4-Year Old Lean Practitioner Identifies Waste!

The beauty of lean enterprise is it’s simplistic.  Most waste is clearly visible if you will only take the time to see it. It has been said that the most dangerous waste that can exist in your business is one you can’t see. The good news is that some wastes are visible enough even a 4-year old can see it and counsel adults not to repeat the non-value added activity.

 

One of the lean wastes is transportation. This waste is defined as any movement that doesn’t add value to the product or service.  In lean manufacturing, this is characterized by unnecessary movement of finished goods or component inventory. In lean enterprise (a non-manufacturing environment), this waste can take the form of unnecessary movement of paper, information, or personnel.

 

Recently, my wife, grandson, and I were driving to a 5K Walk/Run and Easter egg hunt, when I inadvertently had to drive around searching for an open ramp to the highway.  During this drive and prior to discovering that my preferred ramp was closed, my wife and grandson saw a large building with a rounded dome on top. My wife explained to our 4-year old grandson that this structure was the Utah State Capitol. 

 

After driving a short distance further, I discovered that the ramp to the highway that I intended to take was closed due to construction. We had to circle back around and found ourselves driving back toward the Capitol from the opposite direction.  As we neared the highway ramp, our grandson pointed out the window and exclaimed, “Look, the Capitol!”  He then went on to lecture me on my excess transportation by blurting out, “Papa don’t drive in a circle!”

 

In this case, the transportation waste was so visible that even a 4-year old could see it and counsel me not to repeat the non-value added activity.

 

As a Lean Sigma Practitioner (LSP) dedicated to continuous improvement, you have to learn how to see waste.  Once you have seen the waste, you must be willing to raise and discuss the issue.  An organization will not achieve the next level of performance unless everyone communicates his or her thoughts.  In many respects, LSPs must take some of their behavioral cues from an inquisitive 4-year old.  LSPs should question everything and express any concerns over what they observe.

 

Most waste is visible and correctable, assuming we train ourselves to see it and not accept the non-value added activity as the norm. Just because the task has been accomplished by following a particular process for years doesn’t make it the right process for today’s environment.

 

 

Post Author: Royce Williard

Copyright 2009, The Williard Group

When are you done with Continuous Improvement?

 

Recently an individual who just witnessed several lean sigma project reviews asked, “When are you done with continuous improvement”?  The discussion that followed is worth summarizing to reinforce the idea that continuous improvement is just that, continuous.

 

My initial response was that not only must a company change; it must change faster than its competition.  Most everyone would all agree that companies are competitive and all want to be number one in their field.  Assuming that as a fact, the non-field leading companies are striving to improve to over-take the leaders.  Should the up and coming companies change and improve faster than the leaders, they will eventually over-take them. Without change, even companies that are number one in their field will eventually be surpassed. 

 

One person in the discussion likened this to a scene in the 1990 movie “Days of Thunder”, starring Tom Cruise and Robert Duvall.  The individual described one scene in which the pit crew chief (Duvall) was talking via radio to the racecar driver (Cruise).  The pit crew chief was complaining to the driver that he was going too fast and abusing the equipment.  The driver responded that he had not sped up, but everyone else had slowed down. By simply going a little faster than the competition, he finally passed all of those in front of him to become number one; winning the race.

 

Continuous improvement is a marathon and this marathon has no end, simply minor course adjustments as you continue in the race. 

 

We are in a changing and challenging time.  Many companies will be tempted to retrench and cut expenses by blindly cutting costs including eliminating their continuous improvement activities.  This is not the time to be timid, this is the time to aggressively attack waste by pursuing continuous improvement.  Less non-value added waste equals more profit.

 

For a company to be successful, they must have a strong culture that promotes continuous improvement.  They must strive to be better than they were six months ago while realizing that they are not as good as they will be six months from now.

 

I’ll close this post as I closed the discussion, with one of my favorite business quotes. “When the pace of change outside the organization is greater than the pace of change inside the organization, the end is near.”   John R. Walker

 

 

Post Author: Royce Williard

Copyright 2009, The Williard Group

Root Cause Analysis Using 5 Whys

My 4-year-old grandson was visiting recently and almost every sentence he spoke contained the word why. Why this and why that, he asked nonstop as only an inquisitive 4 year old can do.  As I patiently answered his questions, I was struck by how his constant questioning resembled the 5 Whys technique used in lean enterprise problem solving.  The 5 Whys is an extremely effective method used to getting to the root cause of the issue. 

 

The premise of the 5 Whys is very simple.  As the name implies, when conducting a root cause analysis you ask yourself and your team a series of 5 questions all beginning with the word why.  Each successive question builds on the previous answer.  Sounds simple.  In practice it is harder than you may think. 

 

To illustrate, suppose there was an issue involving tape on a packing carton coming loose.

 

1. Why did the tape come loose on the packing carton?
1. The tape was not applied with the necessary tension
2. Why did the tape lack the necessary tension?
1. The spring that applies the tension on the taper was loose.
3. Why was the spring loose?
1. The spring had been on the machine too long and had loosened due to wear.
4. Why had the spring been on the machine to long?
1. The spring had been on the machine to long because it was not replaced during preventive maintenance.
5. Why was the spring not replaced as part of the preventive maintenance schedule?
1. The preventative maintenance schedule only addressed the new model taping machines, which do not require use of a spring.

 

Solution: Update the preventative maintenance schedule and ensure that all items requiring preventative maintenance are scheduled.

 

While this sounds easy, it isn’t.  Your first several attempts will prove difficult and the tendency will be to stop before reaching the 5^th Why.  I would urge you to press forward in an attempt to reach that 5^th why and get to the true root cause of the issue.

 

Post Author: Royce Williard

copyright 2009, The Williard Group