process plays an important role. Total Quality Management Total Quality Management also called as TQM involves keeping a strong check on the participating constituents. You cannot guarantee a product's quality unless and until all the input and surrounding parameters are of desired quality. For example, if you are manufacturing a metal component then you need to ensure that the raw material that is being used is of high quality and proper dimension. You also need to make sure that the surrounding conditions such as environment, safety and working conditions are also superior. QA Role in Different Fields After reading all of the above mentioned points, you can pretty well judge that QA plays an important role in the growth of an organization and this concept must be implemented seriously in order to get desired results. There are different industries where QA is playing a very important role. Software Industry Quality Assurance in software industry is applied during monitoring of software engineering and project execution process. As a result the final output that is delivered is error free and software can be used for long term without any major changes. This process not only saves time but also money for the software development company. Medical field There are numerous hospitals and medical agencies which apply Quality Assurance concept and always ensure a certain standard while using medical equipments such as CROs, X-Ray machines and much more. Final Conclusion The concept of Quality Assurance is being practiced since ages and the main benefit of QA is that it helps in achieving high quality results. With the passage of time, there has been a regular change and refined effort done. All this have lead to significant improvement in the process. There are three major components of the QA process and those are failure testing, statistical control and total quality management. All these components when combined can help you to get high quality results. Different fields and industries have deployed this process such as software industry and medical institutions.
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