Built-in Quality (Jidoka) Archives - Page 2 of 3

The Quality Department is Dead, Long Live the Quality Department!

“Is it really true, that we do not add any value?” People in supportive functions pose me this question quite regularly. Recently it was someone from the quality department that confronted me with this question. Coincidentally or not, the quality department plays a role in each of the three Lean initiatives that I currently accompany. All of the quality departments involved are experiencing a change in the role they play as a result of the Lean transformation their organization as a whole is going through. In anticipation of the answer to the question: although I don’t think it is the right question to ask, yes, from a Lean point of view the quality department does not add value to the product. Not even when the customer has asked for it specifically and is willing to pay for it… (more…)

The 3 As of Structured Problem-Solving

In Lean Thinking, standardization is often seen as a condition for continual improvement. In particularly, standards are seen as the means to be able to detect problems. But that is not the only role standards play. Standards are also important in actually eliminating problems in a structured, methodical way. A role that is often overlooked in popular problem- solving methods typically in use in companies. A short blog post about the 3 As of problem-solving: availability, adherence and adequacy. (more…)

Disentangling Standardization, Harmonization and Improvement

Recently I ran into the same type of discussion with two completely different clients: what is standardization in fact? During the discussions that followed I noticed that there can be many different views on what standardization is. Furthermore, I noticed that standardization can be sometimes misplaced, harmonization inappropriate and actual improvement completely lacking. As a consequence of the often poor comprehension of these concepts, a clear strategy and roadmap for improving business results and processes is frequently missing. Perhaps a good moment to share my views on themes like standardization, harmonization and improvement. (more…)

Training Within Industry: the Missing Lean Element?

Some ten years ago I was first confronted with elements of the Training Within Industry (TWI) program. Since then I have been digging into TWI more and more and last month I had the opportunity to immerse myself for a whole week into the world of TWI during the TWI Summit 2013 in Savannah, GA. This visit didn’t only allow me to attend the actual summit, but also to invest another three and a half days in more in-depth TWI workshops and to become certified in Job Instruction (JI). An account of what apparently was called “the miracle” by W. Edwards Deming and what often is seen as the missing element in many Lean journeys. (more…)

Lessons for Lean E-tailing

It was my birthday last week and my almost 80 year old father had been so kind to offer me some book certificates of bol.com (comparable to amazon.com). The certificates, however, could only be converted into e-books. Bol.com’s Customer Service confirmed to me it was impossible to exchange the certificates into traditional books. In the end I succeeded, but I don’t want to deprive my readers from the lessons learned for Lean e-tailing. (more…)

Statistical Process Control and Climate Change

Nu.nl (the most popular Dutch news site) heads: “Warmest October 22nd ever”. At the same time, the comments speak about the insignificance of the headline as the 23rd of October 2003, for instance, the Netherlands saw a record cold temperature and we had snow. Is something really going on now as suggested by the heading, or is this just ballyhoo? Of course you also see this happening in organizations. We proudly announce something has been significantly improved but if we look closer, we see that the data that is being compared has been picked very selectively. Or after a few weeks or months, it turns out that the so-called improvements were apparently not so sustainable. Most companies lack the basic competency of interpreting data it seems. (more…)

Stop Leaning Supportive Functions

Regularly, people ask me how Lean can help in improving a company’s functional support departments. In many cases organizations already have begun introducing Lean thinking in these functions and are teams progressing with their 5S efforts, setting up team performance boards and introducing daily huddles around these, and initiating improvement teams. Well done! But I’m always left with a feeling that these companies are missing the point of becoming a truly Lean organization. Doesn’t Lean start with customer value? And the value stream that provides this value? Plus the teams that work in the value stream making it all happen? I think we should stop applying Lean in this way to these support functions, and that we should go back to the basics: customer value, value stream and autonomous teams! (more…)

5x Why? It Seems so Simple

Building upon the earlier posts about autonomy en PDSA, I automatically tumble upon a well-known, but often — during the Study phase of PDSA — ineffectively used technique: 5x why? A technique that has to prevent that a team jumps to conclusions too early and that leads to a productive and structural solution to the problem by means of a more thorough problem and root cause analysis. But it takes more than just asking five times “why?” to the team… (more…)

The Broken PDSA Cycle

Continual improvement according to the PDSA cycle brings scientific thinking to the team level. In my earlier blog post I have highlighted the importance of autonomy for continual improvement. Most important conclusion there was that a team should have the right competencies and skill levels to be able to be truly responsible for their work and the improvement thereof. But to be an autonomous team, more comes into play. True autonomy also implies that the PDSA cycle — in most cases — can be fully completed within and by the team. And this is where I see many issues. In many cases, the PDSA cycle seems to be broken… (more…)

Autonomy: Condition for Continual Improvement

Continual improvement does not happen just like that. To create an organization that is truly able to continuously improve, a number of conditions have to be met. First, problems should be detectable. Second, you should feel intrinsically responsible for it as it compromises the purpose of the team. Third, you should be allowed to act. And last, but certainly not least: you and your team should dispose of the required competencies, skills, means and time to actually be able to eliminate the problem and build a better standard. Autonomy therefore is key in Lean. (more…)