Alpha risk is, in statistical terms, the chance of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is, in fact, true. In other words, it is a false positive (i.e. a good part is identified as a defect). This risk is also known as a Type-I risk, or producer’s risk. See Also: Producer’s Risk
The acceptance number is the highest number of nonconforming items that can be found in a sample for a lot to still be considered acceptable. This number is determined by statistical analysis and is based on the required quality level, lot size, and sample size. The underlying premise of using an acceptance number is that it is okay to deliver a certain amount of poor quality to your customers, as long as it is within Read more…
The “5Ps of Effective Meetings” is a simple memory device to help you, not surprisingly, run more effective meetings. Because of the rising complexity of business operations, problems increasingly require a collaborative solution. Those collaborative solutions tend to require meetings. Unfortunately, this increased demand for meetings also tends to increase the waste associated with them. And make no mistake: the majority of meetings contain a tremendous amount of wasted time. Using the “5Ps of Effective Read more…
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I recently had an interesting experience on LinkedIn. On occasion, I answer discussion questions where I think I can add value. One such question mentioned that Dr. Liker recommends Toyota alumni to lead Lean transformations, and questioned why companies would be interested in advanced degrees and certifications. The question was intriguing to me, as I am always curious about how little Lean measures its own performance. Sure, there are measures within a company about productivity Read more…
Think about what trust is. It is, in effect, a shortcut. It means that you have faith in something, or someone, and have stopped double-checking on all expectations.
Continuous data can have any value within a given range. Compare this to discrete data which is limited in the values it takes. For example, the number of dots on a pair of dice or the number of wheels on a car limit you to a finite set of values. Measuring the size of the dice or the temperature of those wheels, with a precise enough measuring device, could give you infinite results. The dice Read more…
CRM stands for customer relationship management. It essentially is the practice of taking an active approach to understanding how a company interacts with its customers and creating a strategy to manage that relationship for both current and future customers. In practice, CRM is typically used to describe software systems, of which many are available. In practice, “CRM” is generally used synonymously with “CRM software”. There are numerous systems available to help manage the wealth of Read more…
“Genchi genbutsu” is a Japanese term that loosely translates to “go and see”. Essentially, it means to go to the actual spot where actual work is happening on the actual product to confirm your conclusions. Similar to the term “go to gemba“, the spirit of genchi genbutsu is to avoid making decisions in a conference room, devoid of firsthand experience. While “go to gemba” can be used somewhat interchangeably with genchi genbutsu, there are some Read more…
PDSA stands for Plan-Do-Study-Act, or less commonly, Plan-Do-Study-Adjust. It is a structured, iterative problem-solving approach popularized by W. Edwards Deming, who originally was mentored on the process by Walter Shewhart. With that origin in mind, it should come as no surprise that this method is also known as the Deming cycle. PDSA Background Most of the continuous improvement world considers the Deming cycle to be PDCA, or Plan-Do-Check-Act. In the later years of Deming’s career, Read more…
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Follow the links in sequence to build an outstanding knowledge of problem solving. You can take the basic journey for free. Members get the added perk of being able to download much of the content. But if you want to get the most out of your training time, we recommend you invest in our premium audio / visual products.
Our Continuous Improvement Independent Study Pack is available with premium products for loads of the lessons on this list, as well as many more from other tracks. You can also get additional training material for the modules included in the list below.
Little’s Law is a basic mathematics equation for calculating lead time. In the layman’s version, it says: Lead time = Number of units in WIP / Average Production Rate Let’s say you had 34 items in work-in-process, and you produce 10 per day. That means that it will take any new item 3.4 working days to make its way through your system. The implication of this equation is obvious. The more work you have in Read more…