Tweddle Continuous Improvement

How do you start a Gemba Walk in your plant? It may seem overwhelming but it doesn't need to be.  Don't walk into the workplace looking for everything.  If you do, you will accomplish nothing while causing confusion. This simple list is a good place to start.  Use this list to build your own Gemba Walk theme.

Our process is different Why people believe this: Most people have a limited view of other processes, and don't see the similarities. Many cultures also value independence, so people are biased towards seeing uniqueness in their processes. The truth: There is a great deal of overlap in processes, and most are not as unique as people think they are. As a Lean consultant, I see new processes and methods with every project, but the majority of the tasks people do are things I've seen before. How to overcome this: Have a couple of go-to people to talk to the group that is experiencing change. They should be people who have recently used Lean to improve their process. Teams believe each other far more than they believe their bosses.

"Many cultures also value independence, so people are biased towards seeing uniqueness in their processes." Certainly our culture!

Agreed Paul.

Interesting idea -- A Kaizen newspaper

Stop rewarding wrong behaviors. We love a hero. On the shop floor, that is the person who miraculously pulls a part from a secret stash, or bypasses a process to 'make things happen.' As long as leaders reward that sort of heroism, there will be little focus on fixing processes.

So, think of standard work more as a verb and less as a noun. Next time when you're at the gemba, take note of the revision date of the standard work sheets and standard work combination sheets. If they haven't been updated and improved over the last quarter or two, then you might have an issue. There's a good chance that you've never left the land of system-driven kaizen.

Some good stuff scattered throughout this article.

Great visual control!

Are Kaizen events simply work-arounds?

I understand the reasoning, but disagree with the premise. Workshops are a unique tool, because of the focused time over days to work on an item.

Who would be willing to conduct an experiment like this?

Interesting, you know that I would be there.

Great story about the power of going to Gemba!

I like the one about problem cards

I also liked the changeover reduction tips and supplier relation tips. Good Stuff!

I believe that understanding and clearly articulating purpose continues to be a challenge for me and the leaders I work with. We still get caught up in the excitement of the change, the new method or the changing business conditions and it does not take us long to lose sight of what we are trying to do in the first place.

Some good tips for Kaizen. We'll incorporate these into our Kaizen Facilitator training.

Below are the 10 main ideas Wakamatsu claims Taiichi Ohno lived by: Wastes hide, so start by disclosing all of your mistakes Discover the truth beyond your understanding Increasing production while limiting the number of workers is the only way to gain true success Act on problems right away and do not procastinate Don't feel satisfied by saying "I finished the job"; go beyond that and say "I can do more" Add "Appropriate Timing" to "Appropriate Method" in problem solving Believe in "I can" and question "I can't" The key to achieving progress is to never give up Don't do work at an average pace; the shortest way is always the easiest Change yourself first, if you want to change someone else

Wastes hide, so start by disclosing all of your mistakes Love it! Act on problems right away and do not procrastinate Great! The key to achieving progress is to never give up Yes! Don't do work at an average pace; the shortest way is always the easiest Amazing! Change yourself first, if you want to change someone else Timeless!

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?"

The first building block contains vitamin C in a threefold dose: Challenge. Constantly be ready and willing to question the status quo and look for better ways. The challenge can be fomented by the envisioned ideal state and/or a specific target condition. It's about closing the gaps. Challenge should provide the "pull" dynamic for improvements. Courage. Be ever willing to test improvement ideas and learn from trial and error. This is foundational to PDCA (they don't call it "PDC"). Lean leaders must actively nurture an environment within which people fearlessly (not recklessly) apply scientific thinking and trystorming. Creativity. Trystorming without creativity is a sterile exercise. We must think and act differently - "Keep on doing what you're doing, keep on getting what you're getting." Unleash the inner MacGyver!

I wonder what it would take to segregate our inventory as Smalley does in the Toyota graphic?