Get Lean Inspiration through Our Blog

Are You on the Way to Perfect Flow? (Part 1)

There are many approaches and methods that focus on improving flow. Material Requirements Planning (MRP), Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) or Simplified-DBR (SDBR), Demand-Driven MRP (DDMRP), Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) and of course Lean’s comprehensive Just-in-Time (JIT) approach share the same objective. In comparing these approaches, however, discussions often concentrate on their inner workings. But they often lack an operationalization of the concept of “flow” which they intend to improve. This series of three post tries to develop two measures – flow velocity and flow smoothness – as the way to evaluate the level of and the progress towards flow.
(more…)

September 10, 2017 0

Shikumi: System-Based Lean Transformation

On the web, there is a palpable buzz of failed or unsuccessful Lean initiatives (or organizations that fail Lean if you prefer that point of view). No wonder, to be honest, as many of these initiatives can at best be characterized as programs. And more often they are even no more than a collection of disjointed projects.

Staff is trained, external consultants are brought in – often trained by another external consultant in another company going through a similar “program” – and off we are. We start identifying waste and we might even create a current state value stream map. Enough potential to fill an action list covering several pages, and so our Lean program is born.

What a joke! In doing so, a Lean initiative will never transcend the character of being only a program: a collection of projects and actions to eliminate problems. And calling these projects and actions “kaizens” really doesn’t make it more Lean. And this is only further emphasized by pursuing the apparently required “quick wins” to win over the company’s management. What is the alternative? A system-based Lean transformation, sometimes referred to as Shikumi. (more…)

July 19, 2017 6

Why Demand-Driven MRP (DDMRP) is Not Lean (Part 2)

Demand-Driven Material Requirements Planning, or DDMRP in short, promises to be the first real innovation to MRP since the invention of MRP. Furthermore, in one of its white papers, the Demand Driven Institute states that “Lean Finds a Friend in DDMRP” (2011). DDMRP is positioned as integrating Lean, the Theory of Constraints (TOC) as well as Six Sigma whilst fundamentally innovating the traditional MRP (and DRP) planning approach. What I think of it? Some parts are OK, but most of it still has nothing to do with Lean. In a series of two posts of which this is the second (the first can be found here), I’ll try to explain my views and hope this may help you and your company in making the right decision when looking at your values, your thinking, your philosophy and your strategies.
(more…)

June 22, 2017 0

Why Demand-Driven MRP (DDMRP) is Not Lean (Part 1)

Demand-Driven Material Requirements Planning, or DDMRP in short, promises to be the first real innovation to MRP since the invention of MRP. Furthermore, in one of its white papers, the Demand Driven Institute states that “Lean Finds a Friend in DDMRP” (2011). DDMRP is positioned as integrating Lean, the Theory of Constraints (TOC) as well as Six Sigma whilst fundamentally innovating the traditional MRP (and DRP) planning approach. What I think of it? Some parts are OK, but most of it still has nothing to do with Lean. In a series of two posts (the second one of this series you can find here), I’ll try to explain my views and hope this may help you and your company in making the right decision when looking at your values, your thinking, your philosophy and your strategies. (more…)

June 22, 2017 0

Lean’s Many Faces: Top-Down or Bottom-Up?

Lean can present itself in many ways. To some, Lean appears as a grassroots initiative and as bottom-up improvement by everyone, everywhere, anytime. Others experience Lean more as a top-down initiative, driven by management and accompanied by standards, audits and specialists. Indeed, Lean can be seen as a many-faced phenomenon; almost as if Lean has a Multiple Personality Disorder.

So, what is Lean’s true face? How do we explain Lean’s different personalities to the workforce? (more…)

June 12, 2017 1

Productive Change: Peacefulness, Stress or Tension?

Most of us are confronted with this question: how to create productive change? We all face the same difficulties in getting teams and organizations to another level of performance using sometimes fundamentally different principles. Developing and communicating an enticing vision surely helps, but a certain sense of urgency is always required. But here I notice that it is often difficult to strike the right balance. In some cases, plants and teams are confronted with sheer impossible objectives, resulting in continuously being in the “red area”. In other situations, I see that we don’t create a challenging enough environment for teams to become productive. Management “cushions” the team and each time they are confronted with difficulties, padding is added in the form of capacity, lead-time, surface, tolerances, safety stock and others just to make sure the team looks good and can continue to work in peace. So how to strike the right balance?
(more…)

May 17, 2017 0

Predictive Maintenance: Air Bubble or Golden Egg?

Predictive or condition-based maintenance (CBM) promises us the moon. By monitoring certain conditions (such as vibration, temperature and the quality of lubricants) we presumably can predict forthcoming equipment problems and prevent these from happening. Predictive maintenance would also lower the overall maintenance cost as it reduces the need for regular, preventative maintenance. Consequently, it would also increase the availability of the equipment. What more could we ask for?

Expensive, I hear you say? Impossible? If we may believe all gurus, the IoT and Big Data will be the answer to all of it. And at relatively low cost too. Well, get to it, then. (more…)

February 27, 2017 3

Four Reasons to Dislike OEE

Most of my readers probably heard about the machine effectiveness measure of OEE, short for Overall Equipment Effectiveness. It is a composite measurement of the effectiveness of a piece of equipment, composed of three elements, i.e., availability, performance and quality. And I regularly see this indicator on the shop floor, posted near or on multiple machines. But when I try to engage a shop floor discussion on its actual use in improving operations, I am often disappointed. A blog post on four reasons why I dislike OEE for shop floor control and improvement.
(more…)

January 16, 2017 12

Problem Detection: If Only Parts Could Talk

I often hear that it’s far more challenging to develop Lean thinking in a service environment than it is in a manufacturing environment. Particularly where it is a person, and not a part, that journeys through the process. “People are not cars”, is an often-heard argument against the use of Lean principles in such service environments. The funny thing is that, to drive the point of problem detection home in manufacturing, I exactly compare manufacturing to service and healthcare processes and why, in fact, manufacturing may suffer a serious disadvantage, namely, parts don’t talk!
(more…)

November 29, 2016 0

Lean Equipment: Five Considerations for a Monument-Free Factory

Within the context of Lean thinking, quite a lot of attention is given to the proper and smart maintenance of equipment and installations; and for a good reason. Poor maintenance, typically resulting in unplanned down-time, rejects and loss of speed, is still an important cause of poor delivery reliability towards customers. And as a result, indirectly, it may also well be the reason behind high inventory levels and excessive overhead cost to still try being on-time.

Total Productive Maintenance or TPM, therefore, also is a well-known theme among capital-intense (semi-)process industries like for instance chemicals, plastics, metals, energy, paper, food and fast-moving consumer goods. And in more and more cases, TPM (either independently or as a part of Lean) is already well under way. But in this post, I don’t want to focus too much on the phase the equipment is already in operation, but rather before we even install the equipment, viz., the design, choice and purchase of the equipment. If we don’t, lots of problems may later arise because of a lack of Lean thinking in the design and purchasing process of equipment. Time for a change therefore; time to move towards Lean equipment and a monument-free future! (more…)

November 12, 2016 1

Looking for Inspiration, Ideas

and Fresh Perspectives?

Read our Blog Posts

and Let Us Know Your Thoughts