The Lean Desk, Evolution of Continuous Improvement

Recently, I wrote about the importance of the stand-up desk for health and ergonomics.  Have you changed the way you think about a conventional office yet? If you are still contemplating this or you need some ideas to get you started then I have a video for you. Paul Akers takes you on his lean journey to creating a lean work place and a super lean office.





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Benchmarking: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

When organizations want to improve their performance, they often benchmark. Benchmarking is the process of comparing one's business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and/or best practices from other industries. The discussion of whether benchmarking is good or bad is an old one.

Benchmarking can be an effective means to learn new skills and to develop your organization. However, it should be a process of continual improvement. Once you have implemented changes, you should benchmark your business again to see the results. This will tell you what is working, and where you can still improve.

The process of benchmarking can benefit your organization:

An holistic approach: It is both qualitative and quantitative, ensuring more accuracy in developing a whole picture of your business.

Opens minds to new opportunities: While the results can make for uncomfortable reading, the process usually raises new challenges for businesses.

Leads directly to an action plan: Rather than simply highlight problem areas, it undertakes a strong review of turnover and profitability.

Improving productivity: Businesses following improvement action plans can expect gains in cost, cycle time, productivity, and quality.

Some feel that benchmarking can limit the true potential of an organization by focusing on how well their competitors are doing. Somewhere I heard the comment that "if you benchmark against your best competitors, your best product will look like your best competitor's crap.” Your competition won’t stand still and you shouldn’t either. Maybe there’s a case then for benchmarking organizations from other industries and not your competition.

The worst mistake is to simply adopt a best practice without first identifying the problem you are trying to solve. Tools and best practices must be applied in response to a specific, defined problem, not just because it seems like a good idea. Instead as we do in Lean you should learn about waste and value. Then analyze your processes to reduce waste and improve value to your customers. Learning from others can be very powerful, but you must learn to apply the right tools and ideas for your particular situation. The problems of your competition or that of other companies you benchmark may not necessarily be the same as yours.

Benchmarking is not a perfect process but done properly and consistently it can be the start of improving your business and creating a more optimal learning environment. Avoid using it as a means to judge your competition at the expense of creating customer value or solving someone else’s problems.

What are your views on the benefits or drawbacks of benchmarking?



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Lean Quote: You Can't Recycle Wasted Time

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"One thing you can't recycle is wasted time." — From Taiichi Ohno

If you search the internet you will undoubtedly find many tips on time management. So many of us do not know how to properly manage our time. If you ask a group of people to define “time management”, they will probably talk about getting it all done, crossing items off of a list, and being productive. However, the best time management tips do not involve cramming more and more into your day. The most valuable time management tips available will actually involve learning to focus your time on those activities that are meaningful to you.

To help you to increase your productivity each and every day, both on and off the job, here are three easy tips to help you to stop wasting time.

Plan Your Day
Set aside time at the end of each day for daily planning. A time for you to take control of your most important asset, the next twenty-four hours. Create a "to do" list with all the things you "have to" do and, more importantly, all the things you "want to" do. A “to do” list organizes your thinking and planning onto one form in the least amount of time with the maximum amount of efficiency.

Evaluate Time Wasters
Time wasters come from the people around you as well as from within yourself. Some time wasters are unavoidable, but can be reduced. Identify the most frequent sources of time wasters in your day. Whatever you discover to be a time waster you must take steps to deal with.

Find ways to do things faster.
Look for ways you can get more done within your day. Plan your trips and errands so you don’t backtrack and can combine as many tasks as possible into one trip. Use time management tools like a simple calendar, a day planner, a dry erase board, or even adding reminders on your computer or cell phone.

I hope that these tips will help you find ways to more productive and stop wasting your time.

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An Epic Lean Kitchen

My buddy Paul Akers at FastCap shares another great example of applying Lean thinking and techniques to make our life easier. This time he takes us into the kitchen at FastCap where the use of visual controls and standard work are examined.  I wonder if any of you will take any of these ideas and implement them in your home.



Does your kitchen at work look like this?  Why not?
Keep learning.


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Top 10 Rules of Time Management

Time management truly is critical to becoming productive, doing everything you want to, and achieving ultimate success.  

"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time."  - Jim Rohn

Therefore it is imperative we learn to manage the finite amount of time we do have to make the most of it.  I have learned to use the following ten time management guidelines successfully to get things done:

1. Know how you currently spend your time. The simplest way to do this is to keep a log of what you do each day for a period time. While this may initially feel like a time waster, it is a necessary planning step. Just like you can't budget your money without knowing where you're currently spending it, you can't budget your time without knowing where it's going either. By keeping a log you'll become more aware of stress times and down times, and will be better equipped to plan your time.

2. Identify your "prime time." Your "prime time" is your most productive time.  For many people that time tends to be in the morning while others find it take a while to get going. By scheduling your most important tasks for the times you're at your best, you'll be able to get them done faster and more effectively.

3. Do tomorrow's planning tonight. Being prepared for the coming day will enable you to get more work done, and be more effective at what you do. As you wind down at the end of the day use this time to create a simple, prioritized to-do list, so you'll be better able to focus on what needs to be done the next day.

4. Continually ask yourself "Why am I doing what I'm doing right now?" If you cannot answer this question, you are not being as productive as you could be. Make sure that you are doing something for a specific reason, and simply not wasting your valuable time spinning your wheels.

5. Handle each piece of paper or e-mail once. When you have completed a task, either file it away or pass it on to someone else. When doing tasks and making decisions, make the decision and then stick to it. Do not put off making a decision, and don't make vague, wishy-washy decisions. Being more decisive will free you up to move on to other tasks, making you more productive.

6. Plan your work, then work your plan. It is important that you always follow through with what you intend to do, otherwise you are making your plan irrelevant and negating the value of the planning time.

7. Delete whenever possible. It is important that you frequently revisit your plan and task list. Always cross off the tasks and projects you have completed, and eliminate or delegate those that are no longer important.

8. Delegate wisely. When you delegate a task to another person, make sure the person you are delegating it to has clear instructions on how to complete the task, has enough resources for the task, and has the authority to make any decisions that might affect the outcome of the task.

9. Identify your high-payoff items. Make sure that you concentrate on the right tasks, which will generate results for you and your company.  Stephen Covey suggests first addressing tasks that are both Important and Urgent.  Effective time management is not about being busy, but about getting results.

10. Work from a prioritized action list. You need to determine what your work priorities are, both short term and long term. I suggest using a standard method like the Formula for Success  to prioritize your action list for the greatest success.

What time management techniques have you found effective to increase your productivity?  Share them below in the comment section for others to learn more.

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Time is Golden: 7 Rules of Time Management

by ~Walkington

Time is one of the most important commodities that we have. But we are often bombarded with more tasks than we can keep up with.  This can result in our most important things being shifted to second place just out of necessity.  In order to counter act this you must fully understand time. 

While doing some research online I came across these golden rules of time management.

1. Time is fleeting. Think about it...the moment you started reading this is gone, never to be regained. It seems we get so caught up in petty circumstances that we forget what we set out to do, and before you know it, the day is gone!

2. Time is valuable. You always have time to make money; but you can never have enough money to make time!

3. Time is unforgiving. The amazing thing about your time; even through no fault of your own, even "wasted" time will never stand still.

4. Time is money. You must be constantly asking yourself, "Am I doing the most productive thing I can be doing right now?" Watch out for those "wasted" moments we were talking about earlier.

5. Time is always changing. We all must constantly renew our minds, and let the past be just that...the past! It can't help you now, aside from the learning experience, don't dwell on it.

6. Time is the ultimate judge. We have all heard "time will tell!" Well, there is some truth to that, as the future has a way of finding any flaw in the plan. Pre-planning will save massive amounts of your precious commodity called time.

7. Time is in your control. We can all be more in control of our day and how we spend it. Today should have been planned out yesterday, and tomorrow should be thought about today.

Time can't be saved.  It can only be spent! We spend it at the exact rate of one minute per minute. We can’t spend more or less no matter how hard we try. We can’t spend more than 5 minutes in five minutes with a friend, and we can’t spend less than 5 minutes in five minutes being angry in traffic. Our rate of spending is fixed. All we can control is where we choose to invest…

In the next post I will cover some techniques to improve your effectiveness of time management.


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Lean Quote: Respecting Each Other

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Respect your fellow human being, treat them fairly, disagree with them honestly, enjoy their friendship, explore your thoughts about one another candidly, work together for a common goal and help one another achieve it." — Bill Bradley

Most of us already know the importance of respecting each other. Yet it’s also true that we all, at some time or another, may have been less than respectful to people with whom we work. Most often, these expressions are not intentional. Even so, it’s important that we all be able to recognize these kinds of situations so that we can take steps to avoid them whenever possible and to respond to them in an appropriate manner when they occur.

You can promote RESPECT in your workplace by following this acronym:
   
Recognize the inherent worth of all with whom you work.
Eliminate derogatory words and phrases from your vocabulary.
Speak with people – not at them – or about them.
Practice empathy. Walk awhile in others’ shoes.
Earn the respect of colleagues and co-workers through your behaviors.
Consider your impact on others before speaking and acting.
Treat everyone with dignity and courtesy.

We are all unique individuals, with our own gifts, skills, concerns, and perspectives. This uniqueness is part of what makes us who we are as a person, although, in the workplace it can also be what set us apart from our co-workers. So the question becomes how we can find common ground given all our unique gifts, skills, concerns, and perspectives. At the core, respect has to do with establishing and maintaining effective working relationships.


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Pascal Dennis is his Own Words on The Remedy

In yesterday's post I reviewed Pascal Dennis' Shingo Prize winning book The Remedy. I thought that it would be appropriate to hear directly from Pascal about his thoughts on The Remedy. In this video Pascal explains the premise of The Remedy, what big company disease is, the remedy to big company disease, and why to focus outside the factory.  I hope you enjoy. 

Book Review: The Remedy by Pascal Dennis

I recently finished reading The Remedy – Bringing Lean Thinking out of the Factory to Transform the Entire Organization and wanted to share my review. The story, a sequel to Pascal Dennis’s business novel, Andy & Me, depicts the adventures of Lean-thinking protagonist Tom Papas and his mentor, Andy Saito, a retired, reclusive Toyota executive. The Remedy follows senior leaders Tom Papas and Rachel Armstrong, a new character, at a desperate automotive company as they try revolutionizing the operations at the company. Tom is charged to implement a Lean management system across an entire platform, the Chloe, a breakthrough "green" car. The future of the company is at stake. Although some in upper management are dubious, Tom converts much of the organization to Lean thinking, and he saves the day by eliminating waste. Tom and Rachel, supported by Andy regain the trust and respect of the customer.

Author Pascal Dennis is a lean business learner and practitioner who has written four books on the subject of lean business practices. In The Remedy, he shows how lean business practices can be expanded from manufacturing to all the other areas of your business-including design, engineering, sales, and marketing and all processes in between-and how doing so builds a more efficient organization at every level.

In the book Pascal talks about the short comings of traditional businesses in what he calls the “Big Company Disease”. This is characterized by silos, invisible problems, confused thinking, unclear work standards and visual management, and lack of learning. He introduces mental models which are the glasses we all wear to filter reality. In the end Pascal provides “the Remedy to Big Company Disease” simply as ‘see a problem, solve a problem, share what you’ve learned.” And the leader’s role in an organization is to ensure people are seeing, solving, and sharing – across the organization.

This business fable which many will find relatable to their own journey makes for easy reading. Each chapter ends with study questions to reinforce learning and stimulate thinking. The cartoon-like illustrations add so much to the book and bring the learning points out so the concepts are easy to grasp. The illustrations also provide easy reference points to find the supporting paragraphs to many key principles. They help solidify the concepts far better than any text book version of lean.

This book provides excellent reference to the benefits and pitfalls associated with moving Lean out of the manufacturing environment. It will be meaningful to anyone on a lean journey in business today to help illustrate that simple lean thinking principles apply everywhere in an organization

Highly recommended for early adopters and those who consider Lean to be an all encompassing business system. It is an excellent and practical book that should be part of your reference library.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Pascal Dennis has been awarded his fourth Shingo Prize Award for Research and Professional Publication for The Remedy. With this kind of distinction he must be doing something right.

 

Daily Lean Tips Edition #18

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #256 – Make sure everyone agrees on the problem statement.

When trying to identify the root cause of a problem it is important to make sure everyone agrees on the problem statement. Include as much information as possible on the “what,” “when,” and “how much” of the problem. Use data to specify the problem. The correct problem statement can save time identifying the root cause.

Lean Tip #257 – Ensure data collection consistent and accurate to avoid costly mistakes on projects.

Managers, leaders, and/or team members can do their part to help data collectors do their job well by simply showing an interest in the project. Ask the collector how the project is working out. Show your support – tell the data collector it is important to collect the information. Above all – act on the data as quickly as possible.

Lean Tip #258 – When setting a target for change it is important to remove barriers.

When choosing a target for change, remember that simply pushing the positive factors for change can have the opposite effect. It is often more helpful to remove barriers. This tends to break the “change bottleneck” rather than just pushing on all the good reasons to change.

Lean Tip #259 – Focus on overproduction, the worst of all the wastes, first.

As you begin, your lean initiative, concentrate first on overproduction, which is often a company’s biggest area of waste. It can also hide other production-related wastes. As your lean initiative progresses, your company will become able to use its assets for producing products or services to customer orders instead of to inventory.

Lean Tip #260 – Use the fewest number of kanbans possible to keep downstream operations running.

The fewer kanbans you have, the better. Having too many kanbans means you have too much planned inventory. You should monitor and adjust your kanban level so that you only produce the minimum amount of inventory required to keep your organization’s downstream production assets running according to schedule. Too many kanbans, just like excess inventory, can hide problems.

Lean Tip #261 – A Leaders job is to help the team and team members succeed.

Every leader has two jobs. Your job is to help the team succeed by accomplishing your mission. That's the job that gets the most attention, but your other job is just as important. Your job is to help your team members succeed, too. "Succeed" means doing a good job, developing skills, earning autonomy, growing, and much more.

Neither job is "the most important." They're equally important, and often support each other if done well.

Lean Tip #262 - Give team members the maximum control possible over their work.

People want as much control as possible over their life, including their life at work. When they do, both you and your team are happier and more productive.

The key phrase is "as possible." If they don't know what you expect, tell them. If they don't know how to do the work, coach and train them. If they don't pitch in on their own, supervise them. Otherwise, let them get on with it.

Lean Tip #263 - Remember people are just people.

Sometimes we forget but people are people. People have emotions and they bring them to work. People are unique, not interchangeable parts. People have relationships and knowledge. People have lives that overlap their time at work.

People aren't good at the things machines and computers are good at, but they're perceptive and creative, things no machine can match. Bottom line: expect people to be people and revel in the wonder of it all.

Lean Tip #264 - Base your judgments on behavior and performance.

Behavior (what people say and do) and performance (something you can measure) are all you should use when you make your judgments and decisions. Everything else is a guess and this is an area you don’t want to be wrong in.

Lean Tip # 265 - Go Ahead and Make a Mistake or Two.

"Very few people feel comfortable making mistakes at work. They fear they will lose the respect of their managers and peers, and that their reputations will be tarnished. Yet, mistakes are often the best teachers. It's impossible for your people to learn something new if they only do things they know well. Create a mistake-making culture. Encourage your people to take risks. Help them accept their gaffes and share what they've learned from them. Of course, there are times when blunders are too costly. But for those less mission-critical times, ask your people to approach problems as learners, not experts."

- Today's Lean Tip was adapted from "The Miracle of Making Mistakes" by Vineet Nayar.

Lean Tip #266 - Ask Your Employees What They Value.

You must have a continuous discussion with employees as to what they value. If you want to keep them working for you, you must deliver value. Here’s a hint: It is usually not money. This is why it is important to have this dialogue with your employees.

Lean Tip #267 - Don’t Impose Your Values on Other People.

People may not value the same things as you. Do not project your own values on to others. Often people of different generations may have radically different work values than you do. Respect for people is about listening to individual’s needs and what they value.

Lean Tip #268 - Tell People You’ve Heard Them.

After you’ve asked employees what they value, it is important to let them know what you heard. Failing to recognize what’s most important is what leads to ineffective listening. You may have heard what they said, but you missed what they wanted to convey. You need to simply state what you learned from your dialogue.

Lean Tip #269 - Leadership is much like parenting.

You can read a lot, you can be taught, you can be mentored and guided, but in the end your leadership style will be unique to your experiences and specific situations. There will seldom be black or white answers. However, just like parenting, the one irrefutable characteristic about true leadership is that it is not about you.

Lean Tip #270 - True Success of a Leader can not be measured without considering the results of the succession plan.

Good leadership is not reflected in the leader’s actions, it is reflected in the impact and effect of those actions on the team. A leader should adapt to the environment and what the team needs today without losing sight of what will be needed tomorrow and always preparing for that moment when he or she will no longer be there. Guaranteeing the growth and sustainability of the team and the individuals that comprise it beyond the leader’s time is the ultimate trait of a great leader. In fact, the true success of a leader can not be measured without considering the results of the succession plan.

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You can’t motivate people, but you can help them.

Just as you can't motivate a seed to grow (you can only provide an appropriate environment that will allow it to grow), you can't motivate people. They motivate themselves. They have it in their blood, or they don’t. Some people will kick it up a notch to earn a promotion, or a reward, or for recognition. But ultimately, it’s up them.

In my experience there are three things you need to learn about motivation:

1. First, you can’t motivate anybody to do anything they don’t want to do. Motivation is an internal thing, not an external thing.
2. The second thing is that all people are motivated. The person that stays in bed in the morning rather than getting up and going to work is more motivated to stay in bed than to work. They might be negatively motivated, but they are nonetheless motivated.
3. The third thing is that people do things for their reasons and not for yours. The trick is to find out what their reasons are.

We need to find out what’s on the person’s mind and that starts with asking great questions. They need to be open-ended questions that demand an open-ended response. “Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How” questions are absolutely critical to the success.

Avoid “Did, Would, Could, Should, Can, Do and May” questions because they will elicit a yes/no response. You want them to expound on what’s bugging them. If you lead with “Did, Would, Could, Should, Can, Do and May” then be prepared to have a follow-up question to draw them out. This allows them to vent their concerns about a situation. It’s a lot like paddling a canoe upstream. If you don’t keep paddling, you’ll go backward. You have to work through these situations.

Motivated, committed, engaged employees care about what they do and why they do it. They get up and come to work every day because they care about it. It’s not a short-term energy surge; it’s a way of life.

External factors can help create an environment where self-motivation can occur, however. The surest way to improve performance is to create a secure, calm environment where your employees know they are important members of your team.

As a business you can help them by creating the best conditions under which people get motivated: 

Sense of Purpose: What is it about your job that gets you out of bed in the morning? What contribution to the betterment of anything are you, personally, making every day? Most people want there to be some meaning in the work they do, something more than hours of labor that result in a paycheck.

Leadership: Competent, trustworthy, genuine, conscientious innovators who are glad to be on the job every day! (Well, okay, most days.) Effective leadership is not a result of the command-and-control approach. Instead, it’s more like navigating than commanding – using the ability to “turn confusion into understanding,” and “see a bigger picture.”

Organizational Character: The integrity and consistency of choices and decisions the organization makes. Organizational Character is not only “how we do things around here” (the culture) but also why we do things this way and what people expect when we do things. It’s an organization’s reputation with the people who work there. It’s the tone and the pace of the organization and it’s how people are treated. It’s a major reason people like, or don’t like, where they work and a key contributor to motivation.

Motivation comes from within. Individuals have the capacity to motivate themselves...or demotivate themselves. Help them see the way by creating and sustaining the kinds of conditions that help them bring their best selves to work every day. Respect, proactive and honest communications, capable and engaged leadership – these are the ingredients that add up to an engaged, energized workplace.


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Lean Quote: The Responsibility of a Lean Leader

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." — Max De Pree

This quote, from Max DePree is among my favorite servant leadership quotes. This frames 3 roles every leader must fulfill: the roles of Realist, Praiser and Servant. I would like to extend this line of thinking to that of a Lean Leader specifically.

What are the qualities of a good Lean Leader? This is one of the most contemplated questions when undergoing a Lean thinking transformation since leadership is critical to it’s very success. In my opinion there are at least 10 key responsibilities for a Lean leader:

1. Learn Lean Thinking
2. Get out front, be hands on, don’t delegate
3. Take lots of leaps of faith
4. Change metrics and set stretch goals
5. Create an environment where it is ok to fail
6. Provide air cover for early adopters
7. Eliminate concrete heads
8. Have a no layoff policy
9. Organize around value streams
10. Change any compensation system that doesn’t support Lean

The next time someone asks you what roles a Lean leader must play, keep this mind. I am sure you have some others to add as well and I encourage you to do so in the comments below.

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Just Stand - Tools for Planning Your Workspace

In a recent post I talked about the health benefits of the stand-up desk.  This info graph from JustStand.org really puts sitting in perspective.

Click on the image to enlarge.

Here is a simple online calculator to help you set-up your work space properly.

There are also a number of ergonomic tips you can consider when optimizing your workspace:

• Rest your hands frequently, especially when any tingling, numbness, pain, cramping, etc. occurs.
• Try and control your mouse with the lightest possible grip.
• Rest your palms, not your wrist, on a wrist-rest or the desktop.
• When using a keyboard/mouse, your hands should be even or slightly lower than your elbows. An adjustable keyboard tray mounted under the desktop may be necessary.
• Keep your hands in-line with your forearms as much as possible, not bent in/out or up/down at the wrist.
• Rest your elbows on your chair's armrests and adjust them so the weight of your arms is supported by the armrests, not supported by your shoulders.
• Use a foot rest if your feet aren't flat on the floor.
• The top of your monitor should be about eye level so you aren't bending your neck up or too far down.
• Sit upright so your head is above your shoulders. Don't slouch forward.
• Take frequent breaks and do stretching exercises to replenish blood flow which is restricted by continuous muscle use, especially involving your hands.
• Alter your posture from time to time but keep within the guidelines of correct sitting most of the time.
• Sit so the natural hollow stays in your lower back. A good adjustable chair should allow this.
• Position your monitor and keyboard in front of you, not to the side.
• Use larger barreled pens (1/2"+ diameter) to make them easier to grasp.
• Rest your hands frequently, especially when any tingling, numbness, pain, etc. occurs.
• If a repetitive job is awkward, try to find a better way to accomplish it.
• Alternate easy and hard tasks that use your hands.
• Keep your wrist in a neutral position as much as possible, not bent or twisted.
• Use your whole hand to grasp objects, not just your thumb and index finger.
• Give your hand and wrist time to recover after forceful movements.
• Don't carry heavy objects for long periods. Use jacks, carts, dollies, etc. whenever possible.
• Increase the diameter of the handles of tools and equipment with tape, foam or other materials to help reduce the force of your grip and to spread the pressure more evenly over the hand.
• Keep your hands warm to promote circulation.

It is management's responsibility to establish and promote a safe working environment. It's your job to hold them accountable. The next time you go to the Gemba consider the Muda, Muri, and Mura of the people and their workspace. These tools should provide you with a new eye for improvement.

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A Standup Desk is Lean, Literally

Many of my Lean colleagues have talked about their standup desks. They have shared examples like that of Jamie Flinchbaugh, Kevin Meyer, Ankit Patel, and Jon Miller.

A recent article from Men’s Health brings to light the dangers of sitting.

Scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over about 13 years, and found that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks.

Similar research actually dates back to 1953, when British researchers found that (sitting) bus drivers were twice as likely to die of heart attacks as (standing) trolley operators.

It doesn’t matter what your lifestyle is. Sitting is an independent risk factor.

In other words, it doesn’t matter how much you exercise or how well you eat. If you sit most of the day, your risk of leaving this world clutching your chest—whether you’re a man or women—as much as doubles.

Sitting in your office chair also has other dangers. It screws up your posture, makes you fatter, and can cause lower back pain.

What can you do? Make your own standup desk like this one.

Photo from Unclutterer Work Space of the Week.

If you can’t standup then these strategies will work in your office.

    1. Take frequent breaks from sitting. Stand up talk a walk twice per hour.
    2. Standup during phone calls.
    3. Hold standup meetings instead of typical conference room.
    4. Don’t write long emails. Get up and talk to the person.

There is also a new calculator to help you understand how many calories you burn by switching to a standup desk.

Provided by ergonomic product company Ergotron, the calculator requires just your weight and the amount of time you spend working (i.e., sitting). The difference in calorie-burn from using a standing desk can really add up (and when you're trying to keep the calories off, every bit counts).

So what are you waiting for? Standup is could quite possibly save your life and it is Lean.

Lean and Green - Together Maximizing Efficiency through Waste Elimination

Last week a modified version of my article "Lean is the means to be Green" was published on The Green Economy Post.

Lean manufacturing practices and sustainability are conceptually similar in that both seek to maximize organizational efficiency. Where they differ is in where the boundaries are drawn, and in how waste is defined. Sustainability expands the definition of waste to include the wider range of consequences of business actions including environmental and social consequences. Lean processes are inherently less wasteful and in this sense promoting lean processes can help organizations become more sustainable.

Below is the article in full.

Many manufacturers know the benefits of lean manufacturing: higher productivity, better quality, reduced cycle time, plus enhanced employee engagement. Lean is excellent at marshaling different groups and individuals into a high performing team focused on rooting out waste.

A Lean organization is commonly characterized by the elimination of the following seven wastes (Ohno’s wastes):

• Waste of overproduction (waste from faster than necessary pace);
• Waste of waiting;
• Waste of transport (conveyance);
• Waste from inappropriate processing;
• Waste due to unnecessary inventory (excess inventory);
• Waste due to unnecessary motion; and
• Waste due to defects.

By adopting Lean Principles, businesses can eliminate or reduce wasteful processes that can slow down the manufacturing procedure and add to costs.

In recent years many companies have established a fundamental goal to minimize the environmental impact while maintaining high quality and service for all business processes and products. This is commonly referred to as sustainability or green manufacturing. According to the Department of Commerce, “Sustainable manufacturing is the creation of manufactured products that use processes that minimize negative environmental impacts, conserve energy and natural resources, are safe for employees, communities, and consumers and are economically sound.”

When implementing lean within our organizations, equipment reliability is a predominant foundational element that enables lean operational performance. Embracing green manufacturing requires giving more focus to environmental and energy concerns during the implementation of reliability improvement projects. Improvements geared toward improving equipment reliability have distinct linkages to environmental performance.

As most manufacturers are starting to realize, the quest to become green takes them right back to Lean. Applying ‘Lean Principles’ – a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement - is one of the key ways to enhance environmental performance. By applying the tools, systems thinking, and lessons learned from the process improvement methodology they can effectively operationalize sustainability.

Lean and sustainability are conceptually similar. Both seek to maximize the efficiency of a system. This is accomplished through waste and time minimization. The difference lies in where this system (or process) boundary is drawn and how, and in how waste is defined. Lean sees waste as non-value added to the customer; green sees waste as extraction and consequential disposal of resources at rates or in forms beyond that which nature can absorb.

When companies expand the definition of waste to include not only product and process waste, but also the business consequences of unsustainable practices, Ohno’s list of wastes takes a different form:

• Waste of natural resources
• Waste of human potential
• Waste due to emissions
• Waste from byproducts (reuse potential)
• Terminal waste, waste from by-products that have not further usefulness
• Energy waste
• Waste of the unneeded (e.g., packaging)

When the definition of waste is expanded and when it’s understood that the consequences of corporate decisions extend past the company parking lot, Lean can indeed be green. Less waste is good for the environment — and the company’s bottom line — and reducing waste in both products and processes is what Lean is all about. So it makes perfect sense that in order to achieve higher levels of environmental performance, your organization must first adopt the principles and practices of lean manufacturing.

There are also multiple Lean benefits from a green perspective including limitation of over-production. Other benefits include the reduction of obsolete equipment and the ability to provide efficient systems, thereby reducing both energy and materials usage.

Lean manufacturing practices, which are at the very core of sustainability, save time and money — an absolutely necessity in today’s competitive global marketplace. While the pursuit of Green and Lean is not a destination but a journey it is clear that organizations that stretch themselves to build a culture around the values of Sustainability, Excellence, and Equity will ultimately have a big advantage those who do not. Isn’t the ultimate definition of “sustainable manufacturing” to be able to compete and not only survive, but thrive?


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