The Dunning-Kruger effect is a type of cognitive bias (creation of one’s own reality) in which people with limited skills or ability or knowledge tend to overestimate their actual performance level. In other words, this is the psychological term that explains the old adage, “You don’t know what you don’t Read more…
Unlike medical allergies, the Lean affliction of Dirt Allergies has no physical component to it. It is simply a condition in which people are extremely reluctant to get hands or clothing dirty. This condition is most common in leaders who are unwilling to get involved in production processes, or in Read more…
Some people are so convinced of things that no amount of data can influence their opinion. The presentation of data contrary to their current belief actually repels them and makes them become more firmly entrenched in their own position. This is one of several Lean afflictions. There is actually a Read more…
Discrete data is data that is countable, quantitative data. It is numerical in data, stemming from a physical count or measurement, and has a limited number of possible values. The number of wheels on a vehicle would be discrete data. Discrete data has the advantage of being easy to collect. Read more…
Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 – December 20, 1993) was an early thought leader on modern continuous improvement. He is known for many things but is probably best known for two specific achievements. The first is that he is closely linked to the revival of the Japanese economy after World Read more…
DPMO is the abbreviation for defects per million opportunities. It is a metric commonly used in six sigma. Presumably, if you are engaged in an active process improvement effort, you will have made (or will eventually) make significant improvements to your quality. For that reason, it can be difficult to Read more…
Drum-Buffer-Rope is a production theory derived by Dr. Eli Goldratt in his book, The Goal. In it, he advocates production according to the pace set by a single machine (the drum) with linked production (the rope). He also promotes keeping a buffer in front of the machine that acts as Read more…
The Delphi method of predicting outcomes has been around for a long while but is not widely used in continuous improvement. It is the process of posing questions to many experts and using a summary of their results to further a discussion to predict a future outcome. One such panel Read more…
Most processes change over time. A car will age, and as it undergoes normal wear and tear, gas mileage will worsen. It won’t be an overnight change, but it will trend downward. This is drift. Processes, with no visible changes, often slowly perform differently. A fixture may loosen up over Read more…
Delivery is one of the legs of the QDC (quality, cost, delivery) acronym. It is a very simple concept—to get paid, you have to get your product to your customer. For such a simple concept, delivery plays a large role in a company’s performance. Doing well at delivering quickly can Read more…
Dedicated pieces of equipment are machines and tools that are specified for specific tasks or workstations. The primary purpose of dedicating equipment to a specific process step is to facilitate flow. If a machine is shared, it may not be available when needed, causing items to wait in a queue. Read more…
The data collection methods that you use lay the foundation for the eventual success of your continuous improvement projects. Simply put, data are the facts of the case. Raw data is then complied and processed into useful information that helps gain more insight into whatever you are trying to learn Read more…