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Gotta Go Lean Blog

Benchmark Lean: Difficulties Copying the Toyota Production System. Lean TPS Information.

To some, Toyota might seem surprisingly open with its Lean TPS information. After all, Lean TPS is the primary reason for Toyota’s success and recent dominance in the auto industry. Why wouldn’t they guard their secrets? Even more, why would the give access to their facilities to both Lean practitioners who will take their learning straight to Toyota’s competitors, and to authors like Jeffrey Liker (The Toyota Way) who will put it right into a Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Adjusting to Using Japanese Lean Terms

  Lean Problem: Your eyes glaze over when leaders start throwing around new terms and Japanese words.   Thriving In a Continuous Improvement Culture  Strategies: Communicating more effectively How this affects you as a Lean employee: If you don’t speak the same Lean language that your boss does, you might not understand what is going on or how to participate in a continuous improvement conversation. This can make your job satisfaction (and maybe even your Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Muda (Waste)

Many Lean terms can trace their origins to Japan. Muda is one of those terms. It really translates to “wasteful activity”, but in common practice most people equate muda to waste. Since one of Lean’s main goals is reducing waste to improve flow, it is no surprise that muda has a major role in Lean. Taiichi Ohno, the father of the Toyota Production System, identified 7 types of muda. Muda of Defects Muda of Overprocessing Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Overprocessing Waste: A Different Spin on the Waste of Overprocessing.

Let’s talk a little about the waste of overprocessing. Anyone who has been around Lean for more than a day or so has dived into the seven wastes (eight with unused creativity thrown in). One of the wastes is the waste of overprocessing. The most common explanation given about overprocessing is that it is the act of doing extra, non-value added steps. For example, printing out an e-mail for filing, or grinding a burr off Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Muda. Muda. Muda. Muda.

Like the three rules of real estate—Location, Location, Location—continuous improvement has its own repetitive rules as well. Plus, there’s even a fourth one for good measure. By the way—muda is the Japanese word for wasteful activity, but in practice is used synonymously with waste. These rules are pretty simple. Muda. Muda. Muda. Muda. Learn to identify muda. Learn not to tolerate muda. Learn to eliminate muda. Learn to prevent muda. The rules apply whether you are in the Lean office, Lean Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Jidoka

The most common definition of jidoka is “autonomation”. It is Japanese in origin, as are many specialized words in Lean. The term traces its roots back to the early 1900’s at Toyota in Japan, then a textile manufacturing company. Sakichi Toyoda, an inventor and the founder of Toyota, developed a device that could detect broken threads in a loom and stop the machine from producing defective material. This concept, in which intelligence was added to Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago
Jidoka Automatic Loom with Jidoka

Heijunka

Heijunka is the Japanese term for level-loading or production leveling. It is intended to smooth out the peaks and valleys of customer demand into something flatter to create conditions that make standardization easier. It also stabilizes the product mix to support Standard Work. Heijunka, pronounced High-June-Kuh, is a workaround for variations in demand. It essentially consolidates short-term demand into larger buckets, and then parcels it out in daily buckets. The premise behind heijunka is that Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Cause and Effect / Fishbone Diagram / Ishikawa Diagram

A cause and effect diagram is a structured, graphical representation of the possible causes to a given effect. The purpose of the CE diagram is to provide clarity about the nature of problems. Complicated problems tend to have many contributing factors. The relationships of these potential causes jump out when organized in a visual format. The cause and effect diagram is particularly popular as a brainstorming tool, useful as both a backdrop against which to Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago
Cause and Effect Diagram

Cellular Manufacturing System

In general, batch manufacturing (the opposite of a cellular manufacturing system) is oriented around a process. You might have a cutting group, a welding group, a grinding group, etc. Each workgroup is structured based on what they do. These clusters of machines produce long runs of a product according to a work schedule and deliver piles of work-in-process to the next operation in the value stream. To clear up a confusing point, these process-based groups Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

DMAIC (Six Sigma Problem Solving)

DMAIC is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control. It provides a systematic way to approach a problem. Using the DMAIC methodology to structure a problem-solving effort helps prevent skipping steps, which can lead to poor solutions. While is seems foreign at first, when you look more closely at it, the DMAIC methodology follows a logical flow. In fact, there is a good chance you already follow these steps when solving problems on your Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Kanban Card

A kanban card is small card containing information about a specific part used in production. It is a signal that tells someone upstream to move, purchase, or build more of a component for production. These cards must contain the number of units (items, pounds, kits, etc.) that need action. They also likely contain a variety of other information that clearly conveys what must be done. A kanban card often has a place to write the Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago

Andon

An andon light is one of the most common forms of visual management that is used in Lean. It is a staple in the bag of Lean tools because it is highly effective at keeping operations running smoothly. In Lean, the term “andon” most often refers to a signaling system used to call for help when an abnormal condition is recognized, or that some sort of action is required. These andon lights are usually present Read more…

By Jeff Hajek, ago