Tweddle Continuous Improvement

The moral? Don't let preconceived notions of what can't be done limit you, whether in football, in life, or in a kaizen.

Excellent point. Very few things at Tweddle carry more preconceived notions than kaizen

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.

gemba-based observers should be able to understand, unassisted, what a given object, process or system is. If relevant, a visual control should also share the subject's purpose, and related operating rules, including a definition of the normal condition (and often, what to do in response to an abnormal condition).

Toast just keeps on giving when it comes to lean training!

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

  You may have to take the "back-door" approach and look for the opposite of waste: work. Work is the value-added activity in the operation.  It is everything that waste is not.  So when you can't see the waste, find the work.

How do Lean organizations develop their employees if Lean considers expenditure of resources other than for creation of value to be wasteful? First, a true lean organization isn't obsessed with waste. If anything, they are obsessed with value.  Waste is anything more than the absolutely minimum required to add value to a product or service; waste is not just anything that doesn't create value. I can't imagine much value can be delivered without the right skills and capabilities in the organization. Therefore, I don't think there is any conflict between developing employees and waste elimination. Second, a lean organization thinks about the total system, and thinks long term. There is a constant pursuit of the knowledge between cause and effect. All of that means that there is a strong understanding of the performance impact (effect) of more talented and skilled people (cause). Third, people think too narrowly about how they develop their people that they think it all must cost dollars, because it is all about training. I'm not suggesting that you should stop training; I've rarely seen an organization that is over-trained. What I'm suggesting is that the increase in developing people come from coaching and experimentation. These two sources of development are very powerful when done consistently and for the long-term.

no matter if you choose to seek certification or not… I encourage you to do something. In the end I really believe that if you constantly seek knowledge with a humble heart while working to help others… you will not go wrong.

"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

"Dust accumulates to form a mountain." (chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru). While this may not be geologically correct, it carries a deep truth that lean practitioners will recognize through experience. Taken positively, this is the essential spirit of kaizen, that small changes repeated over time result in massive improvements. Taken negatively, it means that small, persistent losses result in huge losses.

Another great Fastcap video!

"The foundation for transparent thinking is the elimination of a blaming and shaming culture"

I agree - it is a must read

Cool video!

The scene from the movie is funny and the article has some great questions.

And I love the Monty Python metaphor. That gives me the idea to use the black knight scene in the next team meeting to demonstrate how once your future state becomes current state a new future state must be identified and targeted. "None shall pass!"

The lesson: waste doesn't get eliminated until someone asks why is it there!

Great story...

One piece flow for Continuous Improvement - How often are we improving?

Constantly!

Does this cause us to re-think the way we do Kaizen?

Where is the gap? Creating a persistent continuous improvement mentality rather than a Kaizen "event" mentality?

I think that is what he is trying to communicate. However, I believe that there is room for both approaches.

In business, we tend to assume that crisis will either not occur, or when it does will be within our domain of being able to handle it… but we get surprised and our problem solving skills are stretched to the breaking point. Why? Because we have never really practiced those skills, and if we have, we have not been critical enough of how we went about solving routine problems, and we are sloppy.

Toyota has an average 14 mistake-proofing devices at EVERY workstation. You should, too! Go ahead and take away the opportunity to make a judgment error, an identification error, an entry error - the list goes on forever.