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"Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."

To get things going, there are seven concepts you need to work your process improvement plan around:

1. Always ask why. Question why we do what we do. Is there a better way?
2. Eliminate can't. Anything can be changed! Anything can be done!
3. Just do it. Be confident and have an action-oriented attitude.
4. Discard conventional thinking.
5. Question the current situation. Don't make excuses.
6. Do not seek perfection - 51% chance is good enough.
7. Seek the wisdom of ten people, rather than the knowledge of one.

Where you have perfect information, you don't need any buffer stock.  The less reliable information you have, the more inventory you need to hold.  On a basic level there are two pieces of information needed:  the reliability of the supplier to deliver to you and the stability of the demand from the customer.  Inventory is a buffer for fluctuations in these two components of the supply chain.

Sorry for the double post. However, I think that this article really gives voice to our inability to imagine a path to single piece flow. We have to have reliably consistent customer demand. What could we do next?

Do what Toyota does - "How much inventory would we have to hold to account for variability in customer demand?"

If our process is perfect today, and everyone continues their job, waste will still increase. Why? There are perhaps many reasons, but none more undeniable than the fact that conditions change. Data changes, regulation changes, customer expectations change, and of course even the people in the organization change. Every one of these changes affects the conditions under which our process was designed for perfection.

Throw out all of your fixed ideas about how to do things. 2. Think of how the new method will work - not how it won't. 3. Don't accept excuses. Totally deny the status quo. 4. Don't seek perfection. A 50 percent implementation rate is fine as long as it's done on the spot. 5. Correct mistakes the moment they're found. 6. Don't spend a lot of money on improvements. 7. Problems give you a chance to use your brain. 8. Ask "why?" at least five times until you find the root cause. 9. Ten people's ideas are better than one person's. 10. Improvement knows no limit.

Putting people and tools on the line to catch defects created by another process is a sign of not showing respect in the inherent capability of the people to do good work. Instead, management has to spend time and energy in creating processes that are capable and can catch errors and mistakes by themselves leading to continuous improvement. Dr. Shigeo Shingo preached these concepts when he talked about zero quality control. According to Dr. Shingo, we cannot achieve the aim of zero defects until we make each element of the process capable to produce perfect quality by ensuring the errors and mistakes are quickly identified and corrected before they lead to defects. His idea of poka-yoke and source checking are exactly in line with this principle.

How could we avoid this from happening with our cross check process?

Let's set it as a vision and then design in 6-8 month improvement targets. The vision can be a year or two out and we can steadily march toward the vision with incremental targets.

Zero defects is a philosophy of Lean. It simply means that every process should be designed so that it is impossible to produce poor quality. The underlying premise, which is true in nearly every case, is that the cost of preventing problems is lower than the cost of fixing them.

"Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great." - John D. Rockefeller An essential element in Lean thinking is Kaizen.  Kaizen is the Japanese word for continuous improvement or change for the better.  As no process can ever be declared perfect, there is always room for improvement.  Kaizen involves building on gains by continuing experimentation and innovation. The cycle of kaizen activity can be defined as: Standardize process Measure the standardized process Analyze measurements against requirements Innovate to meet requirements and increase productivity Standardize the new, improved process Continue cycle infinitely Kaizen involves every employee - from upper management to operators. Everyone is encouraged to come up with small improvement suggestions on a regular basis. This is not a once a month or once a year activity. It is continuous. Kaizen is based on making little changes on a regular basis: always improving productivity, safety and effectiveness while reducing waste.  The western philosophy is often summarized as, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." However, the Kaizen philosophy is to "do it better, make it better, improve it even if it isn't broken, because if we don't, we can't compete with those who do."

"Don't be afraid to give up the good for the great." - John D. Rockefeller