OEE: The Means to an End – Differentiation Where It Matters Most

Does your organization focus on results or the means to achieve them?  Do you know when you’re having a good day?  Are your processes improving? The reality is that too many opportunities are missed by simply focusing on results alone.  As we have discussed in many of our posts on problem solving and continuous improvement, the actions you take now […]

OEE: Planned Downtime and Availability

As a core metric, Overall Equipment Effectiveness or OEE has been adopted by many companies to improve operations and optimize the capacity of existing equipment.  Having completed several on site assessments over the past few months we have learned that almost all organizations are measuring performance and quality in real-time, however, the availability component of OEE is still a mystery […]

The High-Velocity Edge Is Here!

Update:  Steven J. Spear has been awarded the Philip Crosby Medal for his book “The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition” according to a Press release from ASQ—the world’s largest network of quality resources and experts (Milwaukee, WI March 2, 2011). We have raved about the book “Chasing the Rabbit” written by Steven J. Spear […]

Pure Genius: Teach, Build, Model

At first I thought this approach seemed to be a little too simplistic as an execution strategy.  On second thought, however, it seemed to be very appropriate to most situations that we may encounter.  It has certainly been a very practical superview for our current project. Teach: Teach the concepts, systems, processes, and procedures that are required to achieve a given goal or […]

Flawless Execution – “This Is It” – Practice Makes Perfect

We are often encouraged to look beyond our own business models to expand our horizons or to simply gain a different perspective.  Music is one of my personal areas of interest in the outside world and I have learned to appreciate and value the many genres of music that exist today.  As a lead guitar player for a number of […]

Lean, OEE, and How to beat the “Law of Diminishing Returns”

Are your lean initiatives falling prey to the Law of Diminishing Returns?  Waning returns may soon be followed by apathy as the “new” initiative gets old.  For those who have not studied economics or are not familiar with the term, it is defined by Wikepedia as follows: The law states “that we will get less and less extra output when we add additional […]

Lean Resources On Demand

On Demand As people we have grown accustomed to service on demand.  The internet, fast food, service stations, 24 hour convenience shopping, medical services, video on demand, and so much more are available almost instantly.  Of course much of this is made possible by the latest technologies and electronic gadgets that bring the world to our finger tips at the push […]

22 Seconds to Burn – Excel VBA Teaches Lean Execution

Background: VBA for Excel has once again provided the opportunity to demonstrate some basic lean tenets.  The methods used to produce the required product or solution can yield significant savings in time and ultimately money.  The current practice is not necessarily the best practice in your industry.  In manufacturing, trivial or minute differences in methods deployed become more apparent during mass production or as […]

Agility Through Problem Solving: a Model for Training and Thinking

We tend to use analogies when we are discussing certain topics, introducing new concepts, or simply presenting an abstract idea.  Analogies are intended to serve as a model that people understand, can relate to or identify with, and, more importantly, remember.  Our challenge is to identify a simple model that can be used to teach people to identify and solve problems – a core competency […]