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An andon light, in its most common use, is a status indicator for a work area. It generally has green, yellow, and red lights in a stack. As the operator experiences abnormal conditions, he or she lights a different color. The colors have meaning. Yellow might be a call for Read more…
A bimodal distribution is a distribution that has two separate and distinct peaks in it. A distribution of a data set describes the relative frequency of the occurrence of outcomes within each defined set of ranges. The term “bimodal” comes from the prefix “bi” meaning two. “Modal” comes from the Read more…
Drum-Buffer-Rope is a production theory derived by Dr. Eli Goldratt in his book, The Goal. In it, he advocates production according to the pace set by a single machine (the drum) with linked production (the rope). He also promotes keeping a buffer in front of the machine that acts as Read more…
Setup is the process of preparing a machine to run a product. Some of the steps of a setup must be done while a machine is shut off. That is known as internal setup. External setup is when the steps to get the machine ready to run a different part Read more…
The 100-mile rule for meetings and projects is a mental tool for deciding whether to interrupt a person for a problem. In a nutshell, if the issue is big enough that you would call the person back to handle it if the meeting was a hundred miles away, it is Read more…
The word “Can’t” is not compatible with continuous improvement. It is surprising how many things that “can’t” be done get accomplished by people and teams when they actually try. “Can’t” becomes an excuse for not attempting. It also is frequently treated as gospel when people say something “can’t be done.” Read more…
A facilitator is an individual who instructs, coaches, and guides project teams towards their continuous improvement objectives. This person may be facilitating as a secondary role or as their primary function. They may also be an employee of the company that they are coaching, or they may be an individual Read more…
Metrics come in two basic flavors. One option is to measure the results of a process. This confirms that you did the right things and that you are on track. The problem, though, is that results metrics are lagging indicators. The activities that led to these results happened in the Read more…
Machines are essential to production environments, but not all machines are created equal. The impact of breakdowns varies widely. Because resources are limited, it is important to have a strategy to manage machines according to how critical they are to the operation and how hard they are to repair. An Read more…
An assignable cause is a type of variation in which a specific activity or event can be linked to inconsistency in a system. In effect, it is a special cause that has been identified. As a refresher, common cause variation is the natural fluctuation within a system. It comes from Read more…
Reproducibility is the ability of a process to be duplicated by multiple people. This concept is understood and highly valued in both the scientific method and when creating measurement systems. In fact, in gauge R&R, one of the “R’s” stands for reproducibility (the other is repeatability). We recognize that a Read more…
Reliability is the ability of a process, machine, or measurement system to perform as intended over time. There is an underlying assumption that at one point, the ability to provide good results existed. The most common cause of a drop in reliability is the degradation of equipment. As machines wear Read more…