Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) is a is a repetitive stress injury (RSI) of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel as it passes through the wrist area. This nerve controls the feeling and movement of the thumb and first three fingers. It causes a variety of symptoms that range from Read more…
Mike Rother is an author of several books, two of which are associated with the LEI (Lean Enterprise Institute) and received the Shingo Publication Award. Mike is also affiliated with the University of Michigan. His biggest contribution to the Lean community lies in his promotion of the concept of value Read more…
Reproducibility is the ability of a process to be duplicated by multiple people. This concept is understood and highly valued in both the scientific method and when creating measurement systems. In fact, in gauge R&R, one of the “R’s” stands for reproducibility (the other is repeatability). We recognize that a Read more…
Reliability is the ability of a process, machine, or measurement system to perform as intended over time. There is an underlying assumption that at one point, the ability to provide good results existed. The most common cause of a drop in reliability is the degradation of equipment. As machines wear Read more…
Production processes require assets to run them. You generally have choices. You can use a big machine that costs a lot of money but has tremendous functionality and flexibility. These machines, because of their cost, end up being used in several processes or for several products to defray the cost. Read more…
A strong continuous improvement culture requires extensive teamwork, and teamwork requires strong relationships. First of all, let’s start by defining what a relationship is. And its surface, a relationship is simply the way people or organizations behave toward each other. But there is also a deeper layer to relationships. They Read more…
Regulations are rules that are established by an authority. While the term is somewhat generic and can be used by any person or group in charge, this discussion will be limited to governmental agencies. In practice, most companies do not call their directives “regulations”. There are more likely to call Read more…
There is a common misconception that Lean is free. The truth is that making improvements requires a variety of resources. That’s not to say you have to spend a lot of money to make changes, but every project does require an investment. In fact, that is one of the big Read more…
Responsibility is the state of being accountable for something. It may be a team, a process, or an entire company. In general, responsibility is the cost of leadership. Being in charge means that a person has to make sure that things go as planned. Responsibility means having to answer for Read more…
A variation of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (AKA the Deming Cycle), RIPS stands for Review-Implement-Prove-Standardize, and is a proven method of continuously improving Standard Work and other forms of process standardization. Processes should not be static. There should be a constant scrutiny on how to make them better. The best people Read more…
“Rapid improvement workshop” is another name for kaizen event or kaizen blitz. You may also hear it called rapid improvement project, or “RIP”. This type of project is generally a week long and includes: A day of training A day of process walk / initial planning Two days of making Read more…
A run chart is a tool used to show a change in a value over a period of time. It depicts a time-ordered series of data plots with time on the X-axis (horizontal) and the value of the data on the Y-axis (vertical). Run charts are particularly powerful because they Read more…