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Tips & Tricks for Efficiently Tracking Lean Projects Recently, we wrote about a couple of problems facing many Lean practitioners. These were problems that hindered their learning process and often caused overconfidence. Amongst the advice to help combat these problems arose the need for detailed tracking and note taking with regards to practice and progress. Being able to accurately track not only the effects but also the process of a Lean project is critical to ongoing success, and is a key to stimulating growth amongst not only the receiving end of your project objectives, but also amongst the employees and Lean practitioners themselves. To start off, let's take a look at the current state of Lean project tracking for many Lean practitioners. A recent LinkedIn discussion posed the very question of project tracking, and sought to understand a few different distinct metrics. In addition to measuring the effectiveness of any program when it comes to completion, tracking can also be about measuring the scope of your projects, so that you can accurately project what the effects will be before you actually reach the stage at which you expect them. Part of this "scope" involves tracking exactly who is involved with your project, who is affected, and how they are progressing in their respective tasks. Where we are now First of all, it's important to evaluate the current methods that are prevalent in Lean record keeping. The LinkedIn discussion starter, self-identified as Ian R., mentions in his opening post that, when he last posed the question about a year ago, the consensus was that most practitioners were simply using excel spreadsheets for their tracking needs. While there's nothing wrong with relying on Excel for the basics, other users were quick to offer up some slicker alternatives, signaling a sharp (and welcomed, in our book) departure from some of the more basic methods. Unsurprisingly, there exist several specialist software applications whose n

Safety - An Issue worth Taking Seriously! Safety is of great importance no matter if it is for the work place or home. If we are talking about home, we might discuss how kids who are messing around the house and playing games could be exposing themselves to dangers, resulting in injury or in worst case scenario, even accidental death. However, there are many safety products available in the market specifically designed to prevent injury in and around the home. It is in this frame of mind that we will occasionally be introducing some safety products for home use, in order to help parents and their children avoid any accidents, where possible. two workers discussing safety planAs well, when it comes to workplace safety measures, ignorance or lack of proper safety measures, can also lead to considerable financial loss for a company, or even the greatest of losses - someone's life. It is therefore very important that an employer take great care in installing and using safety measures, which includes proper safety training, materials, supplies or products. While there is no denying of the fact that it can be difficult for an employer to fully provide adequate safety products and measures to prevent any mishap, it is a task that must be accomplished. The task of safety management may prove even more complex for a team leader who must engage in managing safety at a construction site or workplace, as seen in this set of videos from OSHA. For those of you who have not yet researched the market, there is a huge range of safety supplies available for you to choose from. It pays to shop and compare, but even then, just when you think that you found the right solution, someone else comes up with a product even better and more efficient. That is why we have created this blog and review site. We hope that with our help as safety product experts we can help you or your firm to select the proper, most helpful safety supplies. You can find solutions and insight by reading ou

It is the legal duty of any factory's management to make sure that it protects its employees from the dangers of arc flash. Most importantly, they need to comply with the OSHA industry standards which among other things, require that the management conducts a proper assessment of the arc flash hazards within and around the workplace. Have you heard about the arc flash analysis software? You need to consider it as you deal with the dangers of arc flash when working with high voltage equipment. Arc flash analysis is theoretically quite straightforward. It involves collection of data from the power distribution system. You also look at the dimensions of the electrical cables; the cross-section area and length. Once management has sourced this and other relevant information, they use the arc flash analysis software to conduct the short-circuit analysis of the system. The data realized is then used to get comparisons with the standards. With resultant data, the management is able to decide on the best PPE equipment for the employees. After using the arc flash analysis software, the resulting PPE requirement is in most cases too expensive. What can the management do to avoid paying the high costs? One way of doing this is upgrading the equipment to newer and more efficient versions. You may have noticed how easy it is for old circuit breakers to trip. This is simply because these breakers have low reaction times. The arc flash analysis software helps management to conduct sensitivity study, and the results of such a study might suggest an overhaul of the existing circuit breakers. You might be wondering whether arc flash analysis software is that important. In the industry setting, the primary concern for the manager should be the safety of employees. Arc faults are very dangerous and can cause burns, serious health complications and in some instances, death. It is important for the management to take arc flash analysis and warn of such hazards and so as to curb the

Make Construction Safety a Priority Everyone knows that construction sites can be very dangerous. The more you know about the types of danger you will face, however, will help you to take steps toward keeping everyone safe. Look over the following 10 safety facts and see what you can learn about how to improve the overall safety of your facility. In addition to using this information to help you to make safety improvements, you can also show these items to the workers at any site so they can be more aware. Some of these facts may surprise people, and cause them to be more aware of their surroundings. According to OSHA, "Nearly 6.5 million people work at approximately 252,000 construction sites across the nation on any given day. The fatal injury rate for the construction industry is higher than the national average in this category for all industries." 10 Tips to Improve Construction Safety Fact #1 - Losing your Load On construction sites people use machines to lift and move all sorts of things on a regular basis. Whether it is lifting wood or metal beams, or you are digging out dirt to prepare to lay a foundation, this is an essential part of most jobs. The vast majority of times this type of activity goes very smoothly and the jobs are completed without incident. The fact is, however, that having loads come loose while in transit is actually a leading cause of injury on construction sites. You need to keep in mind that even if you don't lose the entire load, people can be severely injured from even one thing falling out of a crane or back hoe. With this in mind, people working on site need to know to stay well away from this machinery, and the machine operators need to know to avoid moving items when people are nearby. Fact #2 - Entering and Leaving Heavy Machinery Another safety issue related to working with heavy machinery is related to operators getting on and off of the rigs that they will be working on. While this is something that they of

One of the most common injuries plaguing nearly any industrial business is the eye injury. The human eye is susceptible to damage from a variety of different sources, however, most eye injuries stem from exposure to chemicals, paints, solvents, allergens, sawdust, laboratory materials, etc. However, it is important to remember that nearly ninety percent of all eye injuries are preventable when proper procedures are followed and adequate eye protection is used. The right type of goggles, depending upon the job, can protect the eyes from coming into contact with nearly any eye irritating contaminant. Nonetheless, eye injuries still seem to occur and businesses need to be ready and prepared just in case an eye injury does happen. One of the best ways to provide immediate support to an injured eye is to utilize the help of an eyewash station. Guidelines for Eyewash Stations When it comes to the safety standards related to primary eyewash stations, OSHA sets the overall requirements. However, it is ANSI (American National Standards Institute) that is the entity who provides the necessary guidelines that employers must follow regarding the design, type, performance, location, and details specific to any eyewash station. Even though the ANSI z358.1-2009 covers the guidelines for all types of eyewash equipment such as emergency showers, eyewash stations, face washes, and combination units, we are going to focus on guidelines related to eyewash stations. Tips for Compliance with ANSI's Eyewash Standard Every Second Counts! - When an eye injury occurs every second really does count. An eye injury can go from bad to catastrophic in mere seconds if the eye is not properly flushed. ANSI mandates that all eyewash be located just a short 10 second walk from any eye hazard. The path to the eyewash station must well lit and remain clear and free of debris. The eyewash station must also be properly identified with an eyewash station sign. Yes, the Water Does Matter - there

In the video below, we take a GoPro camera ride along with a tower climber as he scales to the top of a 1768 foot tall antenna. The worker slowly climbs on increasingly smaller and precarious looking ladder rungs, all while toting a 30 pound tool bag behind him, occasionally assisted by his climbing partner. The video, aptly titled "The most dangerous job in the world," is stirring up a lot of controversy, especially because it has simply shed light on a profession most people didn't even know existed. Tower climbers are often hired by cell phone companies to adjust antennas and mechanisms located at the top of their cell towers; they are often required to climb thousands of feet into the air. However, the even scarier part is that in many cases, they do not even use any sort of safety cable. In the video, a voice over remarks that OSHA regulations allow for this type of "free climbing" method. As it turns out, most experts are confused as to where the video makers got that idea, as there's nothing to be found in the OSHA guidelines that condones such procedure. In fact, to the contrary, OSHA has published findings highlighting the lethality of this particular profession and method, noting that AT&T alone has had 15 cell tower workers die from falls since data started being collected in 2003. What's even worse is that sanctions against cell companies have been nearly non-existent, and not once has OSHA gone after the larger providers, despite their high mortality rates. Part of this may be due to a loophole (indeed perhaps the very same one that the video cites as "allowing" for such a dangerous climb) that won't hold companies liable for the unsafe behavior of independent contractors if they don't have knowledge of it. In short, a contractor, knowing full well their workers will be free climbing, can simply not communicate to a cell company as such which in turn gives them plausible deniability. Why Should You Care As A Business Owner? ​No

When running any sort of physical production based business, you will often have stock on hand. Instead of only stocking for a short time, there will be a "backup" supply of products that can be called upon as demand changes. This is known as "just in case" manufacturing and is highly common in most industries. However, several decades ago, the rise of lean business gave way to the concept of "just in time" manufacturing. In a just in time, or JIT, system, products are made as they are demanded and there is little to (ideally) no back-stock at any time. Why go lean? The idea behind JIT manufacturing is that one can eliminate several kinds of waste by taking away the need to keep inventory of excess stock. From now on, equate "stock" to "excess stock" or the concept of having too much on hand, because in a JIT environment "stock" doesn't really exist outside of individual orders. When you don't have to keep inventory, employees free up their time for other projects and tasks. Also, you have less paperwork to manage, and can focus on other things, like workplace safety, new profitability angles and marketing strategies, etc. Another reason to go to a JIT model is that you increase accountability of management. Because you have no inventory to fall back on in a JIT situation, inventory cannot be used as a crutch to make up for other problems. Slow, inefficient production is often masked by a stockpile of inventory, making it harder to realize certain areas of production may need improvement - these may include machine functionality, worker habits, reliability, and inadequate space management. Another huge place you save by adopting this method is in transportation. Materials do not need to be stocked at various sites and you need to do much less transporting. You will eliminate time wasted in transit when there is traffic or road congestion, and you'll even be more environmentally friendly by reducing fuel burned for shipping purposes

Enterprises across the board have a lot of untapped potential in their data. The data is not only relevant and useful within the enterprise but can be a valuable source of insights for the enterprise partners and customers. In some cases, the value of this data can be high that partners and customers are willing to pay extra to get access to this information at a certain fidelity, freshness or scope. Enterprises that do not have a clear and coherent monetization strategy are leaving money on the table. In addition, they stand to lose customers to competitors who gain the first movers advantage by addressing this market need. The Value of Data The first step in determining a monetization strategy is an audit of the enterprise data assets and a determination of the customers who are interesting and willing to pay a premium for access to this data. The Value of Data is proportional to the following: Freshness The more "fresh" a dataset is higher its value typically. This is because there is an advantage in the early visibility provided by first access to new information. 'Freshness' is defined the latency between the creation of data and the delivery of the data to the consumer. Consumers of data will pay a premium for fresh data if it fits into their decision and action strategy. Fidelity Higher the "fidelity" of data i.e. how much detail a particular data point carries also increases the value of the data in the eyes of the data consumer. Higher fidelity data offers more information and detail enabling the consumer to design highly valuable analysis that leverages the additional details offering a deeper insight into the situation at the present or historically. Raw The more "raw" a data set, higher its value as it can support a much larger set of analysis scenarios that a processed data set could support. Data sets that are aggregated, sampled, filtered or transformed can have a lower value as they can severely limit the type of analysis. Raw

Modern, RESTful APIs are not considered standard, table stakes and expected out of any new project, effort, application, system, service or product. It has become so normal to talk about developer interfaces, developer adoption, application development and innovation in the same breath as APIs that a distinct effort to build APIs for a new product or service seems out of place and abnormal. APIs are the defacto standard of app development. So where do we go from here? We believe that APIs are about to enter the second growth spurt. APIs will evolve from not just interfaces and integration enablers into the rockets that propel enterprises towards innovation and market dominance. Here are three key trajectories that will lead the next API evolution and revolution. Innovation - Starts, and Ends with APIs All modern technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, ChatBots, Analytics, BlockChain etc. begin and end their stories with APIs. APIs are what enables the communication between front-end user interfaces and the backend technology services. All new machine learning capabilities offered out of the big four tech companies have seen the light of day through APIs. Intent & Sentiment extraction, Topics, Categories, Summarization, Image Recognition, Entity Extraction etc. are all capabilities powered by Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing that is ultimately being delivered as APIs to application developers. Similarly, ChatBots are typically designed to get the user entered text, use an intent API to determine intent and then use a service API to respond to the user conversationally or with a service. Clouds - Multi-Cloud, Hybrid Cloud As the big three cloud providers grow their market share and attempt to attract attention, increasingly, enterprises need to think about how they minimize their risk by building in the flexibility to switch their cloud provider if and when they need. In addition, hybrid architectures or a cloud migration

When you look to buy some makeup, you do so with the intent of buying a product that's safe for your skin. It's natural to assume that the majority of big-branded items qualify as safe makeup, but this might not be the case. You see, one of the little-known secrets of the cosmetic industry is that many popular makeup products on the market are full of toxic chemicals. These range from things that can alter your hormone production to chemicals that induce skin allergies, and everything in between. Consequently, you don't want to put any harmful chemicals on your skin at all. But, how do you ensure that you're using safe, chemical-free makeup? Well, this is where Youngevity mineral makeup comes into play as it's only made from natural ingredients that are safe for the skin - and the whole body as well.

Many times people seek the help of a professional personal injury attorney who guides them through every step of pursuing a personal injury lawsuit. Unlike the criminal cases that are initiated by the government, personal injury lawsuits are usually started by the plaintiff who files a civil complaint against another person, corporation, business or government agency who acts as the defendant.

Does your facility have pipes? If so, those pipes need labels. While pipe labeling may seem like a confusing process with many requirements, it doesn't have to be difficult. Starting with a plan will make your pipe-labeling project easier and more organized. Then once your facility's pipes are labeled, you'll see communication about pipes improve. Using visuals like labels makes communication direct and simple, and it reduces the need for asking questions about pipe contents. Before you begin marking pipes, you should understand the basics of pipe marking. Take a look at these seven things you should know before you begin the pipe-marking process. 1. Workers Need to See Pipe Labels, and So Do Emergency Personnel Labeling pipes will primarily help your workers and any maintenance personnel who may need to service pipes. Therefore, you'll want to keep this main audience in mind when you establish your pipe labeling system. It's possible you'll have additional people who enter your facility and need to know what's in your pipes, though. In an emergency situation like a fire, emergency responders may need to know which pipes contain fire-quenching liquids. If an accident involving a pipe containing chemicals occurs, an emergency response team would quickly need to know what chemicals it's dealing with. Because these additional members of the community may be reading your pipe labels, it's important to follow industry standards for pipe labeling instead of having an internal system that only your workers understand. 2. Colors Should Be Standardized Pipe Marking, Pipe Labels To make it easy for workers, emergency responders and other pertinent personnel to read and understand pipe labels, the labels should be color-coded according to the ANSI/AMSE 13.1 standard. The standard assigns six main colors for pipe contents: Yellow Background with Black Text - Flammable Fluids & Gasses Red Background with White Text - Fire-Quenching Fluids Orange

Lean Six Sigma for Non Profits We always like to hear about people applying business methodologies and mechanics in arguably unorthodox ways or markets, and today I stumbled across a LinkedIn discussion that happens to exemplify exactly that sentiment. User William Falquero seemed to be onto something interesting as he posed a question for other professionals: Could non-profit organizations benefit from Lean Six Sigma thinking? If so, how would they be implemented, what would the challenges of this sort of endeavor be? Only a few users jumped in right off the bat, but, lucky for our purposes today, they were some critical thinkers with some useful insight and examples to offer up. Today, we're going to take an in-depth look at the use of Lean and Six Sigma thinking and tools within non-profit and charity organizations. Are Charities Good Candidates for Lean? One of the first and most important things to establish when considering implementation of Lean in any company or organization is to figure out how they could benefit from the systems. In the case of charities, one user points out that room for improvement from Lean is readily apparent simply in the mindsets of the people who work at them: "The sweat and tears the non-profit workers and volunteers shed and the effort they put forward is focused on those they serve, with less thought on HOW they are served" This is what Richard Petty had to say of an organization he actually had the experience of implementing Six Sigma with. One thing he goes on to highlight and elaborate on is the fact that many volunteers and non-profit workers are so focused on those they want to help that they may get blinded as to the mechanisms that can take them there (and these are the places opportunities for improvement present themselves). Even in other more traditional workplaces, we see this sort of "tunnel vision" as fairly common: It can be hard to get workers to take a step back from the endgame results they're

Improving and Implementing Safety Lean Manufacturing Safety Lean ManufacturingWhen people look at facility improvement opportunities they often look at process improvement methodologies, such as Lean Manufacturing. Another thing that is commonly reviewed is facility safety improvements. In many cases, however, they don't see that using lean manufacturing techniques can often also provide safety improvements. Thinking about safety lean manufacturing will allow you to make improvements throughout your facility in a way that will not only reduce waste and increase profitability, but also help improve safety at the same time. The following are five examples of how lean can directly improve safety within your facility. According to DesignSafe's document on, Integrating Safety and Lean Manufacturing Safety must not be viewed as a separate activity that is a non value-added effort with objectives contrary to lean concepts. Elimination of waste can also be interpreted as the elimination or minimization of risk that adversely affects wasted human resources and lost time from injuries. Lean imperatives of faster, better, and cheaper must encompass the issue of running safer as well. Safety Lean Manufacturing - Top 5 ways to Combine Them 1. Eliminate Overproduction to Reduce Unnecessary Interaction with Machines Safety Lean Manufacturing OverproductionOne important focus for lean manufacturing is the elimination of over production. While this is mainly done to help eliminate waste, it will also make for a safer facility because people won't be working on the machines as much. Any interaction with the machine is an opportunity for an accident, so this is a good move for safety too. Look also at the fact that when people are spending more hours working at a machine, they are likely to be more fatigued, which increases the risk for accidents and injuries. 2. Listening to Employees Improvement Ideas One of the trademarks of a good lean manufacturing program is t

Even though pipe marking is an essential practice when it comes to safety in any facility with exposed pipes, this practice is often undervalued and sometimes even overlooked by employers. Why? Well, it could be due to a lack of time to pipe mark or it may even be that they don't have the correct supplies to engage in pipe marking, however in many cases, it is often both of those reasons combined with a lack of knowledge concerning appropriate pipe marking. Why is Pipe Marking so Important? ANSI Makes it Easy! Instead of having each and every industrial work environment utilize different methods and rules for pipe marking, ANSI has made it quite simple by providing a set of pipe marking standards which should be in place within every facility which features exposed piping. Let's break down these standards into some smaller, bite size pieces. Color Coding: The color coding of pipes just makes visual acuity of pipes and their contents a little less complicated. According to ANSI the following colors should be used to indicate the contents. Workplace Organization Guide

Safety managers know that everyone seems to have their own thoughts about workplace safety. In most cases, everyone seems to think that their opinion on the subject is a fact that everyone should follow. Whether it is the executive that thinks that workplace safety is largely a waste of money, or the front line employee who thinks that their experience means they don't need to wear the proper safety gear, it can be difficult to overcome people's ideas. David Castella, a marketing associate at ProcessMAP Corporation looks at all these myths in the industry in a blog post. In it, he asks for input about which ones but safety professionals the most, and which ones make their jobs most difficult. Common Workplace Safety Myths In the blog post, Mr. Castella touches on a number of myths that can lead to a loss of safety in the workplace. Some of the key myths he covered include: Workplace Safety Isn't Worth the Time - Many people in both management positions and front line employees think that safety is a waste of time. Helping to show them why this is a myth is one of the most difficult parts of a workplace safety manager's job. Slip & Falls Can't be Stopped - People often think of slip and fall accidents as events that can be reduced in frequency, but not eliminated. While it is certainly a hard task to eliminate them, that should always be the goal in every workplace. There is no such thing as a Perfectly Safe Workplace - This one is similar to the previous myth. When people state that it is impossible to have a perfectly safe workplace, it is essentially giving up. When you have a goal of perfection, you'll always be striving to make improvements. It is well worth your time to read through the blog post as he brings up a number of important points, and provides evidence to debunk these and other myths. When Mr. Castella posted this post to the Safety, Health, Environmental, Risk and Community Management group on LinkedIn, it generated some very in

In the business world, there is a constant need and desire for improvement. It doesn't matter whether a business specializes in the market of rare auto parts or in making the best enchiladas. The plain and simple truth is that improving business practices to meet the ever-changing and diverse needs of society is essential to the success of any business endeavor. However, with all this change and improvement often comes a little struggle. Sometimes business processes are changed so radically that employees struggle with the changes if they are not adequately informed about what changes are taking place or how the changes actually benefit the specific process or end product. Furthermore, in some cases the problem is not with the employees at all, but instead embedded within the actual process changes. When looking into making improvement changes, it is important to really take the time to evaluate the changes fully to make sure that they are win-win for both the employees and the desired business objectives. Employee Involvement In the improvement process, there are often many things to consider especially such as metrics, data, resources, etc. However, it is important to make sure that employees are also considered within the grand scheme of things. There are times when businesses make essential changes that are needed to stay current with the changing times, but often neglect to involve the actual employees in the process of determining changes, or in the reasoning why specific changes were made. This can leave employees feeling a bit resentful and also leave processes lacking in certain important fundamentals. For instance, the top managers in a business make the decision to improve a production line within the factory because many of the machines were getting older and not handling the work as effectively as needed. In order to update the production line to new standards, new machines were installed and tweaks were made to previous processes in order to help

While lockdown and shelter in place orders continue in many parts of the world amidst the coronavirus crisis; horror fans have turned to video streaming platforms. With a constantly changing catalog of titles to watch, the choice of what to watch next can feel overwhelming. How many times have you aimlessly wandered around the film or TV library looking for something to grab your attention? Netflix is increasingly becoming a staple option in many homes, with its use rising and viewers spending more time on the platform while confined to their homes. Often films and television shows are available across multiple countries on the streaming service - but sometimes this is not the case. With complex licensing deals and the enormous task of negotiating distribution in various locations - often some hidden horror gems don't make it to the USA. Even major titles and established franchises sometimes see US distribution by Netflix end, while still being available to stream in other locations. Outside the big releases, smaller and independent horror content may distribute locally and will never be available to residents of the US. We are going to take a look at some of the films available on Netflix outside of the USA - and explain how to access them inside America. US movie fans who have exhausted the selection of horror available to them are turning to VPN services to access a more diverse range of horror films and shows. A Netflix VPN works by changing the user's IP address, allowing them to access content as though browsing from a different country than their own. They can view and screen films exclusive to Canada, the UK, Japan, and more in the same manner users in these countries would. If you have been thinking about expanding your knowledge of international horror; this could be a perfect solution. So, what's available outside of the US that horror fans will want to check out?

There's no doubt about it, we're surrounded by technology and submit to an awful lot of data collection in return for the convenience factor. Even those of us who consider ourselves tech-savvy and try to keep track of our digital privacy can slip up from time to time. Here are five privacy risks you may not know about and five solutions. Incognito mode is not secure, or private A common assumption is that using a browser's incognito mode means any activity is untracked and hidden. That's not the case, incognito mode merely means your search history is not kept with your standard search history. Solution: VPN encryption Use a VPN to secure connections and effectively hide your internet activity, including your IP address. Google is tracking your purchases It may produce the world's most powerful browser, but Google has a lot to answer for when it comes to online privacy. The tech giant's email client even retains your purchase history. Solution: Stop using Chrome and Gmail The only real way to avoid Google's long and all-pervasive reach is to avoid all of their products. Ditch Chrome, Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and everything Google produced. If that's a step too far for you, try and delete your purchase history (https://myaccount.google.com/purchases) although, that's easier said than done. Free VPNs sell your data Users may think they're being clever and retaining their privacy by using a VPN at all times. However, if you're using a free VPN you're risking your data being used as a commodity. Many free VPNs collect then sell your information. Solution: Switch to a secure paid service Using a paid and trustworthy VPN can guarantee the security of your information. Risk: Google "skim-reads" your emails This well-documented practice has been happening for some time. Google's algorithms skim email messages for information about purchases, trips, flights, and more. Solution: Switch email clients The only real solution here is to avoid Google acro

Summer is coming. On a hot summer afternoon, the body goes out with the necessary water along with sweat while we are busy with our daily work. In that case, when the body is tired in extreme heat, only coconut water can give relief very quickly.