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About LeanFlo
James Ambrose Callaghan, BS, MBA has been involved in studying the quantitative side of inventory and production control since his first job after college. That was at Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna, New York - not too many years ago.
It was here he first observed that the a hot steel ingot rolling down a mill line had its’ own intrinsic flow. The less interrupted the more flow.
James has worked with many companies since then. Below are some of his client relationships:
| Bethlehem Steel |
Lackawanna, NY |
| Carborundum |
Niagara Falls, NY and Mississauga, OT |
| Espey Manufacturing |
Saratoga Springs, NY |
| Goerlichs Exhaust |
Goldsboro, NC |
| Goodyear Tire |
Niagara Falls, NY |
| Photoelectron |
Cambridge, MA |
| Rigidized Metals |
Lackawanna, NY |
| Rinker Boats |
Syracuse, IN |
| Sierra Research |
Cheektowaga, NY |
| Magnetec |
Wallingford, CT |
| Water Furnace |
Fort Wayne, IN |
| Wentworth Labs |
Danbury, CT |
| Zippo |
Bradford, PA |
He earned his Bachelors in Accounting and Finance at Niagara University. Then an MBA at Canisius College – concentrating on Quantitative Analysis and Statistics. The capstone was a research paper that developed a Linear Programming model to schedule production in an industrial weaving process that was constantly changing color, type, thickness, and thread strength. The goal was to demonstrate that mathematical models could be developed to schedule production so that customer fulfillments could be maximized while production cost could be minimized.
James is a member of several professional organizations. Included are the Society for Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the Planning Executives Institute (Planning Forum), American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS), and various ERP systems User Groups
His experience with ERP software packages is considerable. He has implemented several ERP products over the years, using standard System Development Methodologies. Integrating products like Pansophic, Fourth Shift, DataFlo and Vantage into tools for managing and analyzing value streams.
Measuring the value of a value stream requires a detailed understanding of how a company utilizes Bills of Material, Bills of Operation, Work/Job Orders, Sales and Purchase Orders, MRP and MPS. And with Lean Accounting, product costs are set more at actual than standard.
“WIP is waste made visible. Because it interrupts flow, it makes a negative contribution to Gross Margin.
Today, we are looking for an uninterrupted flow of material from receiving to shipping. But if we are to link this to profitability, we need a scale or index that can measure improvements in productivity. So we build a model. A model that is easy to understand and one that can be modified quickly. It is knowing what to include as well as what to leave out.
And it is a question of recognizing the difference between dependant and independent activities. For example, the optimum value for capacity is dependant upon demand. We all see the problem. What we don’t see is the precise affect a change to the value stream has on product shipments and ultimately on the bottom line.”
The LeanFlo Partnership
jac@leanflo.com
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