So today I went to the bank to put something in my safe deposit box. While I was there, I was given a refresher course on how to value the customer. Unfortunately, my lesson came from observing a poor example. In the past, I needed to show ID and sign in Read more…
I had a rather random thought this morning. It would not be much fun to work with a superhero, especially one with super-speed. Imagine the conversation with your boss. “Jeff, you’ve been doing OK, but you just can’t seem to keep up with the day shift. Superman and the Flash Read more…
Risk management is the process of identifying risks, reducing them when possible, and making plans to deal with undesirable outcomes. Risk management can be done for an ongoing concern, such as a product line or company, or for an individual project, such as rolling out a new software package. Risk 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, Read more…
Preventing errors is one of the ways Lean helps reduce waste. Before we talk about preventing errors, let’s first talk about what errors are. They are the gap between what happened and what should have happened. Simply put they are mistakes. Errors link to defects. Every defect that is identified Read more…
Employee backups are the people who fill in when the regular operator is absent. Having backups implies something. It means that the team has regularly assigned positions and does little or no job rotation. In great Lean companies, standard work is in full force and people rotate in and out Read more…
I saw a story today about an accidental email that informed nearly 29,000 applicants to a California university that they had been accepted. The problem was that they hadn’t. The news report focused on the impact this error had on the prospective students. While their experience was far from fun, there is Read more…
Defects are the undesirable results of an error in a process. In most cases, this shows up as a product or service not conforming to a specification. Defects are often expressed as either yield of good parts, such as a 95% yield (meaning a 5% defect rate), or as Defects Read more…
Changeover is the time it takes to go from the last good part of one product run to the first good part of the next product run. Quick changeover is critical to Lean. It provides the flexibility to match the product mix to actual demand. In turn, this prevents the Read more…
A reaction plan is the series of steps that you would take in response to a specified abnormal condition. A reaction plan helps to minimize damage. It reduces the time between the occurrence of a problem and a stopgap. While a reaction plan is important, there is one big shortcoming. Read more…
In Lean, quality is often considered to be “good parts”. That is important because quality parts are a necessary condition to create flow. In a broader sense, quality has several different meanings. Conformance to Spec. Does the product do what it says it will do? Does it match the physical Read more…
Process flexibility applies both to the ability to rapidly change model mix as well as to change layouts of your facility. As continuous improvement speeds up its pace, you will find that your production areas enter a state of constant flux. Build process flexibility into your workstations. Suspend power and Read more…