A few months back I posted an article questioning Toyota’s supremacy in quality and in Lean in general. Don’t misunderstand me—I still think Toyota is great at what they do. They have a lot to teach, but I think other companies have taken what Toyota does to heart and applied Read more…
Feeder lines are a very specialized branch of a main assembly line. Generally, they are used when there is a different amount of work required for an option or for the most time intensive product on a mixed-model assembly line. Feeder lines will run on their own takt time. The Read more…
Zero defects is a philosophy of Lean. It simply means that every process should be designed so that it is impossible to produce poor quality. The underlying premise, which is true in nearly every case, is that the cost of preventing problems is lower than the cost of fixing them. Read more…
Workstations are exactly what they sound like. They are the locations where work is completed. In a non-Lean environment, workstations tend to be assigned to individuals, lack standardization, and often are very general in design. For example, a company may have a standard 6-foot-long workbench with a shelf above it Read more…
Over the last few days, I’ve got to experience both the good and the bad of the healthcare system in the US. You see, my daughter was a bit over-adventurous with her parkour in the playground and broke her ankle trying to leap from a ladder to a set of Read more…
In the latest issue of Men’s Health magazine, there is a little blurb about MRSA resistant paint. In testing, all MRSA bacteria died after 20 minutes of exposure to the painted surface. A little further research found a more detailed article on the coating. The paint can actually be used Read more…
I get occasional emails from my credit card processor for my online sales. The latest one had an interesting headline: Cyber Monday Drives Single-Day Transaction Record This headline refers to the ‘Pulse Index’, as Chase calls it. It is a measure of a sample of 50 of the largest 250 Read more…
Facility layouts come in three basic flavors. Unplanned Layouts. Some facilities are not arranged by any master plan. As new machines are needed, they are placed where they will fit. It is fairly uncommon for this method to be used throughout an organization, but many will have a few machines Read more…
Mistake proofing devices, also called poka yokes, are the most effective way to improve quality. In a nutshell, a product (or process) is designed in which a mistake is impossible to make. This problem prevention is targeted at specific errors. In order to mistake proof a process, one must have Read more…
Any time I hear the word ‘inspection‘, I think failure. An inspection is an admission that you haven’t been able to build quality into a production process. That said, I think there is a place for inspections, as long as there is recognition that they wasteful. But since even wasteful Read more…
A future state value stream map (VSM) is simply a projection of how a value stream should look in the future, generally 6 to 12 months. When a current state value stream map is created, problem areas become apparent. The bottlenecks where inventory piles up, processes with poor quality, and Read more…
When improving an operation, most people only look at the process. They seldom dive into the manager’s role in running that process. Often, the way a leader behaves can have a substantial impact on how smoothly a process can flow. Watch out for… Managers batching approvals. Most managers do approvals Read more…