Like many Japanese terms surrounding continuous improvement, there are several slight variations of translations of these three terms. In general, muda is the most commonly used of this group of terms. In practice, it has come to mean “waste”. Muda really means wasteful activity. Mura means the waste of inconsistency Read more…
Often, something occurs over a short period, but needs to be compared to a full year. This is known as annualizing. An example: You are applying for auto insurance, and the agent asks you what your yearly mileage is. You know that you drove 1,000 miles in the last month. Read more…
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is a US government organization that coordinates the creation of voluntary national standards. It is the official US representative to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). More detailed information is available at www.ansi.org. ANSI works towards promoting national standards. These standards help consumers in Read more…
When improving an operation, most people only look at the process. They seldom dive into the manager’s role in running that process. Often, the way a leader behaves can have a substantial impact on how smoothly a process can flow. Watch out for… Managers batching approvals. Most managers do approvals Read more…
In my consulting travels, I often find instances where common sense dictates. Unfortunately, it is not common sense until you open up your boundaries and venture a bit up and down the value stream to see what your internal suppliers and customers are doing. Learn more about ‘looking over the Read more…
Every conflict can be traced back to a gap in expectations. Every single one. Every time. I normally don’t make such definitive statements, but in this case, I am convinced. Every time I have ever had a dispute with someone, whether it was with my wife over who ate the Read more…
I often see people focusing on technical aspects of 5S, rather than the purpose of what 5S is all about. Remember, 5S is intended to create a more productive, effective workspace. Some common errors include: Defining a location for a fixed object. Some people like to outline everything, but I Read more…
The cost of poor quality (COPQ) is the aggregate impact of an organization’s errors and defects on the company. It includes costs associated with scrap, rework, inspection, data management, data collection, redesign, warranty claims, lawsuits, lost sales, loss of reputation, additional inventory, and any other expense that is incurred to Read more…
An interesting story caught my eye today. Apparently, an employee decided not to come to work…for 12 years. Amazingly, the paychecks never stopped. It reminded me of this exchange from the movie ‘Office Space’: Peter Gibbons: …. I uh, I don’t like my job, and, uh, I don’t think I’m Read more…
The Decision Matrix Template is used to simplify the decision-making process and prevent emotional, gut decisions. In short, a decision matrix template helps users grade a set of options against a set of criteria. This template, like most decision matrix templates, includes a weighting system. It puts additional value on Read more…
As I troll the Internet looking for juicy new Lean topics to sink my teeth into, I frequently come across questions from people asking about how to classify tasks as value-added or non value-added. Now, the concept of value-added and non value-added work is great. It is important to understand Read more…