Apr 3 2013

A #Lean Look at the #Baseball Jersey Manufacturing Process

See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing

Chad Walters

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

Insightful comments. Keep it up.

See on leanblitz.net

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Apr 2 2013

Some Remarks on the History of Kanban | Alexei Zheglov

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“The Kanban method as we know it today has many other influencers and origins besides Ohno and TPS. Two such influencers were of course W. Edwards Deming and Eliyahu Goldratt. Demings 14 Points and the System of Profound Knowledge guide Kanban change agents worldwide. […] Thus the “watershed” of the Kanban method circa 2013 has many “tributaries” of which the TPS is only one. Those other sources should be studied by those how want to apply the Kanban method effectively as change agents.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

It takes nerve to write this sort of things.

Among the tools of TPS, the Kanban system is the only one that has been covered in the media from the beginning to the point of overexposure, because it combines a clever idea with objects you can see and touch.

What some software people did is borrow the names of both Lean and Kanban and apply them to theories with at best a tenuous relationship to the original.

That it worked for them as a marketing technique is to their credit, but I would not advise anyone wanting to learn about the Kanban system to read Deming, Goldratt, or Drucker, who is also referenced.

And TPS is not a “tributary” of the Kanban method. It is the Kanban method that is a tool of TPS, and useful only in the proper context, in conjunction with other tools in a well-thought out implementation.

See on learningagileandlean.wordpress.com

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Apr 1 2013

Lean and clichés

RunnersHere we go again! An article about Lean in machine shops today leads off with “In an increasingly competitive marketplace…,” I just could not read further. Has anyone ever met a market that was not “increasingly competitive”? I don’t believe that one ever existed 100 years ago, today, or will 100 years from now. Given that all markets always are “increasingly competitive,” stating it  just wastes readers’ time, for which there is ever increasing competition…

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Mar 25 2013

The Virginia Mason Production System | Hospital Impact

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“Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle was the first in the nation to adapt the Toyota Production System as the framework for managing a medical center. We call our version the Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS). It is our management method to identify and eliminate waste and inefficiency in the numerous processes that are part of the healthcare experience.

By streamlining repetitive and low-touch aspects of care delivery, our physicians, nurses and other clinical staff members are freed to spend more time talking with, listening to and treating patients. We are discovering it is possible to provide high-quality care with lower resource utilization.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

This blog post by the CEO of Virginia Mason sheds some light on the specifics of the “Virginia Mason Production System.” He confirms that the focus has been on administrative tasks to allow doctors and nurses to spend more time with patients, rather than on what happens while the doctor or the nurse is with the patient.

What he describes involves breaking down communications and administrative transactions in “small lots,” organizing groups of contiguous rooms into “cells,” and reassigning tasks to better leverage available skills.

See on www.hospitalimpact.org

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Mar 19 2013

Replenishment lead time in retail

Raj Govindarajan asked the following question:

Your blog on Safety Stock Formula was very fascinating. I work in a Retail company and I am trying to apply the safety stock formula to the retail environment. Is it fair to consider “Replenishment Intervals” as “Lead Time”? In other words, for example, I have a lead time of 7 days, but I order every day to the store; so should I consider demand variability for 7 days or 1 day?

As you may recall, I am advocating wariness in applying the formula. If you are ordering every day for delivery 7 days later, you are not using the reorder point logic the safety stock formula is based on. With a reorder point, you are only placing an order when your stock crosses a threshold, and the stock on hand at that time is supposed to carry you until the order is delivered.

The question you are faced with, for each item, is “How much do I need to order today to make sure I don’t run out 7 days from now?”  The elements you have to make that decision are as follow:

  1. The quantity on hand you have today. 
  2. The already ordered quantities that will be delivered in the next six days.
  3. Your sales forecast, with confidence interval, for the next seven days.

The tricky part is the sales forecast. The safety stock formula assumes a consumption rate that fluctuates around a constant mean. This may not fit your products. To check it out, you need to analyze sales history. Cell phones and artichokes are both retail products, but with different demand structures.

For your products, you need to know whether they are on a trend that is long-term compared to 7 days, and which kind of trend. In addition, is there a weekly pattern in sales? Do your products sell more, or less, on week-ends? Data mining on your sales history can give you the minimum on hand you can expect at the end of six days and the quantity you need to receive on the seventh to avoid running out.

And you have to keep in mind that these calculations are only valid in the absence of earthquakes, hurricanes, stock market crashes, wars breaking out, new product introductions, or any other event that can severs the connection between historical data and the near future.

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