How Effective is Your Problem Solving?

Background Of the many metrics that we use to manage our businesses, one area that is seldom measured is the effectiveness of the problem solving process itself.  We often engage a variety of problem solving tools such as 5-Why, Fishbone Diagrams, Fault Trees, Design of Experiments (DOE), or other forms of Statistical Analysis in our attempts to find an effective […]

The Invisible Gorilla

Just when you thought everything was under control, someone asks you about something that isn’t even on your radar.  Our perceptions can be deceiving and are not always as accurate or reliable as we think.  This is nicely documented and demonstrated in this article and video that we found on Yahoo today:  The Invisible Gorilla. If the above link doesn’t work, cut and paste the following […]

Pivot Tables, OEE, and Differentiation Strategy

Automated systems are great at creating data and generating reports but they don’t always give us what we’re looking for.  Microsoft’s Excel Pivot Tables provide an amazing ability to create and generate custom reports on the fly and it’s easier than you may think.  Could this be a differentiation factor for how your company works with OEE data versus others […]

Viral Differentiation – Another Great Site

We are still working on our Differentiation Strategies and OEE series.  We decided to share just a glimpse of what we have found to be a uniquely evolved infrastructure within the Excel Development community. For the many Excel – VBA experts that continue to use our Excel Pages as a resource and reference for top notch sites, we have added […]

Differentiation Strategies and OEE (Part II): The Heart of the Matter

An article published in Industry Week magazine comprises part of our pursuit of differentiation strategies and OEE.  This will serve as the topical element of our post for today. Enjoy the article, OEE:  The heart of the matter, and we’ll provide our thoughts and insights as well.  If the above links do not work, you can copy and paste the […]

Differentiation Strategies and OEE (Part I)

If your competitors are using OEE to manage their processes just like you, how do you plan to establish a unique approach that helps your company to outperform them?  You may be surprised to learn that the perception of process management and control created by high technology OEE solutions can quickly be shattered by the lack of specific process level […]

Solutions by Definition

The recent British Petroleum (BP) oil dilemma brings yet another problem solving opportunity to the forefront.  Fortunately, few of us have to deal with problems of this scope and magnitude. Problem solving is a daily challenge for many of us and, like the BP oil dilemma, rarely are they presented in clear and concise terms. Our ability to define and […]

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 […]

Getting the Bugs Out

We updated the link to “Chasing the Rabbit:  How Market Leaders Outsdistance the Competition and How Great Companies Can Catch Up and Win” authored by Steven J. Spear.  If you haven’t had a chance to add this book to your library, now is the time to get your copy. Remember to visit our Lean Books page for other great selections too.  Readers are leaders […]