Guidance is the way that a leader or mentor provides assistance to another person to help her reach her goals. Guidance is more general in nature than specific directions. The goal is to help a person make a good decision on her own, not to tell her what to do. In Lean, using guidance rather than detailed directions is important. Lean thrives when leaders are able to give their team a goal and let them Read more…
A simple definition of goal setting is that it is the act of declaring something that you want to achieve and putting some specific parameters around the end result. It includes the who, what, when, where, and why. This goal setting definition, though, is overly simplistic. Goal setting has a large component of an art form to it. It requires knowing yourself and your team and having a realistic understanding of everyone’s capabilities. Goals have Read more…
Setting expectations is part of the relationship building process. Whether between a boss and a subordinate, or a Lean advocate and the rest of the company, relationships are formed by what one party expects from the other. One of the things that sets the human mind apart from that of animals is our ability to look into the future. That is generally a good thing, but there is one challenge that can come from this. Read more…
Diminishing returns happen when resource (time, effort, money, space) yields less output than it did at an earlier time. In math jargon, diminishing returns happen when the productivity curve starts to flatten out. Diminishing returns are essentially the inverse of the Pareto 80/20 Principle. Once the 80% of gains are made with 20% of the effort, what are you left with? The final 20% percent of the improvements will take many times more effort than Read more…
A decision is a choice between two competing or alternative options. We make countless decisions each and every day—what to wear, what to eat, the route to take to work. Some decisions are made so rapidly that they are virtually automatic. You make a decision every time you adjust the steering wheel on the car, surf the internet, and carry on a conversation. Almost every decision you make takes no conscious thought. It is a Read more…
Criticism is negative feedback about something. At work, criticism can be about personal performance or a process.
In a Lean culture, discussing problems is an essential part of making improvements. The key to success at addressing these issues is to make every attempt to separate the failure of a person from the failure of a process.
I am a devotee of 5S. I love what 5S does for my effectiveness at work. I keep things organized, make my workspace support what I do, and prioritize all my ‘tools’ (books, computer peripherals, etc.) so the most important things are at arm’s reach. Despite that, I still constantly struggle with keeping the flat surfaces in my office free of miscellaneous items. I do well when an area is clear, but as soon as Read more…
A Standard Work Combination Sheet (SWCS) is also known as a Standard Work Combination Chart, or a Standardized Work Combination Table. Regardless of what you call it, it is one of the most critical documents to your Lean success. Standard Work Combination Sheets goes hand-in-hand with Standard Work Sheets. In essence, the Standard Work Combination Sheet shows workflow on a graph and clearly depicts: walking waiting machine time operator cycle time The Standard Work Combination Read more…
The Standard Work Sheet is a staple form for Lean Manufacturing. It provides a graphical view of the workstation, the path of the operator, and the amount of standard work-in-process required to keep the process flowing smoothly. This form goes hand-in-hand with the Standard Work Combination Sheet. Directions for the Standard Work Sheet Fill out all header and footer information. Draw the layout of the work area as close to scale as you can. You Read more…
Let me ask you this question about the benefit of Lean. Is jogging a mile harder than sprinting a quarter mile? That’s the basic problem with pitching Lean as making a job easier. It’s not always an apples-to-apples comparison. Sure, Lean makes tasks easier. But the entire job might actually get more strenuous. This is most common when a job starts with a lot waste of either walking or waiting in it. The hardest parts of Read more…
There’s a little pastry shop up the road from us. It’s just far enough off our beaten path that we have to make an effort to go there. My wife stopped in a few years back and got lousy service. I had gone around the same time, but I thought the staff did OK. Since then, I haven’t passed the shop alone when I needed my sugar fix. Unfortunately for them, my wife’s opinion dictated our Read more…
The current economy reminds me of a story about two guys walking in the woods. They come upon a grizzly bear up ahead on the trail. The bear sees them, and starts licking his chops as he starts down the path towards them. One of the hikers sits down and immediately starts lacing up his running shoes. The other hiker says, “What are you doing. You can’t outrun that bear.” The response: “I don’t have Read more…