Lean principles are the guiding concepts that drive the basic behaviors of an organization. While many Lean advocates create their own unique set of principles, the most famous were first presented by James Womack and Daniel Jones in their book Lean Thinking. The 5 Principles of Lean Specify value. This Read more…
Yokoten is a Japanese term that loosely translates into “horizontal deployment”. Essentially, it is the spreading of information across the organization. A key point to this is that it is not just the result that is shared, but also the process that led to the result. Most organizations have numerous Read more…
Value stream analysis is one of the steps in the value stream mapping process. The first step is to create a current state value stream map. This is simply a snapshot in time of the current conditions of an organization. Once the map is complete, however, you must decide what Read more…
Frontline employees are the people who do the ongoing production work in an organization. While the range and skills of frontline employees vary widely, most of the entry-level jobs within the company fall into this category. That is not to say all frontline jobs are entry-level. There are many senior Read more…
Shojinka is a form of flexible manufacturing, where the number of workers vary to match demand requirements. This is obviously superior to a static system that staffs work areas without consideration for fluctuations in production requirements. Being able to reassign people to exactly where they are needed will help keep Read more…
Welcome to Episode 1 of “Talking Lean” with Jeff Hajek (me) and Tim McMahon (from the “A Lean Journey” blog). This show is intended to be a buffet of Lean bites. Tim and I both have a variety of features that we regularly post on our websites. Unfortunately, great content such as this can get lost in a sea of Lean noise.
A key requirement in a Lean operation is to make abnormal conditions stand out. Obviously, to recognize abnormal, you must also understand what normal is. Nominal conditions define your standard and let you see that you are operating within acceptable limits. Note that the term “nominal conditions” is not one Read more…
A variation of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (AKA the Deming Cycle), RIPS stands for Review-Implement-Prove-Standardize, and is a proven method of continuously improving Standard Work and other forms of process standardization. Processes should not be static. There should be a constant scrutiny on how to make them better. The best people Read more…
Setup time is the time it takes to reconfigure a machine to run a different part. Setup consists of two basic categories. Internal setup time. This type of setup time requires that a machine be shut down to do the tasks required to get ready for a different product. This Read more…
TIMWOOD is a mnemonic device used to help people remember the different forms of waste associated with Lean. These seven wastes are widely accredited to Taiichi Ohno. The TIMWOOD Acronym Transportation: Moving materials from one place to another is a waste of transportation. Inventory: Anything more than immediately necessary to Read more…
The concept of perfection provides one of the great philosophical quandaries of Lean. Like most continuous improvement disciplines, Lean promotes the relentless pursuit of waste reduction. It also pushes the concept of zero defects. The problem though, is that perfection is unattainable. No matter how good an operation becomes there Read more…
Appreciation is the increase in value of an item over time. In most cases, physical things lose value over time. Clothing, electronic equipment, and most automobiles lose value from the moment they leave the factory. Some items, though, rise in value. One only has to look at an antique shop Read more…