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Perhaps a little hard to tell, but there's an identical air conditioning unit in every single little office. Hundreds of them (it's a large building). I saw similar examples with large apartment buildings. Is central air a waste? Sure there's some production efficiency in large-scale utilities - wait did I just say that? But how much of that efficiency is wasted when it is delivered to areas that don't necessarily need it. Would smaller units that can be easily turned off create greater aggregate system efficiency? Aggregate "actual in use" efficiency vs. the "large scale production efficiency"? It's the same issue that electric cars and makers of single-home power plants (solar, geo, etc) are wrestling with.

I don't know about this one.

Super fast document creation.

A push system, where work is foisted upon a department from the outside, by its very nature will lead to overloading a system and exploding lead times. A pull system, where work is taken from a pile of projects by the people doing the work when they're ready for it, ensures that the department matches inputs and outputs for maximum efficiency. Interestingly, this approach is rare. There's a tendency in the office environment to treat "production" capacity as infinite. Partly this tendency is due to people's willingness to work late into the night or on weekends. Partly this tendency is due to the difficulty of calculating how much time a particular project will take. Inherent in knowledge work is the inability to take a project to completion in a smooth, uninterrupted flow.

Pick a process to start and "pull"

How about JT production. JTs are currently pushed into the Planning Dept from Program Mgt. Let's see how we would install a pull system.

The implementation of a certain tool may bring about on-time and on-budget performance, but the tool must also be used efficiently once it has been implemented. It is all very well to have nice tools; however, it is the behavior of leaders and employees that will determine the final results. An insight from the Shingo Model™ explains it beautifully: "Only via ideal behavior we can achieve ideal results." If we want to have a 100% safe environment, we want to see the staff talk to each other if they see unsafe behavior. Do you want to achieve a culture of continuous improvement? If you do, you should look for new items to constantly place on the improvement board, and you should see tips and tricks shared spontaneously. As leaders, we want to set a good example; and if a leader sees inefficient behavior among his/her employees, he/she must speak to them about this in the correct manner. But how do we get the ideal behavior that we want to see in our organization?

Kanban, which was originally modeled after a Toyota Production System, means "billboard" or "signboard" in Japanese. Scheduling systems like Kanban help to eliminate wasted resources, help people make more efficient use of their time, build stronger and more robust businesses, and improve current designs. This way, future businesses are able to reap the reward of previous experiences, solutions, and expertise. 

The answer to why Kanban is so effective in helping people and businesses DO THINGS BETTER actually has more than one part. We'll be listing a few of these parts below.

Why does it seem that there is never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do something over?  If you want to be a proactive organization it will pay huge dividends if everyone concentrates on doing their job right the first time - even if it takes a little longer to make sure it is right.  And by doing it right the first time, you not only increase your company's efficiencies, but you can also have an immediate impact on customer loyalty, retention and overall profits.

I see many applications at Tweddle for checklists.

Just make things flow as smoothly and efficiently as you can envision. Develop the flow as though a single person were performing the entire process from start to finish. Make it as smooth as possible for this person. No back tracking, no awkward motions. Everything is where it needs to be, when it needs to be there.

This would be a great approach for the integration of creative / content management / DID exercise that you have been working on.

Visual Management Systems should be simple, obvious, efficient, and effective. Thus was the case at a recent visit to a Mexican Restaurant in Utah called Cafe Rio.

The more steps you have in a process, the more waste you'll have. No matter how smooth, efficient, and well-designed the process, more steps (and more people) means more waste.

It seems that since the beginning of time we've all learned, "Lean is about continuously developing people and improving processes to create and flow value to customers using the least possible resources required." Value of products and services is created through a series of work processes, some which create value and some that definitely do not (think of rework, inspection, waiting and expedited shipping). One objective of operational excellence and lean is to eliminate non-value added work to improve the flow of value to our customers, the result of which is shorter delivery cycles and higher levels of quality. Some people describe this as "creating value as efficiently and effectively as possible." 

Leaders should adopt a 'gemba mentality' Firstly, leaders on a gemba walk need to realise that they cannot and should not provide the answers and solutions to the problems they encounter. They are primarily there to coach the process owners to take ownership of solving problems and developing solutions to make the process more effective and efficient, while also eliminating waste. It is the leader's role to ensure that all the people who are involved in the process are actively engaged in improving it.

The disorganized accumulation of papers and coffee cups scattered across your desk may help you project the impression that you're working at full throttle, but in fact it's probably dragging you down. We've found that people sitting at messy desks are less efficient, less persistent, and more frustrated and weary than those at neat desks.

OK - this is a challenging topic for me.

What's challenging about it?

Time management is not always all it's cracked up to be. Most people who follow time management programs find that they actually decrease their productivity and effectiveness. If you want to get things done, focus less on managing time and more on yourself and the things you're working to accomplish.

Do one task, to completion, before moving on to the next.

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.