Use this in 5S Class

Please go out and fail at something today. And then figure out how to do better and then do it again.

Use these in our CI Class

A 2 second improvement

With the process interface in mind, we must ask why one more time to cascade from operator error, down to specific actionable topics. Here are some examples of these actionable topics

It's often easier to describe what lean isn't than what it is. Lean isn't about being spartan, skinny or stingy. It isn't about slash-and-burn cost cutting, reducing headcount or beating up suppliers to get the lowest price. Being lean means systematically removing anything impeding the free flow of value to the receiving party. Lean innovation isn't about doing more with less; it's about doing better with less. That might sound like a nuance, but think about it: You've undoubtedly said "no more" many times, even about something good. When was the last time you said, "Let's not have better"? There's no limit on better.

Einstein was quoted as having said that "if I had one hour to save the world I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution." This quote illustrates the importance that before jumping right into solving a problem, we should step back and invest time and effort to improve our understanding of the problem. The first step is to define the problem and we should do so SMART-ly.

Good primer on PFMEA's

What's the point of the morning meeting? Paul Akers says it is about building a team. You can not build a team when the leader is talking. The leader must ask employees questions so they talk. When employees talk you are building a team.  What do you ask? Ask them "what bugs you?" Problems are not the employees fault. Management is to blame.

We are all faced with problems to solve in our workday. There are many problem-solving methods, and the six-step method is just one of them. The problem for most people is that they do not use one process to solve problems and issues or to make decisions. Another problem is that people are not consistent in how they solve problems. They do not find something that works and then do it the same way over and over to be successful. 

One of the foundational principles of kaizen is that one takes many small steps toward the ideal condition, continually. The strength of this approach is that by keeping the steps small it is both psychologically and physically easier to take action, causing a positive feedback loop as people are encouraged to take more small steps. However there are also weakness with kaizen as improving in small steps.

Interesting thoughts about decisions, simplification and lean thinking.

Consider, however: When there are sudden customer orders that must get shipped, or power outages, or fires and other emergencies, most employees come to life and get things done with spirit and enthusiasm. When 33 miners were trapped in a cave-in in Chile in 2010, the experts estimated that, with luck, they might possibly be rescued in four months. The rescue crews in fact got them all to the surface in two months. When Apollo 13 was aborted, programmers re-wrote some software in three days instead of the usual three months. These must-do situations all have some common elements that evoke the remarkable performance: A sharply focused, urgent goal A very tight deadline Autonomous team encouraged to experiment Results clearly noticed and celebrated Our experience shows that by designing jobs with these game-like characteristics and infusing a spirit of fun it is possible to enliven work and produce the kind of high-level, zesty behavior provoked by crises.

CLOSED MITT is an acronym used to categorize waste. It expands on the traditional '7 Wastes' that are frequently used in lean efforts.

Good article about how to use 5S to solve problems.

Kinda Cool presentation!

"I spent so much time putting out fires until I realized I was the oxygen." - John Toussaint, MD Unfortunately, a far too common management style in many companies is the reactionary style commonly referred to as fire fighting. But fire fighting consumes an organization's resources and damages productivity. Fire fighting derives from what seems like a reasonable set of rules--investigate all problems, for example, or assign the most difficult problems to your best troubleshooter. Ultimately, however, fire-fighting organizations fail to solve problems adequately. Fire fighting prevents us from getting to the root cause. And if we don't get to the root of problem we will be right back to fire fighting soon.

How do you fill in the blank? Your answer to this ques­tion has a tremen­dous impact on the deci­sions you make, how you lead and ulti­mately the results you get in busi­ness and in life. I have asked sev­eral audi­ences this ques­tion over the past few months, and the responses have been every­thing from fail­ure defines me to fright­ens me to teaches me and aids me.