From 1924 to 1932 a Western Electric factory outside of Chicago called the Hawthorne Works ran a series of experiments to understand the impact of certain conditions on productivity. The most famous of these experiments was testing the impact of different levels of light. In this study, as well as their others, the productivity would […]
The Difference Between Planning and Scheduling?
June 22, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Great organizations understand they need to put tremendous effort into planning and leave scheduling to rules for the isolated process. Planning is the preparation necessary to flow value effectively from beginning to end through the entire operation. Scheduling follows rules that allow the isolated process to be as efficient as possible while serving the value […]
Don’t Stop the Presses – and Other Critical Mistakes!
May 11, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Great companies unlock incredible value by resisting the natural human instinct to never stop production. Somehow, it is in our DNA to feel better when a process is making product – no matter what. “Don’t stop the process! I don’t care what you have to do!” is the marching order to abandon the benefits of […]
Reflection Captures The Lessons Experience Teaches
April 27, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Reflection Captures the Lessons Experience Teaches Albert Einstein said “Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” Organizations that embrace the learning from experience have the competitive advantage of efficient improvement. Great organizations use experiments and the scientific methods are their ways to identify and unlock the true value in their organization. But even in […]
Everybody is a Job Shop – Mass Production is Dead!
April 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Everybody is a Job Shop – Mass Production is Dead! “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) And so began the age of mass production. In 2016, there were 226 different models of cars in […]
The Biggest Benefit of 5S No One Thinks About
March 2, 2018 By Leave a Comment
The Biggest Benefit of 5S No One Thinks About Most successful organizations have adopted some form of 5S on their lean journey. Most recognize 5S as a workplace organization method that uses a list of five Japanese words: seiri, (Sort), seiton, (Set in Order), seiso, (Shine), seiketsu, (Standardize) and shitsuke (Sustain). Some even add a […]
Flow When You Can – Pull When You Can’t
February 17, 2018 By Leave a Comment
The goal of perfect flow is to produce a product or service one at a time, defect free, immediately at the request of the next process. Successful operations accomplish this by flowing the value added activity of their products or services in sequence from order entry to shipment. Any time waiting or resequencing is a […]
Do Improvement Boards at a Work Center Really Work?
February 2, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Do Improvement Boards at a Work Center Really Work? Hospitals have embraced the improvement methods in their operations that were pioneered in manufacturing. Many of them are deep into their operational excellence journeys with several of the same tools we see in business, such as changeover practices in operating rooms and performance boards at work […]
Can Lowering OEE Improve Flow?
January 20, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Can Lowering OEE Improve Flow? Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a measure of how well equipment is utilized and performing. It measures three specific aspects of running well. The first ratio is a measure of the machine’s availability – is it available to run when scheduled? The second ratio is a measure of the machine’s […]
What if You Treated Your Employees Like Customers?
January 5, 2018 By Leave a Comment
What if You Treated Your Employees Like Customers? Large retail outlets like Ikea, Home Depot, and Lowes, as well as successful grocery stores, have created environments that allow the customers to do more and more of the work. Scanning the aisles of large warehouses for products, as well as scanning all merchandise and processing payments, […]
