Anyone who has taken even a middle-school level science course knows that a thorough procedure and an organized lab is the most efficient way to ensure a successful experiment. However, going from middle-school labs to high-school labs to college labs to actual professional labs, things get a lot more complicated.

Stockouts—when inventory levels are insufficient to meet customer demand—can lead to lost sales, diminished customer trust, and unnecessary supply chain stress. Fortunately, Minitab Statistical Software and Predictive analytics provides the tools needed to proactively identify factors contributing to stockouts and optimize inventory. 

In this post, we’ll demonstrate how to use Minitab Statistical Software to analyze a dataset and identify key drivers of stockouts. 

What do you do when it’s time to make tough decisions and cut expenses? Where do you begin? Cutting expenses gets complicated because, presumably, expenses support your business. But that’s not always the case. Here are some constructive suggestions for areas to reduce or eliminate expenses…

Everyone tracks metrics. If a metric is important enough to measure, it is important to find ways to improve. What happens you don’t get the NPS you are aiming for? Next time, consider Root Cause Analysis (RCA), a methodology that helps you understand the reasons and drivers of our key metrics and how to improve them. It is about finding, understanding, and fixing the recurring issues that make your customers unhappy. When you can proactively address the situation before it becomes troublesome, that is a game changer. Read more…

We had the opportunity to engage in conversation with Luc Burgard, the distinguished Chief Operating Officer of Recipharm. While Luc currently works in pharmaceutical manufacturing, he is well established in biotechnology research and automotive manufacturing. Read more…

The importance of reducing defects spans industries—whether you work in automotive manufacturing, electronics production, pharmaceuticals, or operate within a large manufacturing space. Defects in production can be costly, leading to rework, delays, and inefficiencies that directly impact the bottom line. Read more…

Optimizing inventory, like most problem-solving, requires a thoughtful process and a few steps. Naturally, the easiest way to prevent backorders is to always have a lot of inventory on hand. There are ramifications for not optimizing inventory, though. By overproducing and maintaining high of inventory levels, products could spoil or even decay. Excess inventory not only creates costs today, it also generates hidden costs later if you need to produce more goods to replace products that sat on the shelf for too long. Read more…

Many customers tell us how much they like Minitab Workspace, but experience pushback from IT leadership who question its need with having access to Visio. While it's true that many Microsoft 365 users have access to Visio and there is some overlap in the products, they have very different applications. Read more…

Effective inventory management plays a critical role in ensuring smooth operations, reducing costs, and meeting customer demands for supply chain managers. To achieve optimal inventory levels, it is essential to have a robust monitoring and control system in place. In this blog, we will explore the practical applications of Minitab's graphical tools, such as Pareto charts, control charts, and scatter plots, and how they can provide valuable insights into inventory patterns, leading to more efficient and effective decision-making processes.

In today’s highly competitive business environment, a trusted supply chain that functions seamlessly is essential. Even small errors can have an impact on the entire supply chain, resulting in lost revenue, unsatisfied customers, and irreparable damage to your brand.

We all know that quality is important. Assuring quality delivers an array of benefits – from utilizing less resources, promoting customer loyalty and brand satisfaction, and of course, overall savings when things get done right the first time.

When facing a problem, you've most likely heard the saying "take the bull by the horns." It's often also easier said than done.

COVID-19's economic repercussions have forced businesses worldwide to deal with the phenomenon that occurs in multi-level supply chains where orders at the end of the supply chain, close to the customer, are amplified with each additional supply chain actor. This is called the bullwhip effect.

We sat down with Emily Steinkamp, Director of Global Learning and Development at Minitab, to discuss her experience using Workspace for her team’s data management needs

It’s officially the spookiest time of the year.  

As adults around the world set up Halloween decorations, prepare delicious snacks, and host gatherings, children are busy devising their strategies and scheming to maximize their candy haul during trick-or-treating. After all, it only comes once each year! 

Given the window to collect as much candy as possible is so narrow, we wanted to give your little ones a competitive edge, powered (of course) by Minitab’s Predictive Analytics module. To demonstrate this, we imagined a scenario where data from trick-or-treaters was collected to determine which factors might be most important for maximizing candy haul. 

Everyone has their own favorite graph type or visual tool. I’m not ready to declare this one my favorite yet, but this oldie but goodie has got to get more time and attention. That’s right: I’m talking about Control Charts with Stages, also sometimes called Before/After Control Charts.  

According to Smartsheet, it enables teams to manage projects, automate processes and scale programs in one powerful platform. Many organizations are using Smartsheet, and in turn, asking continuous improvement (CI) professionals to adopt it. The problem is –many of the features and CI tools that are critical to successfully executing a project are absent from Smartsheet. Minitab Engage is a CI tool specifically designed to start, track, manage, and share innovation and improvement initiatives from idea generation through execution.

The cosmetic industry's manufacturing process is intricate. It sits at a critical intersection between scientific precision and creative formulation, where even the slightest misstep can have significant consequences. After all, these products are applied to sensitive areas like skin, hair, and even around the eyes. Ensuring their safety and effectiveness requires finding the perfect balance of ingredients. In this blog, we will explore how Minitab supports the teams and organizations that work in cosmetic manufacturing.

Microsoft Excel is a tried-and-true resource for most companies, and it does offer extreme value. However, when it’s used to track continuous improvement projects, its value diminishes. Wasting time gathering data from different reports across different internal systems takes time away from driving the change that matters. Let’s look at areas in which Excel falls short, and how purpose-built Minitab Engage provides a one-stop project management solution for continuous improvement and operational excellence programs.

When we talk about digital transformation, it’s about evolving the way work is done. It’s about using digital tools to radically modernize and improve the daily life of workers, managers, and the performance of a factory. If we think about what this change looks like, it's about moving from a reactive manufacturing culture to one that's more predictive and controlled… and data-driven.

In the world of quality control, leveraging predictive analytics can revolutionize how organizations approach proactive quality management. Minitab's suite of predictive analytics tools empowers Quality professionals to anticipate, prevent, and address quality issues, ensuring consistent standards and product excellence.