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Nagara is a Japanese term meaning “while doing something”. It simply means to do more than one thing at a time. For example, a person may be able to assemble two parts while walking. In practice, though, the application of the nagara principle is limited. In most cases, a process Read more…
Remembering someone’s name tells them that you place value on them as an individual. It shows that you respect them enough to remember who they are. Unfortunately, many, if not most, people have an extremely hard time remembering names of people they see only periodically. In leadership or continuous improvement Read more…
NIST is the government agency that sets and maintains standards for measurements in the US. A standard is essentially the reference against which measuring devices are calibrated. Think of your ruler or tape measure. How long is the space between each tic mark? Without a single definitive source, each manufacturer Read more…
Negotiation is simply the process of discussing something of mutual interest and agreeing to terms. Negotiations typically involve tradeoffs. One side gives something of value to the other site to get something of value in return. Negotiations may be conducted for a one-time transaction, or for an ongoing relationship. The Read more…
Net Present Value (NPV) comes from the principle that money today is worth more than the same face value of money tomorrow. Would you rather have $1,000 today or $1,000 in 5 years? That question is easy to answer. Most people would take the money immediately. What about this one: Read more…
NPD is perhaps the most critical of all business functions. Think of a business like a shark. It has to keep moving forward to stay alive. NPD is the process by which they keep moving forward. Customers get bored with the current product or need a fresh product to solve Read more…
A night shift is just what it sounds like. It is the second (or third) shift at a facility after the normal day shift ends. A night shift usually exists for one of two reasons. In production environments, a night shift adds capacity without needing to buy extra equipment. This Read more…
Continuous improvement is as much about not going backward as it is about making progress. Knowing what to avoid is as important as knowing what to do. While many of the items on this list of No-No’s won’t derail your Lean efforts, they do act as speed bumps that slow Read more…
Noise in Lean operations has a rather significant impact. High levels of noise can cause permanent hearing loss. There are basically two things you can do to avoid the loss of that vital sense: eliminate the noise or wear appropriate hearing protection. There are also other impacts of noise. People Read more…
The Noise to Constant Sheet is a tool for organizing and prioritizing effort in an improvement project. The first step to creating a consistent, correct output of a process is to reduce variation. This form lists the noise in a process (the randomness or uncontrolled aspects) and asks teams to Read more…
A key requirement in a Lean operation is to make abnormal conditions stand out. Obviously, to recognize abnormal, you must also understand what normal is. Nominal conditions define your standard and let you see that you are operating within acceptable limits. Note that the term “nominal conditions” is not one Read more…
Nominal data is a type of qualitative data. It contains a set of possible values that has no measurable sequence to them. For example, “favorite pet” would be nominal data set. The values might include dog, cat, snake, frog, and horse. While most people would agree that dogs rank much Read more…
Non-Value Added (NVA) steps consume resources but do nothing to add value to a product or process. Because value is defined by the customer, non-value added work does nothing to change the form, fit, or function of a product into something a customer is willing to pay for. There is Read more…
Smooth, efficient communication helps business management systems thrive. Many of the structures that we recommend having in place are specifically designed to help streamline the communication process. Morning standup meetings get everyone on the same page at the start of a shift. Daily management clarifies expectations and what the current Read more…
Note taking is a valuable skill. Most people can’t remember all the details they are deluged with every day. Having a method to record the important morsels of information without getting buried in all the noise can mean the difference between being effective at your job and being a black Read more…
“Null hypothesis” is a statistical term that basically means that there is an assumption that there is no statistical difference between observations. For example, the null hypothesis would say that any differences between a sample and a population would be due only to random chance. Statistical testing then confirms or Read more…