New Japanese Words

There’s a lot of Japanese terms used in Lean … why?

Typically, these terms are used (and misused) in order to convey broad concepts with iconic (representative) terminology. Once properly explained, the term KANBAN can be more descriptive than THOSE LITTLE CARDS WHICH HELP US CONTROL PRODUCT MOVES. However, use of these terms can have a negative effect, especially if the culture of a particular organization is predisposed against all things non-American. Choose carefully the training methods (and terms) you use when conveying lean tools and methods, and you will have a much easier time during your lean implementation.

Well now you can add some more!

[link]

I like:

• kuki ga yomenai: can’t read between the lines or can’t sense the atmosphere
• shouganai: it couldn’t be helped
• kyousei: symbiosis
• do gen ka sen to ikan: something needs to be done
• kawaigari: to cherish or take under one’s wing
• kokumin o kitai ni kotaeraremashita: I lived up to the people’s expectations
• sonna no kankei nee: It doesn’t matter!

What proportion of a company's workforce should be Belts?

[link, link]

I do not believe that any recommendation should really exist. It is dependent on the company, its requirements and its targets. I think a minimum break-even point would be interesting, although I dont know the best way of calculating that. The GE global guideline of 1% of the workforce being assigned as Black Belts (100% dedication), works well. In a transactional environment, where companies have more white-collar workers as opposed to blue-collar workers, it is said that a higher percentage will do a company a lot of good In comparing service companies to their industrial counterparts, I would also suggest to consider having more Green Belts and fewer Black Belts, for ease of deployment.

The 1% BB came from GE data study collected in 1989. 10% of all GE employees’ fall into management roles and 1% top leadership roles and Jack Welsh wanted all his leaders to be BB skilled. Jack Welsh also wanted 50% of the employee make-up that he called DNA to be Green Belt skilled. Many businesses would run from a training/coaching consulting proposal for 50% GB, so the number is usually stated as 3-6% of employee base. Guess, GE believed there was a business gain for having 50% GB DNA – and since they are still doing great, I’d have to say Jack was probably right again.

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Using SPC in a healthcare/hospital setting

Anybody with expertise using SPC in a healthcare/hospital setting: here’s some great resources!

Perhaps you need to read the attached links?

A basic guide to introduction of the technique is in three chronological phases:

• Phase 1: Stabilisation of the process by the identification and elimination of special causes:
• Phase 2: Active improvement efforts on the process itself, i.e. tackling common causes;
• Phase 3: Monitoring the process to ensure the improvements are maintained, and incorporating additional improvements as the opportunity arises.

Click here!

Other great links are:

Statistical Process Control for Health Care

It is written as a practical guide for applying SPC (i.e. applications and illustrations of SPC) in health care settings. Although the authors have chosen …

Improving healthcare quality by PQ Systems

SPC for healthcare: Application stories. PQ Systems supports healthcare quality initiatives – Assisting hospitals (or healthcare professionals) in …

Using SPC in a healthcare/hospital setting

Anybody with expertise using SPC in a healthcare/hospital setting? Perhaps you need to read the articles/books via the attached links?

Improving Healthcare with Control Charts

In his latest book, Dr. Raymond Carey answers these questions and more as he helps to explain the need for, and the use of, SPC in healthcare. …

SPC Healthcare Informatics Program

St. Petersburg College‘s Healthcare Informatics mission is to prepare a workforce with the healthcare informatics skills needed by the healthcare community. …

Statit Software: SPC Chart Guide for Healthcare

Alaska Native Medical Center; Bellin Health; Burke Rehabilitation Hospital; Calgary Health Region; CareOregon; Fletcher Allen Health Care; Oregon Health …

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Fun with SIPOCs

Do you have any suggestions to help the project manager with scoping a project and getting the team working together right from the start of a project? [link]

Image by qa.manager via Flickr

Project managers obviously face many issues when starting a project. Gaining appropriate sponsorship, acquiring necessary resources, and determining correct customer requirements are the kinds of issues that if not handled correctly can easily result in eventual project failure. Additionally, two important issues project managers face on just about every project have to do with determining the correct project scope and quickly getting the project team working together. Fortunately, there is an effective and often used Six Sigma tool which addresses those two very issues. Project managers can greatly benefit from using the “SIPOC” diagram at the start of every project

Related articles

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• Six sigma leadership
• six sigma
• Lean Six Sigma and a Particularly Virulent Case of Chicken Pox
• Six Sigma doesn’t work?
• 4 Steps to Making Strategic Decisions in Today’s Market

29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch

29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch

29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch is the first concise book of essential Welch-isms, abridged from the bestselling “Get Better or Get Beaten”.

Jack Welch built a career out of fighting waste. “29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch” follows in Welch’s footsteps, boiling the legendary CEO’s leadership successes down to 29 strategies that made GE the world’s most competitive company – and Welch the world’s most successful and admired CEO.

This all-in-one Welch reference updates material from Robert Slater’s bestselling “Get Better or Get Beaten”, and is today’s ultimate fast-paced, no-nonsense handbook on the ways of Jack Welch.

It taps into the heart of Welch’s courage, innovation, and leadership success by examining simple leadership secrets that include:

• Managing less is managing better
• Make quality the job of every employee, and
• Have global brains and vision.

Click here to buy – 29 Leadership Secrets from Jack Welch

• Content: [rating:3.5/5]
• Ease of Reading: [rating:4/5]
• Technical Knowledge: [rating:4/5]
• Overall: [rating:overall]

Last.fm Quality Control

[LINK]

Last.fm is a UK-based Internet radio and music community website, founded in 2002. It claims over 21 million active users based in more than 200 countries.^[1] On 30 May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for £140m ($280m USD).

Using a music recommendation system called “Audioscrobbler,” Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user’s musical taste by recording details of all the songs the user listens to, either on the streamed radio stations or on the user’s computer or some portable music devices. This information is transferred to Last.fm’s database (“scrobbled”) via a plugin installed into the user’s music player. The profile data is then displayed on the user’s profile page. The site offers numerous social networking features and can recommend and play artists similar to the user’s favourites.

Users can create custom radio stations and playlists from any of the audio tracks in Last.fm’s music library, and are able to listen to some individual tracks on demand, or download tracks if the rights holder has previously authorised it. Registration is required to acquire a profile but is not necessary to view any part of the site or to listen to radio stations.

So what processes and systems are in place to reduce the likelihood of software errors?

They use lots of visual management for a start:

we selectively take the most vital data (things like database load, web request times, uptime status of core machines) and display these on eye-catching displays in our operations room.

Checks on the code it is released is highlighted using these:

These 3 bears sit in a prominent position and watch our developer’s every move. When things are good we have a green bear gently glowing and purring, when changes are being processed a yellow bear joins the party, and if the build gets broken the growling evil red bear makes an appearance. The developer who broke things usually goes a similar shade of red while frantically trying to fix whatever was broken while the others chortle in the background.

And this measures average website response time:

JURASSIC 5 – QUALITY CONTROL

The Toyota Way – Part 3

This post continues my summary of the The Toyota Way by Dr Jeff K. Liker.

Principle 3: Use the “Pull-System” to Avoid Over Production

The pull-system hinges on the idea of restocking inventory based on the day-to day demand of the customers rather than on a fixed schedule or system. This calls for a flexible system that relies on consumer demand. The Just-in-Time (JIT) system provides customers with what they want, when they want it and in the amount they want it. Material restocking based on consumption minimizes work in process and warehousing of inventory. You only stock small amounts of each product and frequently replenish based on what the customer actually takes away.

Principle 4: Level out theWorkload (heijunka)

A strict build-to-order system builds a lot of inventory, over-head cost, poorer product and service quality and hidden problems. To eliminate this problem, Toyota came up with a scheme of leveling out the production schedule. The leveling of production by volume and product mix is known as heijunka. The process does not build up products according to the actual flow of customer orders. Rather, it takes the total volume of orders in a period and levels them out. This results to having the same amount and mix made each day.

Benefits of a Leveling Schedule

1. Flexibility to make what the customer wants when they want it.
2. Reduced risk of unsold goods.
3. Balanced used of labor and goods.

Principle 5: Build a Culture of Shopping to Fix the Problem, to Get the Quality Right the First Time

Quality for the customers should be the driving force behind any company’s philosophy. Quality should be built in your company and your production processes. Building an Early Warning Device into your line or equipment prevents problems from being passed down the line. This reduces costs and is more effective than inspecting and repairing quality problems after the fact. You should also build a support system that can quickly solve problems and create counter measures. The development of a company principle of stopping or slowing down work when a problem is detected and getting the quality right enhances productivity and profitability in the long run.

Principle 6: Standardized Tasks are the Foundation for Continuous Improvement and Employee Empowerment

Standardization is the foundation for continuous improvement, innovation, growth and quality. It is impossible to enhance any process until it is standardized. Quality is likewise guaranteed through standard procedures to ensure consistency in the process and product. When implementing standardization, it is important to strike a balance between providing the employees with firm procedures and providing them the freedom to innovate and be creative. Standards should be specific enough to offer useful guidelines yet general enough to allow for some flexibility.

Principle 7: Use Visual Control So No Problems are Hidden

Five S’s for Elimination of Waste

1. Sort.
2. Straighten.
3. Shine or cleanliness.
4. Standardize or create rules.
5. Sustain.

• Keep only what is needed and dispose of what is not.
• Maintain orderliness. Remember, there is a place for everything and everything in its place.
• The cleaning process often acts as a form of inspection that can identify defects or abnormal conditions that can affect quality.
• Develop systems and procedures to maintain and monitor the first three rules stated above.
• Maintaining a stabilized workplace is an ongoing process of continuous improvement.

Principle 8: Use Only Reliable, Thoroughly Tested Technology that Serves Your People and Process

Adaptation of new technologies must support your people, process and values. It must not displace or replace them. Introduce new technology after it has been tested and proven with the involvement of a broad cross-section of your organization. Before adopting any new technology, Toyota first analyzes the impact it might have on existing processes. If it determines that the new technology adds value to the existing process, it analyzes it further to determine if it does not conflict with the company’s philosophy and operating principles. If it violates any of the principles,Toyota rejects the new technology. The introduction of new technology is done through a process of consensus, analysis and planning involving the employees and all the stakeholders in the process. This painstaking process results in the smooth implementation of the new technology without employee resistance and process disruption.

The next post in the series will cover the remainder of the fourteen points and how to apply the Toyota Way in your organization.

The Toyota Way – Part 2

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World’s Greatest Manufacturer

Toyota developed the after World War II. While Ford and GM used mass production and economies of scale, Toyota faced very different business conditions. Toyota’s market was very small but it had to produce a variety of vehicles on the same assembly line to satisfy customers. The solution: making the operations flexible. This resulted in the birth of TPS.TPS borrowed some of its ideas from the United States.

The core idea of the Just in Time system came from the concept of the “pull-system”, which was inspired by the American supermarkets. In the pull system, individual items are replenished as each item begins to run low on the shelf.

Applied to Toyota, it means that the first step in the process is not completed until the second step uses the materials or supplies from Step 1. At Toyota, every step of the manufacturing process uses Kanban to signal to the previous step when its part needs to be replenished.

The company was also inspired by W. Edwards Deming. Aside from broadly defining customers to include internal and external clients, he also encouraged Toyota to adopt a systematic approach to problem solving, which became a cornerstone for continuous improvement (Kaizen). The point of the TPS is to minimize time spent on non-value adding activities by positioning the materials and tools as close as possible to the point of assembly.

The major types of non-value adding waste in business or production process are:

1. Overproduction.
2. Waiting or time on hand.
3. Unnecessary transport or conveyance.
4. Over processing or incorrect processing.
5. Excess inventory.
6. Unnecessary movement.
7. Defects.
8. Unused employee creativity.

The Fourteen Principles of the Toyota Way

Principle 1: Base your management decision on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals

The Toyota message is consistent: Do the right thing for the company, its employees, the customer and the society as a whole. This long-term philosophy is the guiding post of the company in its continuous quest to offer the best in quality and service to its customers, employees and stockholders.

Long-term goal should supersede short-term decision making or goals: Develop, work, grow and align the company towards a common goal that is bigger than making money.Your philosophical mission is and should be the foundation of all our other principles.

Toyota is aligned around satisfying the customer. It believes that a satisfied customer comes back and gives more business through referrals. It generates value for the customer, the society and the economy.

One of the keys to success of Toyota is that it lives by the philosophy of self reliance and a “let’s do it ourselves” attitude. This can be best illustrated when it ventured into the luxury car industry. It did not buy a company that already made luxury cars.

Rather, it created its own luxury division – the Lexus – from scratch in order to learn and understand the essence of a luxury car.

Principle 2: Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface

The mass production system used by many manufacturers assures overproduction in large batches which in turn guarantees inventory being idle and taking up a lot of plant space. Toyota’s lean production system has redesigned the work process to move both materials and information faster.To optimize the flow of materials so that it would move quickly, Toyota reduced batch sizes and came up with work cells that were grouped by product rather than by process. The continuous process flow links the process and the people together so that if a problem surfaced, it can be solved right away.

1. Builds in quality.
2. Creates real flexibility.
3. Creates higher productivity.
4. Frees up floor space.
5. Improves safety.
6. Improves moral.
7. Reduces cost of inventory.

The next post in the series will cover the remainder of the fourteen points and how to apply the Toyota Way in your organization.

Quality Management Tools

Quality Management Tools [link]

• Operational Definitions – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  21 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Brainstorming – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  19 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Team Decision-Making Tools: Multivoting and Nominal Group Technique – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  48 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Affinity Diagram – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  21 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Cause-and-Effect Diagram – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  23 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Flowchart – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  37 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Data Collection – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  46 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Pareto Chart – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  49 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Run Chart – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  38 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook.
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Control Charts – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  70 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook.
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Histogram – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  71 pages. Part of Basic Tools for Process Improvement Handbook.
  [PDF] Adobe Acrobat Reader
• The Quality Tools Cookbook
  Includes explanations of Traditional Quality Tools and Management and Planning Quality Tools. The Cookbook is a step-by-step guide to using each tool, examples, and when appropriate, Excel templates.
• Online Quality Tools Tutorial – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• Cause and Effect Diagram – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Part of tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• Control Chart – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Part of tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• Flow Chart – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Part of tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• Histogram – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Part of tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• Run Chart – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Part of tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• Scatter Diagram – created by Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server. Clemson University Continuous Quality Improvement Server
  Part of tutorial for various tools used by W.E. Deming.
• The Department of Navy Benchmarking Handbook: A Systems View – created by Navy TQL Office.
  This handbook describes the Department of Navy’s Benchmarking Model and details the 10 recommended steps. It is intended to provide guidance and useful information to assist top leaders, commanding officers, quality coordinators and advisors, and team facilitators in the art and science of benchmarking. By Joan Kraft. Publication Number 97-03
• Survey Handbook – created by Navy Total Quality Leadership Office.
  By Archester Houston.
• DoD Performance Assessment Guide – created by Comptroller of the Department of Defense. Comptroller of the Department of Defense
  By Directorate for Performance Measures and Results.

SMED summary

Revolution in Manufacturing: Single-minute Exchange of Die System

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“The slower but consistent tortoise causes less waste and is much more desirable than the speedy hare that races ahead and then stops occasionally to doze. The Toyota Production System can be realized only when all the workers become tortoises.

- Ohno, 1988 -

From Wikipedia:

Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) is one of the many lean production methods for reducing waste in a manufacturing process. It provides a rapid and efficient way of converting a manufacturing process from running the current product to running the next product. It is also often referred to as Quick Changeover (QCO). It is a concept that says all changeovers (and startups) can and should take less than 10 minutes … hence the phrase Single Minute. Closely associated is an advanced concept of One-Touch Exchange of Die, (OTED), which says changeovers can and should take less than 100 seconds.

For best results, SMED techniques should only be targeted at bottleneck areas within the process.

• Firstly ensure that 5S action has been taken beforehand to improve working area layout and tool accessibility and eliminate wasteful changeover movements.
• Next, identify and separate internal set-up activities (An internal activity is one that can only be done with the machine stopped, an external activity is anything that can be done before or after the set up without stopping the machine) from external set-up activities.
• Identify whether any of the internal set up operations could be performed as external operations i.e. outside the cycle time of the machine. e.g. moulds normally preheated on the machine itself could be preheated in advance in a small off-line oven.
• Finally, re-design tooling or changeover equipment fixtures for quick release and insertion/removal, incorporating caddies or tool carriers for off-line set up.
• If changeover procedures are not already standardised, a procedures or operations manual should be created and then developed to incorporate subsequent improvements in the changeover methods used.

Attaining Quick Changeovers are a critical prerequisite for Heijunka – a Japanese term that refers to a system of production smoothing designed to achieve a more even and consistent flow of work.

In summary:

• Eliminate: The first thing I look for is elements that can be eliminated. There is no point in improving something that should not be done at all…
• Externalize: All elements that can be done prior to line shut down should be done ahead of time or “externally” to the changeover time.
• Simplify: Once all possible elements have been eliminated and externalized, it is time to begin improving the remaining elements. Simplification covers two major areas:
• Measurability: If the machine is adjusted correctly at the beginning, no fine tuning after restart will be necessary. If possible, adjustments should be eliminated. If this is not feasible, adjustments need to be measurable and repeatable.
• Tool elimination: For example, the replacement of nuts and bolts with handknobs and levers. Other useful devices are toggle clamps, pins and cams.

People who are to do the changeover should be thoroughly trained in what they are to do and when. They must also be trained in what they are not to do.

Quick Changeover and SMED can be applied to transactional processes as well or non-manufacturing processes.