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Lazy Lean Guy

Honest work needn’t be painful

Bruce Hamilton
Mon, 11/23/2015 - 11:23
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In 1987, shortly after I became a manufacturing manager, the shop foreman at the time warned me about a young assembler. “Watch out for Michael,” the foreman said. “He tends to bend the rules. You may need to talk to him.”

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In fact, I did watch Michael, and it did appear that he approached his work a little differently—a bit like the violinist whose bow was out of sync with the rest of the section.

I asked him why he did his job in his particular way. 

“I’m just naturally lazy,” Michael responded impishly.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, and the flood gates opened.

Michael explained how he organized his bench, tools, and material to make the job easier. “Look, I set up for each job so I’m not running around looking for things,” he said while pointing to an employee who was obviously searching for something. “Like her.”

I chuckled. “Is that what you mean by lazy?” I asked.

 …

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Comments

Submitted by kkbari on Mon, 11/23/2015 - 09:44

I'm lazy, too

Funny!!!  Back in 1995, we had a consultant in and when the consultant left, he shared with our team what he had learned from each one of us (a very powerful technique).  When the consultant got to me, he said that any time he needed something from me, not only did he get that but it was programmed so any time he needed it he could run it automatically.  After the consultant was done with me, the plant manager said, "No, he's just plain lazy!!!!!!!!!"  Of course he was joking but it was true.  Anything that needed to be done more than once was subject to an easier way.

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