Nov 17 2018

Manufacturing Today, By The Numbers

[latexpage]

What does manufacturing as a whole look like as a worldwide economic activity? When a company starts up or shuts down a plant, or relocates production from one country to another, it is a data point. It may be a compelling story but it doesn’t tell you the aggregate effect of all manufacturing on a country or the world.

Beyond anecdotes about particular companies or locations, the global data collected by the World Bank and the International Labor Organization confirm that (1) the size of the manufacturing sector is positively correlated with that of the rest of the economy, and (2) the share of manufacturing in advanced economies is holding its own in terms of value added but declining in terms of share of the labor force.

Continue reading…

By • News • 1 • Tags: , , , ,

Nov 7 2018

Where Problem-Solving Goes Wrong | Gregg Stocker | Lessons in Lean

“[…] Whenever someone asks for input on a problem-solving A3, I tend to look for the red flags or areas in each section where help is most commonly needed. The key is to help people understand that the process is about investigating, reflecting, and learning, not filling in the form. It is far too common, especially early in a person’s development, to force-fit information into the boxes just to appease someone else and show that the process was followed. […]”

Sourced through Lessons in Lean

Michel Baudin‘s comments:  Companies use forms to make teams answer every question. Filling out forms, however, often degenerates into the formalism Gregg describes. Instead of reviewing content, managers just check that the team has entered something in every box.

Gregg also says nothing about immediate countermeasures to “stop the bleeding.” Assume, for example, that customers start returning defectives. The first step is to prevent more defectives from escaping. Meanwhile, you investigate root causes, implement permanent solutions, and validate them. The point of the process is to go beyond immediate countermeasures and dismantle them once they are no longer useful.

#problemsolving, #A3

By • Blog clippings • 2 • Tags: ,

Nov 5 2018

Vade retro, Pareto ! | Cécile Roche | LinkedIn

Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923)

“Vilfredo Pareto was a respected economist and sociologist, which few people know. He invented the theory of Pareto optimality, which describes a maximum efficiency of the competitive economy. Better known to the general public for his empirical law of 80/20 (in general, 20% of the causes generate 80% of the effects), his reputation is in reality often reduced to the use of the diagram of the same name (that he did not even invent!)

And that’s where things go wrong. I’m sure you know this famous diagram, the one where you stack problems in pre-labeled columns. Those who know me know that most of the time, these famous diagrams (actually invented by Joseph Juran) generate in me a reflex of distrust…”

Sourced from LinkedIn Pulse

Michel Baudin‘s comments: Cécile Roche’s article has a clever title that works in English as well as in French. The body of the article, however, is in French, and I recommend Google-translating it into the language of your choice. The result won’t be perfect but you will get the gist.

Her experience with Pareto diagrams confirms the points I have been making about them in this blog. I agree with Cécile’s conclusions that they are good for slides but not as drivers for actual change. On the other hand, I don’t believe it has to be that way and I see many practical uses for the analysis behind the diagrams, if not for the diagrams themselves.

Continue reading…

By • Blog clippings • 5 • Tags: , ,

Nov 3 2018

PechaKucha To The Rescue | Cécile Roche | Thales Group

Cécile Roche

Cécile Roche‘s day job is to run Lean & Agile for the Thales Group. In her spare time, she writes and teaches short courses at engineering schools in France. Her latest book is a Travel Guide to Lean Engineering that she co-authored with her colleague Luc Delamotte. The latest two-day class she taught on this subject didn’t start well but she was able to recover by having the student prepare PechaKucha — that is, presentations of 20 images, shown each for 20 seconds.

Continue reading…

By • Training • 1 • Tags: , ,

Oct 19 2018

Fake News | Becky Morgan | Target Online

Becky Morgan

“Edward R Murrow and Walter Cronkite were our rocks. Now the Internet funnels so many opinions and sources that it is difficult to know who and what to trust. More fundamentally, it has become difficult to agree on the facts. Your company is likely steeped in fake news too. It may be coming from the leadership team, from informal leaders, or from external influences. The confusing part is that those same groups can be the source of factual news. Who should people believe? It’s extremely hard to be ‘aligned’ or ‘operationally excellent’ or ‘world class’ if we can’t even agree on the basics.”

Source Target Online

Michel Baudin‘s comments: Becky is saying that communications inside a business organization are full of lies and she proposes remedies that are changes in individual behaviors: don’t make things up, facilitate open discussions, listen actively, build discussion skills, etc. But why do people lie at work?

Management mendacity persists through generations

Most don’t like to but find that they must in order to earn promotions or even keep their jobs. In The Project Game, we examined how managers rate project leaders as too timid unless they plan for the shortest task durations that don’t violate the laws of physics. To get or keep their assignment, the leaders make these claims, miss deadlines, and work desperately hard to finish. By surviving in this game, they secure promotions and carry on the same practices with the next generation. They may prefer to follow Becky’s recommendations but they can’t.

Continue reading…

By • Press clippings • 1 • Tags: ,

Oct 12 2018

For Lean Production to Work, a Company Needs to Be All In | Ellen Rosen | The New York Times

 

“For a company in Chesterfield, Mo., it involved something as seemingly simple as attaching a trash can to an employee’s chair. For one in St. Louis, it meant leaving the cover off an electronic temperature controller. For others it’s meant gathering employees from the chief executive on down for what’s known as Kaizen events — based on the Japanese word for continuing improvement. What do these seemingly unconnected efforts have in common? They are approaches to what is known as lean manufacturing — or, more recently, lean production — aimed at streamlining production processes, enhancing employee engagement and increasing profits.”

Source: The New York Times(10/11/2018)

Michel Baudin‘s comments: Thanks to Kevin Hop for drawing my attention to this article. Like him, I do read The New York Times regularly and usually appreciate the quality of its reporting. This article, however, does not measure up. It reflects the conventional wisdom on Lean manufacturing which, if anything, explains why so many implementations fail.

Continue reading…

By • Press clippings • 1 • Tags: , , , , , , ,

«< 18 19 20 21 22 >»