A Salesman’s GembaAre your salespeople a part of your continuous improvement effort?
Thu, 11/15/2012 - 11:07
Bob was an outside salesman in from the field for a sales meeting at the plant. We asked him to stop by to participate with a problem-solving team assigned to one of his customers, ABC Co. We’d tried everything, so we thought, to correct a defect in… A Better Class of PrisonerAlso known as early challengers of the status quo
Fri, 10/26/2012 - 10:46
I attended a very nice presentation recently by a person who has been leading the lean charge for several years at a major medical center. As he reflected on key elements of his organization’s success, however, he made a statement that set off my… Mental Muri MigraineInconsistencies are a part of everyone’s workday
Mon, 10/15/2012 - 11:33
It’s funny, but when a bunch of lean thinkers gets together, they tend to be on the lookout for small improvements. Cumulatively these little issues give us headaches, and regrettably sometimes have far more serious consequences. Call this mental… Lead With Humiliation‘It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom’
Mon, 10/08/2012 - 12:28
Very early in my lean adventure as a new vice president of operations, when the idea of listening to workers was still a little strange, I returned from a week vacation to find that two of my peer managers had teamed up to convince the company… Low-Value Idea or Shop-Floor Revolution?One simple fix can start an avalanche of improvements
Tue, 09/11/2012 - 14:38
Our Northeast Region Shingo Conference, held Sept. 25–26, 2012, is all about sharing information, ideas, problems, plans—all of those things that can make the sum of the parts greater than the whole. So a story about the power of sharing ideas seems… Casche Bay MuraSometimes expecting employees to keep paddling is unrealisic in heavy seas
Wed, 08/22/2012 - 16:51
I went canoeing last week with my 13-year-old son, Ben, on the boundary lakes between Minnesota and Ontario. Away from phones, radios, and any other means to communicate with the outside world, we focused on the strenuous, but relaxing, journey… WIP ItWhen work is produced before it’s needed, it’s not really work but overproduction
Mon, 07/30/2012 - 14:31
Referred to either as “work in process” or “work in progress” (I think they’re the same thing), WIP is one of those manufacturing concepts that’s designed to confuse.
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Big Heaping Piles of... WorkIf your work comes in waves or batches, maybe you need to fix your process
Thu, 06/28/2012 - 15:30
When I was in production, we used the term “waves” to describe the ebb and flow of work to the factory. Some days there would be very little, and others a big heaping pile. When the waves came, we worked overtime, bumped queues, and sometimes used… What Is Advanced Manufacturing?Let’s hope it’s not agile manufacturing
Fri, 06/08/2012 - 12:52
I am looking for some help to answer this question: What is advanced manufacturing? Seeking illumination, I recently attended a presentation offered through the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), a nonprofit corporation with a… What Does 3P Stand For?Perhaps ‘6P’ is more fitting
Tue, 04/24/2012 - 10:36
3P, or “Production Preparation Process,” is a method introduced to the United States during the mid-1980s by Chihiro Nakao, a contemporary of Taiichi Ohno, and a founder of the consulting firm Shingijutsu Ltd. I recall the method was called “New…
