Twas a 5S Christmas

The folks over at Graphic Products received this great holiday poem which they shared in their newsletter. I thought it would be great to share with all of you.

Anonymous, 2012

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the plant
Machines were not running; production was scant.
We’d been forced to shut down and were incurring large fees,
Cause one of the workers dropped a wrench in line three.

Production mistakes had the owners complaining,
So we’d sent all the workers for refresher training.
The foreman in his hardhat, and I in my tie,
Had just settled down to discuss ROI. 

When out on the floor there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my desk to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
And ripped the Venetian blinds off the wall with a crash.

The loading dock door somehow had been lifted,
And inside the door snow had already drifted.
When what did my wondering eyes then behold?
But a white-bearded man shuffling in from the cold.    

He had a broad face and a round little belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
His eyes twinkled bright and his dimples were merry.
The foreman exclaimed, “Now this dude is scary.” 

He spoke not a word but went straight to work,
Rearranging and cleaning like some kind of jerk.
He threw things away that were taking up space,
And organized stuff that was in the right place.    

The tools that were needed he moved to be near;
Equipment not needed he moved to the rear.
He moved with precision, his speed it increased
I picked up the phone to call the police. 

Then from his beard, as pure white as winter,
He pulled out a small DuraLabel-brand printer.
He set it up quick, with no cord or cable,
In the blink of an eye he was printing out labels.   

“Label this counter space, label this drawer!
Label this cabinet, label some more!
From the top of the window to the base of the wall,
We’ll label everything, once and for all!” 

He yelled this out loud, the right jolly old elf,
I laughed to see him, in spite of myself.
He labeled the floor and he labeled the cables.
“With 5S in place, to work they’ll be able!”  

And then in a twinkling, I knew what he meant!
Our workplace had been as confusing as heck!
I joined him in working and when we were through,
You knew where things were and you knew what to do.

I thanked him profusely but he remained stoic,
And went to the break room and purchased a Coke.
I called him a hero, a magical man,  
But outside the building he’d already ran.

He greeted twelve reindeer and jumped in a sleigh
And up from the ground his team then flew away
But I heard him exclaim as they rose through the night:
“I’ll come back next Christmas to audit your site!”

Want more holiday cheer? DuraNews authors provide their DuraLabel-based holiday ideas for your reading pleasure.

Lean Quote: Don't Try to Boil the Ocean

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.

"Don't try to boil the ocean." — Meg Whitman

If you haven’t heard this phrase before, it’s used as an illustrative term for saying you’re trying to do too much with the resources you have available—perhaps to the point of detriment. So when someone says to you, "Don't try to boil the ocean" they are saying you don't have enough of something needed to achieve such a large-scale goal. Unfortunately, we tend to tackle too many goals, overwhelming and exhausting ourselves before measurable progress is made. Many think they can fix everything and address every concern, which means little or nothing gets done, and then they lose focus and move on. All too often these companies lack a sense of realism and priority when dealing with problems. Sound familiar?

In the midst of a world of problems, avoid the temptation to boil the ocean. You can‘t do everything at once, as much as you would like to. You will kill yourself with stress and discouragement if you try. Change the things you can. Focus on conquering what is around you. Force yourself to focus, completing one or two tasks very well. Create action plans for dealing with one or two issues – achieving visible progress will serve to keep individuals interested, invested in the process, and give them a sense of accomplishment. Opportunities will present themselves when you do that. Those opportunities will then put a different set of challenges around you to tackle.

There is the easy and the difficult, the simple and the complex, the achievable and the ambitious. Attempting to “boil” the ocean is not a practical task to take on due to its sheer magnitude–failure is a near certainty. When trying to solve too large a problem or too many problems at once you make your chances of success slim. The better solution is to look to your strategic plan and objectives. Pick one or two activities that directly support these objectives. Do them. Actually accomplish. Don’t get part way on many tasks, but finish a few important tasks. 

Take a cup from your ocean of work and boil it instead of trying to boil the ocean to get a cup of water.


 

Lean Quote: Actions Speak Louder Than Words

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.

"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory. Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Actions speak louder than words! An expression where doing what you say you will do is a greater determinant of behavior and character. People can say anything, but when what they say and do are contrary, it’s easier to judge by what is done instead of by what is said. 

Let your team know that you will empower but in proportion to each team member’s ability and the amount each asks for. Err on the side of generosity. Be honest as you empower so that the team members know they need to support each other as they will all have doubts!

Set projects around staff development programs to encourage everyone to try out new ideas. These are assigned to a mentor who champions the ideas set out in the project and encourages follow up. Encourage empowered decisions and innovation by mentioning the ideas in company newsletters, meetings, etc, and by explaining the benefits that have accrued to the organisation. Develop team ownership and rewards by allocating part of the remuneration package to the achievement of departmental/team targets though it should be noted that empowerment should be the reward in itself.

People will usually listen to what you say, but they really pay attention to what you do. You can't say one thing and do another if you want to be effective as a leader. What you say is important. However if your actions are different than your words people will assume the actions are what is true.



 

No Email Day and Reducing E-mail Waste

Yesterday was No Email Day, a campaign to encourage people to stop using email for 24 hours for greater productivity and to realize how email has become abused/overused. The organizers would like you to do something more productive with the time saved from no email. This could simply involve other forms of communication like actually talking to someone face to face, picking up the phone or even writing a letter (remember those?) or spending time away from work to reconnect with the offline world.

In honor of this day I thought I would shares some rules that can help you reduce the inefficiencies that email can cause.

Some “Organizational Rules” to Reduce E-mail Waste 
Rule 1 – Limit “CC’s” to only those that are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. Make a rule that employees can choose to BLOCK all CC e-mails. 
Rule 2 – No more than two “cycles” back and forth between correspondents. If the issue is not resolved by that point, USE THE TELEPHONE! 
Rule 3 – No unnecessary forwarding of attachments; use a hyperlink instead. 
Rule 4 – Always include the POINT and URGENCY of the e-mail in both the subject line and the first few lines of the text. 
Rule 5 – Consider using the first few sentences of an e-mail as an ABSTRACT that summarizes the remainder of the communication. Below the abstract, add additional detail with the comment, “More detail follows…”. 
Rule 6 – KEEP IT BRIEF! No e-mail should be more than 20 lines in length (consider using a network filter to block any that are longer). 
Rule 7 – Start the subject line with “ACTION” whenever immediate action is required by the addressee. Actions should be identified at the beginning of the e-mail. 
Rule 8 – Try using the SUBJECT LINE to communicate the ENTIRE message, followed by “EOM” which stands for “End of Message”. 
Rule 9 – Limit the number of times during the day that you cleanup or respond to e-mails. Turn off the e-mail alarm, so YOU control when you deal with e-mail.

Fewer interruptions means more time spent at work on value added activities. Using these rules can help email from becoming a wasteful distraction that can cost companies and you lost productivity.

SAVE YOUR INBOX WITH 5S FOR EMAIL.

How do you Define Quality Success?

This month in Paul Borawski’s post on ASQ with the back drop of the annual salary survey he asks what’s your case for a raise.

If you accept the premise that you get paid what you’re worth (and it’s not always true) I wonder what you’d tell your boss you did in the last year to increase your value to the organization. Tell me about results. Customers more satisfied, revenue enhanced, money saved, waste reduced, lives saved, or risks managed. What’s your case for a raise?

How do you define quality success? Not knowing how you define success can make the process of becoming successful even more challenging. It’s like fumbling around in the dark to find something when the light switch is right next to you, if only you would stop grasping in the dark and focus on the light switch.

Success is different for everyone and every business. Too often we look at others to measure how successful we are. You may look at a certain person or company and think wow they really got it together. What you may not know is that person or organization probably isn't satisfied themselves. Ask yourself what your standard of success is, but remember you are your own worst critic so go easy. Lean/Quality improvement is a journey not a destination!

Success is the fruit of: 1) Good directing as a leader, providing people with specific instructions and closely supervising task accomplishment; 2) Coaching by explaining decisions, solicits suggestions and support progress; 3) Supporting by facilitating and supporting subordinates efforts toward task accomplishment and shares responsibility for decision - making with them; 4) Delegating by turning over responsibility for decision - making and problem - solving to subordinates.

For me, success means to have a goal, plan the steps to achieve the goal, implement the plan, and finally achieve the goal." Success means that you are adding to yourself and others every day, experiencing growth and change (for the better). And also what you have achieved at the end of the day.

Although these are not a substitute for the various operational and financial results companies track, it can be a powerful sign as to whether companies are staying on the improvement journey path. If you don’t measure your organization’s improvement, you won’t monitor it, and if you don’t monitor your organization’s improvement, you can’t manage it. If you don’t manage your organization’s improvement, it will fail.

Choosing the right metrics is critical to success. Although there may never be a single perfect measure, it is certainly possible to create a measure or even multiple measures which reflect the performance of your system. If the metrics are chosen carefully, then, in the process of achieving their metrics, managers and employees will make the right decisions and take the right actions that enable the organization to maximize its performance.

How would you define success?


I’m part of the ASQ Influential Voices program. While I receive an honorarium from ASQ for my commitment, the thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own.

Daily Lean Tips Edition #40

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 #586 – Share Information and Numbers With Your Employees

Let them in on what is going on within the company as well as how their jobs contribute to the big picture. When you keep you employees informed they tend to feel a greater sense of worth. Keep communication hopeful and truthful – do not be afraid to share bad news, instead be more strategic about how you deliver it. Improve performance through transparency – By sharing numbers with employees, you can increase employees’ sense of ownership.

Lean Tip #587 – Leaders should collaborate and share on problem solving.

When employees get the idea that their manager or leader is the one who has to solve all the problems, it takes away from their sense of empowerment, and ultimately is likely to decrease engagement over time. Encourage team members to take responsibility, and work through problems or issues on their own, or collaboratively. It’s not the manager’s job to fix everyone else’s problems.

Lean Tip #588 - Involve team members in the process.

Ask team members for their ideas. Engage small working groups to come up with recommendations for ongoing challenges or needs. Select people to set agendas and lead meetings. Doing this develops your team members for bigger responsibilities and gives them a say in how the team works.

Lean Tip #589 - Connect employees to the greater good.

When employees feel connected to the company mission or like their work is contributing to a goal that is greater than profits, they feel like their work has purpose. A sense of meaning is priceless and costs nothing for an employer to cultivate.

Lean Tip #590 - Invest in your employees’ success by supporting their learning.

Continuous improvement and lifelong learning are important qualities for companies to instill in their staff. What does your company do to help employees improve or learn new skills? Offer in-house workshops or employer tuition assistance for employees to take coursework somewhere else. Show employees you are invested in their success by providing and supporting different learning opportunities to help them reach their goals.

Lean Tip #591 - Don't Stray Too Far From Your Expertise

The closer you can keep your customer and problem hypothesis to your experience and expertise, the easier you will find your Lean journey.

Lean Tip #592 - Clearly Identify Hypotheses & Assumptions

Remind yourself that every phone call, customer visit, or experiment is a test of a customer, problem and/or solution hypotheses. By defining the pass / fail criteria before performing the validation, you will ensure better results from your calls / experiments.

Lean Tip #593 - Stay Close To Your Passion

Most successful new businesses have one thing in common: they are started by people with a passion for the customer, problem and/or the solution hypotheses of the business. Unfortunately you can’t fake passion, and as you execute your Lean process, your passion (or lack thereof) will be clear to the people in which you engage.

Lean Tip #594 - Get Advisors To Help you See What you Don’t Know

Find people smarter than you to provide support in areas where you lack experience / expertise. Having advisors with very different backgrounds also adds some much needed diversity to the process, often resulting in uncovering something you otherwise might not have seen.

Lean Tip #595 – Lean takes a change in mindset of the organization

This is a cultural and organizational issue and is difficult to accomplish. Mindset implies people and it is helpful to bring in an outside look or fresh perspective. One can hire from outside, but the organization can also bring in consultants that have a broad and multi-industry perspective. It can also be done internally by having the courage to collaborate with other departments from within the organization. Collaborative efforts from all parts of the organization should be encouraged.

Lean Tip #596 – Successful teamwork is about knowing and executing on the basics.

To be successful your lean team requires effort:

You need a vision—what are you trying to achieve?
Metrics are a must—you can’t improve it if you can’t measure it.
Goals move you forward—Where would you like to be a year from now?
Execute the basics—Concentrating on flow is the key to lean improvement.
Celebrate your successes…and work on your weaknesses!!!

Lean Tip #597 – Focusing on Safety Fosters Employee Involvement

The initial efforts focusing on safety is a good foundation for fostering employee involvement. Norman Bodek said, “Employee suggestions are not for the company, they are for the employees.” Granted, there will be ideas that save money and increase productivity. But that is not the focus. The focus is getting employees contributing to improvement and the developing a problem solving work force.

Lean Tip #598 – Great Leaders Cultivate Charisma.

The myth of leadership is that it is all about greatness. It’s not only a myth, but a harmful deception. Leadership is all about relationships. Charisma is one of the key ways you develop these relationships. Some people think of charisma as fake or showy. It’s not. Charisma is having the sort of personality that draws people toward you and makes them want to follow you to success. This is exactly what you need as a leader.

Lean Tip #599 – Don't Wait Until All the Stars Align Before You Begin.

There is never an ideal time to start redoing your manufacturing process. There always are reasons you should wait or gather more data, but a ready-fire-aim approach is not all bad if it is applied to smaller aspects of the project.

Lean Tip #600 - Focus on the rate of production, or takt time.

This is a heartbeat measurement for the team. One-piece flow is ideal, but any flow is better than no flow. Pull at the demand of the customer, if possible. Then, pull the material through the process rather than push it along. This may take time. Setting up small work-in-process (WIP) or finished goods inventory (FGI) locations from which teams can pull material through production can be a good place to start. Holding areas also are known as Kanban areas, or supermarkets.

Defining Problems SMART-ly

Accurate problem statements save time and effort by focusing the team on root cause identification. A well-stated problem statement is a clear and concise statement that describes the symptoms of the problem to be addressed. It speeds a robust corrective action process by identifying potential root causes and eliminating bias and noise.

Unfortunately, many don’t take the time to accurately define the problem. Here are three common errors in defining a problem:

1. Stating a solution in the problem statement
Bad – We need a new furnace because it doesn’t stay warm.
Good – The temperature is 20 degrees below specification.

2. Too large of a problem
Bad – The quoting process takes too long.
Good – The spare part quoting process takes 5 business days.

3. Vague problem statements
Bad – Customers don’t like the product.
Good – Customers returns of product X are 35%.

Consider the check engine light in your vehicle. It gives you a warning that there is a problem but it is poor at defining the problem. The light can come on for a number of problems. This doesn’t help you solve the problem and usually means you have to bring it in to a repair shop.

The truth of the matter is that the more specific the statement, the better the chance the team has of solving the problem. Accurate problem statements save time and effort when they contain all these elements:

• Keep it brief
• Avoid technical language
• Quantify the problem – Don’t solve it!
• Explain the costs
• Define the scope
• State the consequences/benefits of possible solutions 

 A simple and effective method of defining a problem and one you can easily remember is to use SMART problem definitions:

Specific – Identifies key issue and process being worked on
Measurable – You have established metrics identifying targets
Avoids solutions – Problem statements contain only an explanation of the problem
Really concise – Contains a one-sentence summary of the issue facing the team
Time-based – Focuses on a specific time period when the problem was identified

Einstein was quoted as having said that “if I had one hour to save the world I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.” This quote illustrates the importance that before jumping right into solving a problem, we should step back and invest time and effort to improve our understanding of the problem. The first step is to define the problem and we should do so SMART-ly.