The more quotes I read from this book, the more I want to read it. We have a lot to learn from Ohno. Then, Taiichi Ohno said this in rebuke: "Why did you do only what I had told you to do?" Taiichi Ohno had a label for this type of worker. He called them "Catalog Engineers" and taught vehemently against being one. He said that these types of engineers or workers do not innovate or create - they simply follow instructions from their bosses and from books.

How much do you spend on things that you already have?

While many organizations have generated big returns from process improvement, few have built continuous improvement into their DNA. After a few years, senior executives get distracted by other demands, or new leaders focus on other ways to improve performance. They're like the person who makes a New Year's resolution to go to the gym or try a new diet, rather than fundamentally changing his eating and exercise habits.

A simple technique that we also use here at Tweddle in our Value Stream Maps.

Great Video for Film Festival

Kaizen: FastCap Style

Four solid concepts - good video.

Most process improvement efforts often miss the first step: What is the Purpose of the Process? When that question is asked first, it enables one to then ask an additional question: Should This Process Need to Exist?

The Title was just too funny not to post!

And she is right. It makes no sense, based on her experience, to work hard to expose waste. Unless. Unless you and I, leaders in our organizations, act differently as well. Unless we demonstrate exposing waste gets rewarded, not punished. Unless we walk the talk ourselves. Unless we say thank you. Unless we demonstrate respect for her opinion. That's trust. And, without it, all the waste we so nobly hope to find remains hidden. Keep on learning.

Project Mgt & Lean

The report-out is the beginning of kaizen, not the end. The next phase is not "follow-up." It is a natural continuation, if less intense, of the kaizen process. The report-out is describing an engineering prototype. Now it is time to test it and discover what we didn't know during the design process.

Going to the gemba to understand what is really happening, digging for facts especially when they contradict popular perception, developing a strategy, and communicating that strategy to stakeholders and customers. That's leadership, law enforcement style.

Good article on waste elimination

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.

True visual management goes far beyond having a clean and well-organized factory. Visual management provides real-time information and feedback regarding the status of the plant. It is a company-wide "nervous system" that allows all employees to understand how they affect the factory's overall performance.

But let's be clear what we are striving for. With every improvement we make, we want to converge on the idea of: Batch size of one. Lead time of zero. Zero waste of resources.

This is an interesting concept. They seem to be taking the use of layered process audits in an different direction. I wonder if this would cause us to re-write some of our audits?