Tweddle Continuous Improvement

The fact is that a company does not have to be respectful of its employees and customers in order to be successful. Some can treat their workers and clients with disdain and a lack of respect and still remain profitable…for a while, at least. In the end, it turns out that being respectful is not only the right thing to do, but is also good for business.

Some good tips on Continuous Improvement

Questions to unstick you!

Good article on root cause analysis

Interesting article about how to use Standards.

So, I've got a new question - "Do you see what I see?"
Yes, I know it's three times longer than, "So what?" But, I think it's equally as weighty. (Heck, we can abbreviate it as DYSWIS?)
Here's two ways DYSWIS? can be applied in a lean context.

Perhaps, rather than "looking for waste" we ought to be looking at what few things make a big difference. Just a thought.

Sounds like Switch might be a good read. Has anybody read it?

Yes, and it is a great one! I would highly recommend it.

Unclutterer.com is a fascinating, intensive site dedicated to improving personal productivity and quality of life by the elimination of unnecessary stuff.  The site's dozens of topics range from bedroom and kitchen, to college dorm, office, and general productivity and time management.

Pre-bankruptcy, they (GM) used to collect data from automotive markets around the world, analyze it, and assemble it into large powerpoint decks that circulated every month to 150 recipients. Suspecting that nobody read them, Girsky ordered the report suspended for one month. When only a handful of complaints came in, Girsky discontinued the report.

Brilliant!

After 4 posts about value stream mapping, I thought it would be useful to show a value stream map example. It's easier to learn by seeing examples of how other people use this lean tool.

Some Kaizen Charter advice

Watch the video - does this look familiar? I'm entering the Help Desk ticket today!

Simple example of a defect board.

How could we replicate this?

Why was the trimming of the email inboxes important? When inboxes are gorged with junk like Las Vegas-era Elvis, the terrible "signal to noise" ratio makes it difficult to identify and respond to what's truly important. Moreover, each email contains information and ideas that are part of the value streams that flow through the staff. When that information gets stuck in someone's inbox - when the value stream stops flowing - you're looking at nothing more than another form of excess inventory. Awesome point!

Could we do a workshop with one department, and implement some of these ideas plus some of the departments ideas? Could this be an initiative for the 5-S team? Could we add some of these suggestions to Time Management? I think that all are possible approaches. Which shall we try first?

I was in a conversation today and we ended up boiling 5S down to three key points:

You have everything you need.
You need everything you have.
You can see everything clearly belongs where it is.

How could we begin to train our Leaders (that means me, you & anybody who is responsible for people) to do this? I will place this on the Employee Development Agenda.

This is a concept that has always intrigued me, but I must confess that It is tough for me to see a clear path from here to implementation. I look forward to the conversation.

Some useful ways to think through metrics. I wonder how different metrics might drive customer innovation?

How could we use this? Too often 5S, kaizen, standardization and checking our own work or the work of others begins with enthusiasm as a new management program but soon becomes a routine and neglected "nice to have". Putting 5S and kaizen together as the "6T practice" positions them as essential daily "must haves" behaviors. Placing the record of completing these duties on the clip board on the food service floor within reach of the customer is an excellent way to link practice with purpose.

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.