Impossible

“Impossible Is Not a Fact. It’s an Opinion.”

"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." ~ Muhammad Ali

In Lean we have to do the impossible.  Shortening lead times, increasing productivity and improving quality are the easy parts.  The part that can fill me with trepidation, because I can never know if I can do it is to take the people with me on the journey.   What part of Lean is the 'impossible' part for you?

For an alternative view on impossible:
"The impossible often has a kind of integrity the merely improbable lacks." ~Douglas Adams

Check list listening

Check lists are an often overlooked tool.  They can be both simple and effective if they are used correctly.  The classic check list we can all think of is one used by an airline pilot to check his/her plane before a flight.  And not many of us would be comfortable being on a flights if we knew the pilot had skipped the pre-flight checklist.
Too often checklists are used solely as a downstream tool to ensure that x is doing their job correctly.  Or they are used by a manger in the hope that if they put one in place then the problem will go away and the manager's job is done.
I was shopping recently and as I exited the changing room I noticed the checklist shown below.  The other white marks are where paint has peeled from the wall.

Oops I thought, couple of things wrong here.  First the checklist is not being used and second even if it is no one is listening.  It is one thing to hold people accountable for their work and give them the tools and responsibility and to their work.  It is another thing to supposedly hold people accountable and not give them the resources to maintain the standards you expect of them.Checklists like most lean tools (I'm trying to think of an exception) have 2 parts to them.  The 'Do' part and the 'Check/Feedback/Communication' part
In this situation it is obvious that the feedback part of the deal is not happening.  And I do mean DEAL.  The implicit DEAL with a check list is - You follow the procedure and sign off that you are doing it and I or the Company will give you the tools and resources to make sure you can do your job and when things are out of specification corrective action will happen. 

As a Lean practitioner I see a lot of generic process waste happening as people go through the motions which must be disheartening.  As the customer I can only say I'd have like to have entered a nicer changing room.  Had I done so I'd have been in a better mood and would have been more likely to have spent longer in the store and spent more.

Lean as a sales tool

Lean and 5S are a fantastic sales tool.

Just from looking, you can tell things flow the way they should. Everything from tools to supplies to bay areas are clearly marked. The floor is marked with yellow, red and green tape signifying different stages of repair. There is no mistaking – this is indeed what facilities of the future will look like.

 Could the reviewer be more glowing in their description.  This is an industry writer and they are obviously impressed.

Quick lanes for one hour bumper repair and other assorted sundry do not tie up the main production line. These types of repair have their own lanes. They are, as Ken calls them, "tributaries within a major river, never interrupting the all important and omnipresent flow."

If shorter lead times, lower costs and better quality are not reasons enough to go lean.  Is impressed customers the ultimate reason ?

Rest of the article is here http://collisionrepairmag.com/news/collision-repair/15047-concours-collision--csn-royal-oaks-the-future-of-collision-repair-facilities .  And if you haven't been to a Concours Collision body shop, they are impressive.  If you don't believe what a body shop could (I really mean should) look like take a look at Concours flickr stream http://www.flickr.com/photos/40043123@N05/sets/72157630087557878/with/7169200343/ 

Congratulations Ken on opening the new shop.

If you ever got good

If you ever got good you'd be mediocre. --James Thurber 


It's true and there is only one cure and that is continuous improvement.  Now I am off to do a little continuous improvement on the 5S and 7 wastes training session I am doing this afternoon.

Jim

Want to win then your team better do CI

First congratulations to Ryder Hesjedal on an utterly awesome win at the the Giro d'Italia
In cycling the Giro is right up these only just behind the Tour de France in prestige.  To win the Giro is a massive achievement against some of the very best riders in the world.

Picture from Velonews.com

So what on earth has that got to do with continuous improvement.  Ryder's margin of win was 16 seconds.  That is 16 seconds out of 91 hours 39 minutes and 02 seconds.  That comes out at 0.0048% a very small margin.  If you are racing for 3 weeks and winning (brilliantly) by seconds the smallest difference make the difference.  The time gab between winning and not making the podium was 100 secs. 

Garmin-Barracuda has a strong reputation for pushing the limits on technology and innovation.  There are dozens of tiny improvements that our sponsors and sports science director Robby Ketchell have developed that could have made up the 16 seconds that finally delivered the victory.
Personally, I think that a big part of the final 16-second gap can be found somewhere else.  It is in the people.  I strongly believe that good people in the right jobs are what make the difference.  - Garmin-Barracuda sports director Charly Wegelius

Small changes in life and work are often overlooked, they should not be.  Added together as we see they make a wonderful difference.

Example of Process Muda

As a consultant and therefore an outside pair of eyes to the companies I work with process waste can often be one of the more difficult wastes for me to identify.  It can also be the easiest to see in the "why do you do it that way?" scenarios.
This example of Process muda was dumped on me when I decided to update some software on my laptop.   Normal ordering method, went to the suppliers website, selected the software I wanted and completed the purchase screen.  First email promptly delivered to me confirming the order.  Next a second email was delivered to me with the invoice details.  All good to date.  Then I waited.  And I waited some more.  Three weeks later this parcel arrived.

I opened it, curious why the company had sent me such a big box. Was it that they generously wished to send me packaging materials?  If you look closely you will notice the box has been labelled three separate times, was one not enough?

 Now under all this stuff I don't need and now have to take out and dispose of was what I wanted.

Well, not quite, when you open the package what I really wanted was this

Actually what I really wanted was the 25 character code.
A whole lot of unnecessary work went into delivering these 25 characters to me.  The muda included packaging, delivery, handling, me opening and disposing of the packaging which included the cardboard box and the nice plastic software box the key card was in.  And lets not forget the three weeks of waiting I did.
And to top it off, the next day in the mail came a copy of the invoice.

The reason this is all so frustrating is I paid for it.  I didn't get to pay for what I wanted.  I got to pay for a whole lot more, which I didn't want.

Productivity

Productivity in 11 Words

One thing at a time.
Most important thing first.
Start now.

borrowed from http://www.skelliewag.org/productivity-in-11-words-1040.htm 

also a perfect description for just in time work