Analysis paralysis is the act of bogging down a problem-solving effort by continuing to crunch data despite diminishing returns. Analysis of data is critical to problem solving. Without it, you are just guessing. But there comes a point where the effort stops paying off, and all it ends up doing Read more…
Here at Velaction Continuous Improvement, we practice what we preach. We continuously improve our website, and that often means deleting old pages. Sometimes we manage to remove all the old links. If you are here, it means we missed one. The content you were looking for is outdated, or something Read more…
We want people to stay busy, right? Idle people are wasteful, right? In Lean, these are both false. I would rather see a person sit idle than just try to fill the time with busy work. Busy work masks opportunity. It is understandable that people do this. If they sit Read more…
I grew up in Chicago. When it snowed, we had to get drifts over a foot to get school cancelled. At least that’s how the school-aged kid inside of me remembers it. But I do know that we had some pretty bad storms. During the storms, things shut down, then Read more…
A shadow board is typically pegboard, often painted white, with a colored outline for the tool below each hook. Consider a tools storage setup such as this one. While it looks organized, it would be hard to determine which tool was missing if there was a blank space. So, what Read more…
An autoejector is a tool used to streamline production. It is also known by the Japanese term, hanedashi. In a cell where a single operator is running several machines, he will often work with multiple parts. That’s not to say it is a random number. There should be a defined Read more…
Many people have fairly solid leadership skills. But those skills are put to the test in a continuous improvement culture. Typical leadership is not enough. The people in charge must exhibit improvement-oriented leadership. This simply means that they not only guide people to accomplish today’s task, but also have to Read more…
Producer’s risk is the chance that a good product or batch will be rejected by an inspection. It is also known as Type I error, or alpha error. It is the probability that a batch with quality that exceeds your designated acceptable quality level will actually be rejected. In technical Read more…
Quality Circles are a continuous improvement tool that was popularized in the US in the 1980s and 90’s but have since faded from common use. Quality circles are basically project teams that meet on a regular basis to take on quality issues in their work area. They tend to be Read more…
Processes are important for many reasons. They improve productivity. They make quality better. They improve predictability. They also help prevent chaos. Think about what happens when a driver chooses not to follow a process. We know that this can cause trouble if the violation is self-serving: speeding, running a red Read more…
I recently got a comment from an ex-subscriber that was not very flattering. While some of the criticisms were valid—I do have some issues with my download delivery processes—there was also an accusation that I was conducting false advertising. That bothered me, and I had a pretty quick reaction. But Read more…
I teach a lot of problem solving tools. In fact, much of continuous improvement is just various forms of problem solving. Most of the tools are just standardized solutions to problems that most people face in their jobs. Take andon lights, for example. The first person who came up with Read more…