A value stream is the series of activities that take a product from the supplier to the customer (for a physical product), or from the customer request to filling that need (for a service or informational product). It includes all the value-adding processes that the company performs in the Lean office or on the shop floor. The value stream takes a big picture view of what a company does to deliver goods or services to Read more…
A stand-up meeting is a quick team gathering to make sure that the day is properly planned out. Topics generally include the current day’s goals and issues, previous day’s results, ongoing project status, and anything special on the agenda. The stand-up meeting is part of a daily management program, and is intended to include teams in the decision making process. Because of the structured nature of this meeting, it is also a component of leader Read more…
Level loading, also known as heijunka, is the practice of using demand estimates to establish an average production level. By smoothing the demand, Lean companies can standardize their processes better, and can match their capacity to the current needs of the customer. Level loading on a mixed-model production line balances the mix of products in addition to the total demand by specifying a standard sequence of models. (i.e. ABABC ABABC) Product planners should continually review Read more…
Job rotation is an important concept in Lean. Simply put, it is the act of periodically moving people around to different tasks, accounts, or workstations. The rotation may be on a set schedule, or on an ad hoc basis. Cross-training is a prerequisite for successful job rotation. Job rotation is done to help employees gain experience, keep people fresh, enhance job satisfaction, prevent boredom, and share best practices. It also provides increased flexibility to companies, Read more…
Information technology (also known as IT) is the group primarily responsible for maintaining a company’s computer and communications systems. Information technology groups are also responsible for selecting, installing, updating, training, and troubleshooting the software systems in a company. Good Information technology groups see their big picture role in corporate strategy, and work to support business processes, not just systems. Information technology groups play a much greater role in Lean Office projects than on the shop Read more…
Facts and data are the supporting evidence for making decisions. Gathering facts and data is a key part of any problem-solving process, but it becomes particularly important in Lean. Making frequent changes, as companies do when they create a continuous improvement culture, also increases the number of opportunities to make mistakes The risk of these errors and defects (both forms of waste) is greatly reduced by learning how to make decisions and do countermeasures based Read more…
Follow-up is the act of making sure that… something that was supposed to be done was, in fact, done, or something that was done is working as planned In short, follow-up is confirming that things are going as expected. Unlike an audit, which is a broader check, a follow-up is a targeted check on a specific item. Follow-up is critical to Lean success. When teams are engaged and actively participating in a continuous improvement culture, Read more…
A factory is a discrete building or group of buildings that produces a product or product line. The first image that comes to mind with the term factory is often a car manufacturing facility, like those run by Toyota, a company well-known for its Lean manufacturing. In reality, a factory can be a small building with just a few people in it doing a manual process. A factory is defined by its purpose, not its Read more…
Demand windows are periods of time when customer demand is relatively stable. For slow growth or mature products, the window can be extremely long. For other products, demand windows can change seasonally (think water skis or snow shovels), hour-by-hour (think fast food), or can trend steeply up or down. In Lean, demand is used to calculate takt time, which in turn drives capacity planning. That capacity is only relevant in the proper demand window. In Read more…
There are two basic definitions for decision point. The first is on a macro level. It is the latest point in time when a decision must be made within a plan. In many cases, it is advantageous to delay making a final choice until the last possible moment—it keeps options open. But at some point, it becomes too late for the decision to matter. Think of how a college student might make weekend plans. She Read more…
Daily improvement is the strategy of making constant, incremental improvements each and every day in order see impressive long-term gains. While many people see kaizen as just a week-long event, it is much more powerful when an entire workforce engages in daily improvement efforts. Daily improvement does not have to be extreme. Moving a garbage can closer to where it is needed or labeling a location for a stapler near a copier are both examples Read more…
Cross-training employees is exactly what it sounds like—multiple people trained on each job, and each person trained on multiple jobs. Cross-training employees provides flexibility. It allows leaders to shift people around to cover for breaks, vacations, and illnesses. It also allows leaders to adjust staffing when there are shifts in demand. A less often considered benefit is the ability to reduce boredom and improve job satisfaction in Lean companies. When processes get more and more Read more…