One of the most recurring themes I run into while either teaching or speaking on best practices is the “I know that that won’t work in my company” attitude. The pessimist is always willing to passionately voice their reason(s) that this is true; we are too big, we are too small, our technology is too […]
Lessons from Lombardi It’s about Winning: Lombardi saw the importance of winning in any game; in life and so on. He couldn’t accept defeat as final and he had a single-minded focus when it came to winning football games. As a leader, it is important to understand that people want to be part of a winning […]
It occurred to me after reading an article in the local paper recently that solid management fundamentals are timeless and cross all industries. It is critical that an organization have a foundation based on a practical management game plan to be in the chase for excellence. Old School = New School The article I am […]
Create and Execute an Action Plan An action plan is the method for transforming the process from its current state to the future state. This can be accomplished by using a combination of any of the six sigma methodology associated with best practices, and the appropriate tools from The Lean Toolkit. The action plan for […]
Create a Future State Value Stream Map Once the current state of the process has been established, which by the way, is usually the second “Ah-Ha!” moment for the company, the next step is to picture the desired state of the process; the future state. This is the point where waste identified in the current […]
Create a Current State Value Stream Map Now, let’s turn this diagram into a Current State Value Stream Map. The original working session for developing a value stream map is very manual, and as I mentioned earlier, is best done on a white board or with Post-it Notes®. I prefer the flexibility of Post-it Notes®, […]
As we discussed in an earlier article, one of the most critical steps in the value stream creation process is recognizing non-value (waste) in your process. Value stream mapping brings together lean concepts and techniques and helps to avoid the “cherry picking syndrome” in which processes that have very little impact on the product or […]
I remember the not-too-distant past when a 99% yield rate would earn you bragging rights (myself included). Looking at what that really means by today’s metrics show that a 1% scrap rate converts to 10,000 defective parts per million (DPPM). As a customer, imagine a supplier striving to give you only 1% defective parts! World-class […]
Looking back through the annals of our industry, when it comes to quality, we have evolved from a reactive, to a proactive mindset. This evolution has lead to what is loosely called the Zero Defects Methodology (ZDM). The “old” gold standard of three sigma is no longer acceptable and has gone the way of the […]
Value stream mapping brings together lean concepts and techniques and helps to avoid the “cherry picking syndrome” in which processes that have very little impact on the product or service are chosen because they will be easy to improve. Value stream mapping forms the basis of an action plan (going from current state to future […]
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