The “How You Think Links” model depicts an overview of the process that a person typically follows to progress from an event occurring, to taking action, and ultimately, to getting a result. The basic steps are: Event Interpretation Emotion Decision Action Result Most people think an emotional reaction to an event occurs instantly. The truth is that they have to be aware of the event first, and then interpret it. The way they interpret that Read more…
POLL QUESTION: Which training product would most help you develop a stronger continuous improvement culture in your organization?
One of our goals is to help you create the best continuous improvement training program possible. We do this through a combination of various factors:
Our Lean Audio Terms product line is part of our Lean Audio Training. It provides you with a convenient way to acquire the wealth of knowledge contained in the terminology section of The Continuous Improvement Companion. It goes far beyond the typical Lean glossary. Our improvement guide dives deep into the discussion of a term, points out words of warning, addresses special issues for both leaders and their team members, and covers key points to Read more…
Tooling is a generic term for any of the variety of equipment associated with production machines, especially ones that do fabrication. Cutting tools, dies, precision clamps, injection molds, jigs, and fixtures all fall into this category. Most companies with more than just a few production machines will have a tooling group. Its role is to design, build, and maintain the company’s tooling. The development of complex tools is often outsourced to specialized companies. In a Read more…
The following list contains the most recent entries in our online reference guide.
How should we track employee errors to improve quality? This is a sensitive question that I get asked frequently. Leaders ask me the best way to track employee errors. In response, I generally ask why they want to do this. The most common answer is that they want to improve quality. (The other typical reason is for personal evaluations, whether related to discipline or to appraisals. That requires a different tack on the response.) There are Read more…
As I’ve mentioned in many previous articles, sports provide an outstanding backdrop to teach Lean lessons. This aspect of athletics was reinforced in a recent article in ESPN magazine. It takes a detailed look at the statistics behind one pitcher’s performance.
This player had an outstanding year in 2012. By one measure, he was responsible for adding 5.3 wins to his team. This year though, using the same metric, he is responsible for one additional loss. On the surface, this looks like a fairly significant drop in performance. The problem though, is…
One of the facts of life of a Lean environment is that things get measured. Often the data collection is inconspicuous. But sometimes, the measurement is hard to miss. When a stopwatch comes out, people know that their work is getting looked at. It is easy for them to inadvertently, and in some cases, intentionally, bias the results.
“Shop floor” is a generic term used to describe the work areas where production is done. The terminology is important because there has been a migration of Lean from the shop floor to office, healthcare, and other service environments. Because there are differences in the way some tools are applied in different types of work areas, it makes sense to have a way to clarify what you are talking about. “Shop floor” is commonly used Read more…
Lean experienced a fairly slow start in the 80’s and early 90’s, but picked up its adoption rate rapidly in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Of late, it seems to be reaching something of a saturation point in manufacturing, but is still spreading rapidly in other areas. The Lean office is still going strong. Lean is making substantial inroads into healthcare. I see more requests for Lean information from those in higher education. Even the government is getting into the act, albeit at a slow pace. (Note: These observations are from personal experience. It is surprisingly hard to find reliable, believable, compatible data about Lean adoption.)
This has been one of the more interesting summers of Velaction’s existence. First of all, I took some much needed time off. It has been a long haul building the company over the last several years, and I finally took a breather. It is nice to go into the end of the year well-rested for a change. Secondly, Velaction had more technical issues to deal with than ever before. Our hosting service had a rather Read more…