The more you think in terms of systems, the more effective your company will be. Don’t just focus on drawing up Standard Work. Look at the entire work management system. Knowing how you will train people, and even hire people, can drive the way you…
There is an old story about a company that sourced a component from a Lean oriented supplier in Japan, and insisted that the vendor met a 2% failure rate target. The Japanese company balked and resisted that rate, but the purchaser insisted. Finally the Lean company relented and agreed…
There is a common misconception that inspections are an indicator of a good quality program. The truth is that inspections mean complacency. They require that you understand…
People should not be standing watching machines or pulling levers. They are far more intelligent than that. Give them jobs that use that intelligence and sever their ties to machines. Focusing on this premise, that workers are more than just machines, shows great respect for people, one of the central Read more…
Availability is exactly what it sounds like. It is a state of readiness to perform a task or operation. The term can be applied to a person, process, or piece of equipment. OEE and Availability The term availability is a component of OEE or overall equipment effectiveness. This is a Read more…
Analysis of variance, also known as ANOVA, is a sophisticated statistical modeling technique that looks at variation within and between two or more groups. This is a useful tool in Six Sigma because being able to recognize variation in results lets you zero in on the process that created that Read more…
CRM stands for customer relationship management. It essentially is the practice of taking an active approach to understanding how a company interacts with its customers and creating a strategy to manage that relationship for both current and future customers. In practice, CRM is typically used to describe software systems, of Read more…
What is A3 Thinking? A3 thinking is a philosophical approach to problem solving that centers on a well-communicated team approach to using the PDCA cycle. The tool used to apply this way of thinking is known as the A3 report. Download our Free A3 Report Template A3 Thinking Background Whether Read more…
Yesterday morning I had to go into the DMV (Department of Licensing here in Washington State) to renew my driver’s license. As I walked into the waiting room and saw the hundred and fifty or two hundred poor souls already lost in purgatory ahead of me, it reminded me of Read more…
The Production Preparation Process (3P) is a powerful means of taking a big-picture look at how a product is designed and manufactured. It guides teams through the creative process of generating ideas, and then whittles the ideas down to one that will be implemented. A 3P project can focus on Read more…
The “Voice of the Customer” (VOC) is the collective information that an organization obtains from or about its customers. This information comes in one of four basic ways, as shown on the image below: Organizations can either actively request information from a customer or can seek out information that is 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…