Time management is the act of consciously planning out how one spends the hours and minutes of a day. For structured, repetitive production work, most people tend to be fairly good at managing their time. When the demand is not so consistent, though, people tend to squander a lot more Read more…
TIMWOOD is a mnemonic device used to help people remember the different forms of waste associated with Lean. These seven wastes are widely accredited to Taiichi Ohno. The TIMWOOD Acronym Transportation: Moving materials from one place to another is a waste of transportation. Inventory: Anything more than immediately necessary to Read more…
When most people think of goal setting, KPIs, or improvement metrics in general, they tend to focus on targets. A lead time of 2 days is a target. 97% on time delivery is a target. Productivity of 7.6 units per labor hour is a target. Setting targets is an integral Read more…
The “Theory of Constraints” is the management philosophy of Eliyahu M. Goldratt. He introduced it in his 1984 book, The Goal. The overall premise is that a system can only produce as fast as the slowest step. The throughput of the system, therefore, can be improved with a focused effort Read more…
Takt time is the required pace of production to meet customer demand. It is calculated by dividing the working time available, generally for that shift, by the customer demand during that time period. Despite its apparent simplicity, it is one of the most misunderstood terms in continuous improvement. It is Read more…
A two-bin system is a kanban method used to simplify replenishment on a production line. The process is simple. An operator pulls from one bin until it is empty, and then, depending on how the kanban card is attached, either turns in the kanban card (if fastened by hook and Read more…
In the early 1900’s, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth refined a system of analyzing work to improve processes. They focused on identifying the core “motion cycles” that combined to form work activities. This detailed understanding of work let them identify inefficiencies and eliminate waste. The name “Therblig” comes from a near Read more…
Total Productive Maintenance keeps machines operational in a way that supports production processes. Total Productive Maintenance combines routine scheduled preventative maintenance with predictive maintenance to limit the impact machine downtime has on operations. The “total” part of Total Productive Maintenance means that machine operators take on a big part of Read more…
TPS is the acronym for the Toyota Production System. TPS is more of a business philosophy than a production system, though. It focuses on manufacturing and logistics but doesn’t neglect the human aspect of production. TPS was founded in large part by Taiichi Ohno. TPS can trace its origins back Read more…