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.” There is an old expression about “Those who say something can’t be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.” 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 hired in a temporary consulting role. Learn about the role of facilitators in this video about the kaizen process. Good facilitators are hard to find. 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 past, sometimes significantly long ago. Another option is to track process metrics. Process metrics track the activities that lead to successful results metrics. These measurements 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 “ABC Machines” strategy is one way to organize machines to allocate resources. While the exact name used to describe this strategy may vary by company, 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 the inherent randomness in the world. The impact of this form of variation can be predicted by statistical means. Special cause variation, on the other 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 measurement or a scientific breakthrough has limited value if it only applies to a single individual. We don’t tend to put the same level of 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 out, they become less able to provide consistent results. The curve depicting the output in question either shifts or widens, resulting in an area under Read more…
For the purposes of continuous improvement, a product family is a group of products that follows a similar series of process steps. The value in this type of organization is that it supports flow. Similar products can be combined onto a mixed model production line. Generally speaking, the higher the pace of production, the more magnified the impact of each improvement will be. All things being equal, kaizen activity on a higher volume production line Read more…
Baselines are essential to improvements. They are the starting point for a process to be changed or are reference points for ongoing processes. Baselines can be used in two main ways. First, they can be used to establish current conditions prior to a project. This is essential to knowing if the changes actually had the positive impact they were expected to. The other common use of baselines is as a comparison point for an ongoing Read more…
People should not be standing watching machines or pulling levers. They are far more intelligent than that. Give them jobs that use that intelligence and sever their ties to machines. Focusing on this premise, that workers are more than just machines, shows great respect for people, one of the central tenets of continuous improvement. The separation of man and machine applies to the routine, repetitive tasks that can be automated. Don’t treat people like robots. Read more…
Scalability is the ability to easily ramp up or down to changing requirements. The term is in common use in information technology, specifically in reference to the ability of a system to grow to accommodate increasing traffic. In a continuous improvement sense, it is the ability of a process to adjust to a growing demand. Most processes are not scalable. They may have some capacity to increase production within a specific range but run into Read more…
View the entire directory of terms There are many different philosophies of continuous improvement. Lean Six Sigma Total Quality Management Business Process Improvement Theory of Constraints …and more Plus, there are countless general business terms that have a real impact on how you create an infrastructure that drives a continuous improvement culture. Regardless of your method of choice, the award-winning Continuous Improvement Companion can help. This ever growing resource contains information on terms from all Read more…