News

Jan 31 2013

David Meier on Productivity Metrics | The Lean Edge

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“The first point I want to make is that any measure has flaws and will not completely reflect reality. They should be considered indicators and in some way all refer to some sort of “standard” or desired condition. This is the basis for problem identification, which is the main purpose.

Any measure is a ‘snapshot’ of conditions during a specific time period and reflects many variables that are occurring. Some measures such as productivity are based on assumptions such as standard hours. The notion of standard hours is flawed in many ways that I won’t get into, but this measure can be used effectively (if used carefully). The mistake that is often made is to evaluate performance based on the measure and to drive inappropriate behaviors like overproduction.”

 

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

Insights on productivity metrics used at Toyota.

See on theleanedge.org

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Jan 29 2013

Unions, Lean, and Manufacturing Jobs | New York Times

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A union resurgence is taking place. Is that enough to save organized labor?

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

The article sounds right about unions in the US, but incorrectly describes France as having “drastically higher  union coverage.” French unions barely represent 8% of the work force, not much more than the 7% in the US, but they do keep a high profile, with more than 90% of their funds coming, in various forms, from the government. Their financing was exposed in early 2012 by a parliamentary commission report that was first quashed and then leaked to the press (http://bit.ly/WdL1lk).

See on www.nytimes.com

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Jan 26 2013

5S in Sri Lanka: Passing fad or firm philosophy? | The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

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Over the past few years, Sri Lanka has seen a tremendous increase in the application of the Japanese workplace organization method, the 5S system, particularly

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

A well-written, warts-and-all account of a development I was not aware of. The last paragraph says: “…those companies which have succeeded in embracing it as a philosophy have benefited in numerous ways, financially and non-financially…” And this is as specific as it gets.

See on www.sundaytimes.lk

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Jan 24 2013

Shigeo Shingo’s first name misspelled twice in article on mistake-proofing

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“The causes of defects lie in worker errors, and defects are the results of neglecting those errors. It follows that mistakes will not turn into defects if worker errors are discovered and eliminated beforehand.” — Shiego Shingo, 1986

Sheiego Shingo, the Japanese industrial engineer credited as one of the world’s leading experts on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System, termed pre-mistake discovery and elimination as poka-yoke, which translates to “fool proofing” or more recently “mistake proofing.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

And it is misspelled in two different ways!

See on www.qualityassurancemag.com

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Jan 24 2013

Increasing Subassembly Productivity

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In my time spent onsite with the customer implementing PFEP (Plan-For-Every-Part) and advanced material flow techniques, I often was pulled into other projects. One of these projects was an effort …

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

This is a rare post on assembly engineering, dealing with the layout of subasembly cells for a mixed-flow line. This is the red meat of Lean, ignored in most of the English-language literature on the subject. Kudos to Kelcy Monday for getting involved.

Reading this, I can’t help but thinking of many issues I would have handled differently, but I have not seen the product of the shop floor. In any case, this is the right opportunity to work on, with order-of-magnitude performance improvements at stake, as opposed to the 5% others might have nibbled by  applying 5S on the old layout.

See on leanlogisticsblog.leancor.com

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Jan 23 2013

Companies use kaizen to improve

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It used to take 34 steps to open a checking account at Great Western Bank.

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

This article is focused on improvement done at Great Western Bank, a regional bank with 200 locations and 1,600 employees, inspired by similar work done at mid-size manufacturers Raven Industries and Daktronics, and contractor Muth Electric.

The improvements seem substantial. The article otherwise contains a few minor eyebrow raisers that, to be fair, may be due to misunderstandings by the reporter.

The subtitle describes Kaizen as a “Japanese method,” but later explains that “the work is done in Kaizen events,…” Kaizen events are an American method and unknown in Japan. And what is implemented through Kaizen events is not Kaizen as understood in Japan.

“Kaizen is considered the building block of lean production…” Well, I can think of a few other building blocks.

“… the resulting strategies are implemented […] within days of the event.” Kaizen events don’t just identify strategies, but changes implemented primarily during the event itself, not in the days that follow.

See on siouxfallsbusinessjournal.argusleader.com

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