I was freshening up my draft of the brand entry for The Continuous Improvement Companion (click this link to go to its online Lean Dictionary), and thought it would make a good, quick post for the Gotta Go Lean blog. What came to mind? The fact that most people don’t immediately associate Lean Read more…
The concept of amortization is that the initial payment for an intangible asset does not always correspond to the useful life of that asset. For example, let’s assume that your company bought the rights to a brand, such as “Twinkies”. That would be a sizeable expense that has to be Read more…
Metrics are the measurements that companies use to help a team meet its goals. Metrics are formal. They should be clearly defined and tracked regularly. More importantly, metrics should be acted upon. Tracking information without doing anything with it is demoralizing to teams and consumes resources that would be better Read more…
Machine cycle time is the time a machine actually requires to produce one unit of output. Machine cycle time has three basic components. It has the time to load the machine, the actual machining or machine time, and the unloading time. Machine cycle time seems like a simple concept, but Read more…
Line balancing is the act of balancing the cycle times of the workers on a production line to the takt time. When everyone has a cycle time that matches the takt time, work flows efficiently. If a line is not balanced, it either has waiting waste where team members are Read more…
Cycle time reduction is the strategy of lowering the time it takes to perform a process in order to improve productivity. In addition, cycle time reduction often improves quality. When a cycle time is too close to the takt time, there is little margin for error. If a process is Read more…
Batch manufacturing is the traditional form of manufacturing where production is completed in lots of various size, and the lots are passed along en masse to the next step. Typically, layouts in batch manufacturing are done by function—a weld shop, a paint shop, a fabrication shop, etc. Another name for Read more…
Skew, in layman’s terms, means that data is distorted. The data points don’t fall evenly around the center of a distribution. Consider this example. Assume ten people are in a room, and you want to know what their average household income is. If this was a typical cross section of Read more…
Seasonality is the regular pattern of peaks and valleys related to the time of year. Seasonality may be due to weather. Umbrellas, for example, sell best in rainy seasons; skis sell best in the winter. Seasonality may also be due to recurring annual events and holidays. Christmas means toy sales Read more…
Layoffs, also called downsizing, are terminations of employees because of a lack of work. Layoffs pose a significant risk to Lean and other continuous improvement efforts. If employees get the idea that helping make improvements will cost them their jobs, then they will not want to make things better. Lean Read more…
Initiative is taking action on one’s own. It generally involves going above and beyond a typical job description or working outside of one’s functional area. Many bosses want employees to take more initiative, especially in Lean companies, but fail to establish some of the basic prerequisites. Trust: Employees have to Read more…
Delegation is the act of appointing another person or group, usually a subordinate, to perform a specific task or role. For delegation to be successful, it should include the transfer of power along with the assignment—the authority of the subordinate to act on the boss’s behalf. Lean starts a mass Read more…