Better, not perfect is a mantra about conserving resources. It does not mean to stop seeking perfection. It just means that for now, don’t seek perfection in one area while others are still struggling. Generally, improvement costs rise as low hanging fruit is picked. That means that perfection is elusive. It will be harder and harder to make progress as you get better. Focusing your limited resources where they will get the highest return will Read more…
Waste reduction is a cornerstone of Lean. Waste is anything that does not add value to a process or serve the customer. The first step to eliminating waste is identifying it. Most people do this by observing a process and looking for inefficiency or redundancy. Although you can learn a lot by watching, sometimes you end up identifying more waste by listening. Whether you are on the shop floor or in an office, find a Read more…
The 5 Whys problem solving tool helps you with root cause analysis. It gets you to the heart of a problem. When you identify an issue or an abnormal condition, ask why it occurred, but don’t stop there. Continue to ask why several more times. Try to go 5 questions deep, or at least continue until you can no longer identify another cause. That is the point where you have found the core of the Read more…
Remember Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer? On one hot summer day, young Tom Sawyer got stuck doing a hard day’s labor—whitewashing his aunt’s long picket fence. Mr. Twain tells the tale much better than I can, but the basic plot is simple. All morning long, Tom’s friends pass by and give sympathy to the poor lad stuck wielding the brush. In a stroke of brilliance, Tom, instead of accepting their sympathy, refuses Read more…
A while back, I was at clinic for a flu shot. As I was waiting in line, I could hear one of the nurses in the other room loudly describe her manager in unpleasant terms. The main gist of the RN’s complaint seemed to center around productivity. According to the nurse, her boss had asked her how many injections she had given at a recent immunization clinic. She proudly reported her total, at which point Read more…