Thinking Outside of the Box

I am always intrigued to find evidence that supports the application of lean outside the realm of manufacturing.  This morning I was pleasantly surprised to find an article published by Bill Wake titled “Lean Manufacturing and Software” where Bill discusses software development from a lean perspective.  Even if you aren’t a programmer or software developer, the article offers some interesting […]

Lean – A Race Against Time

Background If “Time is Money”, is it reasonable for us to consider that “Wasting Time is Wasting Money?” Whether we are discussing customer service, health care, government services, or manufacturing – waste is often identified as one of the top concerns that must be addressed and ultimately eliminated.  As is often the case in most organizations, the next step is an attempt to […]

1 Way to Exceed Expectations

Although I’m still not sure that it’s possible to exceed customer expectations, something happened last night that may have given me a slightly different perspective on this matter.  In November of 2009 I published an article titled, “10 Ways to Enhance Customer Satisfaction“, on the very premise that the best we could do was enhance the customer’s experience based on […]

Scorecards and Dashboards

I recently published, Urgent -> The Cost of Things Gone Wrong, where I expressed concern for dashboards that are attempting to do too much.  In this regard, they become more of a distraction instead of serving the intended purpose of helping you manage your business or processes.  To be fair, there are at least two (2) levels of data management […]

Lean Is …

What is lean?  The following definition is from the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership website, http://www.omep.org: Lean Is A systematic approach for delivering the highest quality, lowest cost products with the shortest lead-times through the relentless elimination of waste. The eights wastes that accompanied this definition include: Overproduction Waiting Transportation Non-Value-Added Processing Excess Inventory Defects Excess Motion Underutilized People It is very […]

An e-Letter from Daniel T. Jones

I received an e-mail today from Daniel T. Jones (Lean Thinking – Womack and Jones) titled “The Financial Consequences of Lean”.  As the content of this e-mail is so relevant to our past discussions, I decided to share it in it’s entirety.  Enjoy. Dear Redge, Why is it so hard to see the financial consequences of lean? Failure to answer […]

What are we Changing?

Our process improvement strategy is founded on the Theory of Constraints where improvement initiatives are supported by lean and six sigma tools.  Process disruptions affecting flow and task execution all contribute to variance and the efforts to eliminate or reduce them are evidenced by increased stability, increased throughput over time, and increased profits. So, our main goal in production is […]

OEE in an imperfect world

Background: This is a more general presentation of “Variation:  OEE’s Silent Partner” published on January 31, 2011. In a perfect world we can produce quality parts at rate, on time, every time.  In reality, however, all aspects of our processes are subject to variation that affects each factor of Overall Equipment Effectiveness:  Availability, Performance, and Quality. Our ability to effectively […]

Achieve Sustainability Through Integration

It’s no secret that lean is much more than a set of tools and best practices designed to eliminate waste and reduce variance in our operations.  I contend that lean is defined by a culture that embraces the principles on which lean is founded.  An engaged lean culture is evidenced by the continuing development and integration of improved systems, methods, […]

Lean Paralysis

Lean – Breaking Through Paralysis Significant initiatives, including lean, can reach a level of stagnation that eventually cause the project to either lose focus or disappear altogether.  Hundreds of books have already been written that reinforce the concept that the company culture will ultimately determine the success or failure of any initiative.  A sustainable culture of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, and continual improvement requires effective leadership to […]