Tweddle Continuous Improvement

Sample from Fault Tree Analysis eBook. Developing a Fault Tree in the manner shown in the previous pages is very useful in that everyone is forced to think through logical ways in which events may interact with one another in a complex manner to create an unacceptable incident. However, it can be seen that a tree could quickly become difficult to follow and understand as more events and gates are added. Inspection of Figures 11 and 12 does not give any immediate insights, apart from the hint that AND Gates should be inserted into the Safeguards section. Download the complete book at https://bin95.com/ebooks/fault-tree-analysis.htm

Sample from Discover The Goldmine In Your Maintenance Work Order System Through Analysis. Download entire copy at https://bin95.com/ebooks/maintenance-work-order.htm

How to cust training video cost for in-house training and onboarding potentially 80%! In this example, Lean Manufacturing videos are used. One can apply the training delivery approach to any topic.

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Build a system that loses money if you make defects.

All of us have six basic human needs: consistency, variety, significance, love and belonging, growth, and contribution. These needs are listed in the sequence in which they must be met. Think of each need being the foundation or layer upon which the next need is built. The fulfillment of each need leads to the fulfillment of the next. If a lower level need isn't met, higher level needs also won't be met.

"Think Systemically" is a principle in the Enterprise Alignment dimension of the Shingo Model. Through understanding the relationships and interconnectedness within a system we are able to make better decisions and improvements. This principle is largely based on the pioneering work of Russ Ackoff and Peter Senge. An example of thinking systemically is looking at the entire value stream to make improvements.

Some great articles for us Continuous Improvement Geeks!

Fantastic summary of why process is so important!

When I worked at Toyota, I was instructed to memorize the company's 10 Attitudes. Even now that I have moved on to another company, I find myself drawn to these core values. The following examines which each of these Attitudes means to me personally.

There is, however, another relevant layer: the underlying workflows that dictate what you work on and how this work is executed. For example, if you're a project manager at a consulting firm, and you spend much of your day emailing back and forth with your team members to get answers to questions from your clients, this behavior is an implicit workflow that dictates that asynchronous, unstructured messaging is your preferred method for extracting relevant information from your team.

A customer asked last week whether Gemba Academy had a video comparison of solving a problem using a non-CI approach vs. solving the same problem with some basic CI tools and thought processes. While this is one of our favorite topics and is addressed here and there in blog posts, videos and podcasts, we didn't have this exact module. It is a good suggestion to collect and summarize these in one place. As a first step, here is my draft of the top 10 differences between traditional problem solving and problem solving that is infused with the principles and practices of continuous improvement.

An event-based approach to process improvement can be a great driving force for change in an organization. It's easy to see exactly which parts of the process need to be altered and in what ways when looking at the situation from an event-based perspective, and this can often open up the doors to some interesting optimization possibilities. In many cases, those possibilities simply would not exist when considering the problem from another perspective, e.g. a flow-based approach.

Placing a limit on the work that can be handled by one worker or team at a time will prevent workers from starting new tasks when they still have unfinished tasks. Instead of having people start work on a new task if their current task is blocked or too difficult, the WIP limit will force them to examine why the current task is not moving forward. By establishing the reasons, they can then focus on finding a solution and finishing the task to allow more work to come in and resume the flow of work.

Before moving on to the principles in the Continuous Improvement dimension, I want to introduce a new principle that has been proposed for the Cultural Enablers dimension. For purposes of this blog, I have named this principle "Build a Learning Organization."

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a valuable tool in quality improvement for identifying the underlying causes or facts of a issue or incident so proper solutions can be identified and implemented. It is a tool designed to identify not only what happened and how it happened, but also why. When you truly able to determine the facts of why an event happened, then you be be able to apply workable corrective actions to prevent future events. Some organizations mistakenly interpret the term 'root cause' to mean there is one root cause of an issue.

There are a series of benefits associated with standardized work using lean. When used properly, it can be a very effective tool in your arsenal. However, knowing the reasons as to why it should be implemented will also prove to be essential if we wish to get the best out of your approach. In order to help, we can spend some time examining three different benefits associated with it that may very well assist us in understanding why we may wish to use this tool.

I'm a tool guy, but I get this! Tools don't improve processes; good tools make good processes more efficient. People first; then process improvement; and only then, tools.

By looking at something as simple as cycle time in an introspective manner encourages you to re-examine everything you do rather than just accepting the norm. Just because you believe things are running smoothly doesn't mean that it cannot be improved. But it is something that you will never know unless you are aware of the cycle time concept.