Complexity

Complexity is the state of having many interconnected parts. It is anything that has a lot of intricacy to it. The word has a negative connotation to it in Lean. So, what is excessive complexity from a Lean perspective? It is adding more to a process than is needed. It Read more…

Fixtures

A manufacturing fixture holds parts during the manufacturing process. Fixtures come in a wide range of types. In their simplest form, they may be a series of pins sticking up from a flat surface to keep a part from sliding. They can also be much more complicated, with a series Read more…

Absences

Absences

Absences are, in a nutshell, times when a person is not present to do their normal work. Absences primarily fall into two categories from a production viewpoint—planned and unplanned. Your company’s HR team may categorize absences in a larger variety of ways, but from the operations standpoint, human resource definitions Read more…

Bells and Whistles

“Bells and Whistles” are the extras on a product…or on a process. On a product, bells and whistles are the features that enhance the product, but don’t significantly change the function. Years ago, power windows were part of the bells and whistles packages that carmakers used to distinguish cars from Read more…

Repetition

Repetition is the act of doing something the same way over and over again. Repetition helps provide stable outputs to a process by making the inputs consistent. Repetition has a side effect of creating muscle memory—the state where your body acts without conscious thought, much like walking. You don’t have Read more…

Kanban

A kanban is a signal that gives an instruction to get, move, produce, order, or take some other activity with production materials. Its literal translation from the original Japanese term, though, is “signboard” or “billboard”. Kanbans tell you when to order, what to order, how much to order, and where Read more…