Competition is the act of trying to get your needs met over the needs of someone else. It could be competing in sports (your need to win over their need), in a job hunt (you against the thousand other applicants). Or it could be in a marketplace (trying to fight it out of for the same pile of money). The nature of competition is adversarial, but it tends to help the consumer when it is Read more…
Apples to oranges comparisons occur when people examine two objects and draw incorrect conclusions. The problem comes from the fact that the two objects are dissimilar and should not be compared. It happens often in Lean. Employees resisting Lean may compare the number of machines they run in a Lean company to the number they used to run and conclude that they are overworked. In truth, the manner in which the workers are ‘running the Read more…
There are many ways to learn about your customers, vendors, or employees. You can watch how they behave. You can do research or purchase data about them. You can analyze the data you already have. Each of these, though, is somewhat passive, and thus limits the information you can gather. You are only able to watch the behaviors that individuals choose to show. The alternative is to go out and ask specific questions. This may Read more…
The word “motivation” has two distinct, though related, meanings. In the more generic definition, motivation is simply something that provides an incentive to take action. This meaning also has something of a psychological component to it, as there is a linkage between the incentive and a behavioral response. In a more leadership-oriented meaning, motivation is a characteristic. Being motivated means that a person has the disposition to take action, or to stick with something against Read more…
Creativity is the ability to break the mold of traditional thinking. Most people think of creativity as the ability to come up with new ideas. But creativity is also exhibited when people use existing ideas or information in new ways. Creativity is very important to Lean. It is easy to spend money to make improvements. It is much harder to solve problems on a budget. It takes creative thought. Lean seeks to tap into employees’ Read more…
Ambiguity is the state of uncertainty in meaning. Ambiguity is harmful to Lean companies for several reasons. Ambiguity reduces consistency. If a process is vague, it is hard to follow the same way every time. Ambiguity slows processes down. Requesting clarification breaks the rhythm of a process. Ambiguity misaligns goals. If everyone doesn’t interpret objectives the same way, teams go in different directions. Ambiguity adds waste because it increases the chance of errors quality problems Read more…
A good definition of poka yoke is simply “mistake proofing”. Of note, the term is of Japanese origin and is one of the handful of the more commonly used Japanese terms that have become mainstream in Lean circles. Poka yokes keep processes from producing errors. Preventing errors obviously improves quality, but it also plays a major role in improving productivity. With no rework, and easier production, cycle times and lead times both become much shorter. Read more…
Discipline is the process of changing a behavior to make it conform to a rule or standard. For many people, discipline has a negative connotation to it, especially when it is their behavior that is being adjusted. In truth, though, discipline is more than repeating the standard and doling out punishment. There is an interesting quote on discipline by Major General John M. Schofield from when he addressed West Point’s Corp of Cadets back in Read more…
Results are the outcomes or consequences of actions. In the continuous improvement world, results are most commonly viewed as the intended outcomes of an operation, organization, process, or project. This is in contrast to unintended side effects of a process. Actual results are compared to goals to indicate how effective the actions are. Good results exceed the goals; bad results fall short. Lean is very results oriented. Without measuring results, it is impossible to determine Read more…
A process flow chart is a staple of Lean and other continuous improvement methods. It takes a process and transforms it into a visual representation of the flow of work. This makes it easy to highlight waste, and subsequently eliminate the things that don’t add value. A process flow chart can be simple or complex. In general, a flow chart used to document a process is far less detailed than one that is created for Read more…
What did you have for breakfast last Tuesday? How many eggs are left in your refrigerator? If you had any trouble answering those questions, you will understand why memory is not a reliable tool for processes. People get distracted and skip steps. Requiring people to remember counts can be especially disastrous. It is easy to lose one’s place and come up with the wrong number, especially when the counts are highly repetitive (i.e. counting the Read more…
Information is the application of data in context. Information also has the element that it can be acted upon. The weight of an elephant, for example, is a piece of data. Knowing if a bridge is strong enough for that elephant to cross is information. Information can be costly to acquire. Generally speaking, the harder a piece of information is to learn, the more of a competitive advantage it bestows. When everyone knows something, there Read more…