Jan 14 2015

Not Exactly Poka-Yoke and Chaku-Chaku

“Japanese automobile manufacturing methods are adopted by American competitors. Watch the concept of poka-yoke, meaning “correct” and chaku-chaku, meaning “one worker, several tasks” in the manufacture of rear view mirrors.”

Source: www.youtube.com

Michel Baudin‘s comments:

An interesting video, but “Poka-Yoke” and “Chaku-Chaku” don’t mean what the narration says they do. And they are not “Japanese” methods but methods invented by specific individuals in specific companies that happened to be in Japan. Likewise, the assembly line is not an “American” method but a method invented by P.E. Martin, Charles Sorensen and others at Ford.

“Poka-Yoke” doesn’t just mean “correct.” More specifically, a Poka-Yoke is a device integrated in the production process to prevent human error or detect it immediately without adding any labor. Checking bar codes on parts, as shown in a video, doesn’t qualify as a Poka-Yoke because it adds labor, and error prevention devices that add labor are ineffective because they are by-passed under pressure.

The video shows an operator attending to a sequence of tasks and calls it “Chaku-Chaku.” There is, however, ,more to Chaku-Chaku than this, such as automatic processing at each station, with automatic unloading and chutes between stations, so that the work of the operator is focused on checking the part after an operation and loading it into the next.

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Dec 24 2014

Hong Kong Power Company Holds QC Circle Convention | Quality Alchemist

CLP Power Quality Control Circle (QCC) Convention was established in 2002. It aims to offer our staff a platform to submit any creative ideas they may have to improve processes, procedures and overall operations in the form of a proposal. CLPP QCC Convention is one of key quality culture activities and HKSQ exco members were honored to be invited as guests for the Convention. Moreover, our former chairman Dr. Aaron Tong was one of judges.

Source: qualityalchemist.blogspot.com

Michel Baudin‘s comments:

The QC circle, born in Japan in the early 1960s and the object of a short-lived fad in the US and Europe in the 1980s, lives on as a useful tool in organizations that stuck with it, including many companies in Japan, China, India, and other Asian countries.

CLP Power has been an electrical utility serving Hong Kong for 100 years. In the jury that awarded prizes to circle projects at this convention was my friend Aaron Tong, former chair of the Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ).

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Dec 21 2014

Review of “Engineering the Revolution” by Ken Alder

This book will entertain and inform you if you have been struggling with issues like the proper role of government in the economy and in technology development, gaining acceptance for new technology in a society, the nature of the engineering profession and its social role, engineering education, or meritocracy in general. It is about events that happened between 200 and 300 years ago in France, but the technical, political and social challenges it describes are still with us today, worldwide.
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Dec 7 2014

Bridging the Gap between Buyers and Suppliers | Robert Moakler | IndustryWeek

“Creating high performance, collaborative alliances between buyers and U.S. suppliers will ensure rebuilding a strong and sustainable American supply chain.”

Source: www.industryweek.com

 

Michel Baudin‘s comments:

Robert Moakler reiterates the well known fact that collaboration between suppliers and customers is a win/win, and offers an e-sourcing platform as the better mousetrap that will make it happen.

As COO of an “online marketplace exclusively developed for the American manufacturing industry,” Moakler is forthright about where he is coming from. But is lack of technology the reason why adversarial, arm’s length relations between suppliers and customers remain the norm?

My own findings on this matter — summarized in Lean Logistics, on pp. 342-350 — is that each side stands to gain a short-term advantage from unilaterally breaking a collaborative relationship, and that the business history of the past 25 years shows examples of this happening.

On the customer side, a new VP of purchasing can instruct buyers to use the information suppliers have shared to force price concessions. Conversely, suppliers can leverage intimate, single-sourcing, collaborative relations with a customer to charge above-market prices.

None of these behaviors is viable in the long term, but not all managers care about the long term, and the toughest challenge in establishing collaborative relations is defusing well-founded fears about the future behavior of the other side.

While wishing Mr. Moakley the best of luck in his business, I don’t believe technology is the problem.

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Dec 5 2014

When Finance Runs the Factory | William Levinson | Industry Week

“Henry Ford achieved world-class results with three key performance indicators (KPIs), none of which were financial. His successors’ changeover to financial metrics, on the other hand, caused the company to forget what we now call the Toyota production system.”

Source: www.industryweek.com

Michel Baudin‘s comments:

Yes, giving power over manufacturing companies to accountants, as American industry massively did in the 1950s yielded disastrous results. The summary given in this article’s lead paragraph, however, does not match the historical record from other sources.

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