A flowchart is a visual representation of the progression of an entity (product, person, information, etc.) through a process. A flowchart is a visual representation of the progression of an entity (product, person, information, etc.) through a process. Flow charts have two main uses. Process flow charts are used for Read more…
It is a simple word. Just two little letters. Yet, it can be very challenging to say.
Why? Because we’ve trained each other to believe that saying ‘No’ is wrong. Say it to a peer, and you are not a team player. Say it to a boss and you are not willing to go the extra mile. Say it to your subordinate, and you might be thought of by any number of less than flattering names.
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…
Learning about Lean can be a challenge. The concepts are generally unfamiliar, and there is the added pressure of facing a big change. Getting the lessons to stick takes concerted effort. You’ll have to have a game plan for during class, and you’ll have to have a plan for putting the concepts to immediate use after training.
One of the challenges modern businesses face is the flood of information that is streaming at them on a daily basis. That wave of data contains a wealth of good ideas. And some of those ideas are things that the competition is doing.
The problem is that many people, predominantly managers, suffer from SCS, better known as “squirrel chasing syndrome”. When they are in the middle of something, the moment an interesting alternative flashes by, they drop what they are doing, and chase after that elusive idea. For dogs, the “can’t resist” alternative is often a furry little creature. For business people, the irresistible item is commonly something that a competitor is doing.
Everyone wants to be seen as being good at their jobs. When a company makes a change from an old way of doing business to a Lean way, the rules change. Team members can feel like the carpet was pulled out from under them. To regain a sense of security, they need to understand how they will be evaluated in their new continuous improvement oriented company.
I’ll start this article off by asking a simple question. Why do educators in the US think that every child is identical? Now, I bet an open ended, inflammatory question like that would be challenged by teachers. There would be a range of arguments presenting evidence to the contrary. But Read more…
I have to start out by being honest with you. Some of you are not following directions. I suspect several below average performers are reading this. I’ll cut them some slack though, because they probably don’t even know it. Why? Most people are rather poor at self-assessment. This phenomenon starts Read more…
All data is not created equally. There are many different categories of ways to describe things. Interestingly, there seems to be little consensus on what the terminology means. The term “attribute data”, if searched for on the web, yields a variety of definitions. Further confusing the issue, some of the Read more…
Gap analysis is the art of identifying where performance or capability falls short of needs, and of coming up with an effective way of addressing that gap. That gap is also occasionally referred to as the “delta”. That delta comes in one of two forms. The first is that there Read more…
SWAG is an acronym, likely originating in the US Army, for “scientific wild-ass guess”. It is used to describe a hypothesis or decision that is based on a small amount of factual evidence, but nowhere near enough to have certainty. Any organization with a fast pace of change, at some Read more…
The term stability is the tendency of something to keep its current state. The opposite of stability is Lean operations is variation, or the state of things fluctuating wildly, or drifting away from normal. Stable processes tend to not only produce high quality outputs, but also do it in a Read more…