Aug 25 2015
What’s Wrong With the Rote Application of Lean Tools?
There is more to playing the piano than practicing scales, but you can’t get there unless you do practice scales. Likewise, there is more to Lean than tools, but you need the tools. They are not sufficient, but they are necessary. Unless you learn them, you are depriving yourself of the benefits of clever tricks, methods, and analytical tools developed over 65 years. Each one doesn’t necessarily take long to learn, but would to reinvent, and you don’t have that time.
Sep 1 2015
Improving Versus Getting Others To Improve
Managers’ near universal reaction to the challenge of improvement is that their own operations are already run as effectively and efficiently as possible, given external constraints, including fickle customers, unreliable suppliers, local labor laws, worn-out equipment, a rickety transportation infrastructure, and the weather. The internal problems are so puny compared to the external ones that it would be futile to address them. Who cares about doubling operator productivity when labor costs are 5% of the cost of goods sold? Why should we reduce production lead times to one day when component purchasing lead times are four months?
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By Michel Baudin • Management • 0 • Tags: Lean, supplier support