Lean Quote: Address the Root Cause

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.

"When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves." — Anthony J. D’Angelo

One critical factor on which the success of a problem solving rests is whether the analysis of the problem treats the root cause of the issue or the symptoms. Treating the root cause allows for the successful resolution of the problem and a permanent fix, whereas addressing the symptoms means that the root cause remains and will manifest itself later.

A successful root cause analysis must ask the question "WHY" the process or product is defective and proceed from there to try to find answers. Repeatedly stressing the "Why" after each answer allows you to peel away the layers of symptoms, eventually leading to the root cause of a problem. 

Another simple and effective method of defining a problem is a series of questions using the five W’s and one H approach (5W1H: who, what, where, when, why, how).

Who - Who does the problem affect? Specific groups, organizations, customers, etc.
What - What are the boundaries of the problem, e.g. organizational, work flow, geographic, customer, segments, etc. - What is the issue? - What is the impact of the issue? - What impact is the issue causing? - What will happen when it is fixed? - What would happen if we didn’t solve the problem?
When - When does the issue occur? - When does it need to be fixed?
Where - Where is the issue occurring? Only in certain locations, processes, products, etc.
Why - Why is it important that we fix the problem? - What impact does it have on the business or customer? - What impact does it have on all stakeholders, e.g. employees, suppliers, customers, shareholders, etc.
How - How many parts are involved? How are you going to solve the problem? Using what method or techniques?

Each of these answers will help to zero in on the specific issue(s) and define the problem statement. Your problem statement should be solvable. That is, it should take a reasonable amount of time to formulate, try and deploy a potential solution.

 

Recognition: Best Leadership Communication Posts

Communication skills within an organization are vitally important to their success. Marci Reynolds of The Operations Blog recently published a list of the 10 Best Leadership Communication Posts from 2016.  A Lean Journey's post Communication is the Glue made the top of the list. 

Leadership Communication: Image by by Stuart Miles, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

From Marci:

I believe that top notch communication skills are THE most important set of skills that any leader, at any level needs to possess and consistently hone. This includes verbal, written and virtual communication, across multiple mediums.

I recently pulled together 10 of the better leadership communication articles from the first half of 2016. Please add any that I may have missed to the comments section. I hope that you find them helpful and thought provoking.

1. Communication is the glue by Tim McMahon, A Lean Journey blog
2. 5 tips for improving leadership communication by Brent Gleeson, Forbes.com
3. Communication, the most important key to leadership success by Steve Hashem, Thayer Leader Development
4. 4 do’s and don’ts of speaking to senior executives by Annet Grant, BizJournals
5. Making changes? Communicate first by Chad Brook
6. Employee communications & digital integrations, By Daniel Hebert, PostBeyonds
7. Millennials are shaking up workplace communication, By Sarah White, CIO.com
8. 4 ways to make workplace email a thing of the past, By Heather Human, Entrepreneur.com
9. 10 smart questions that challenge the drift toward irrelevance, By Dan Rockwell, Leadership Freak Blog
10. How words affect your work, By Dianne Booher, Booher Research

Here is a bit from that post:

On Fridays I 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.

"Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want." — Dianne Feinstein

Communication is the glue that binds an organization together but do not assume that several announcements and a note on the notice board is sufficient to get the story out. Some say to communicate seven times and seven ways but that does not mean seven months apart. Develop and implement a robust communication plan and check to see if the total target audience has received the unfiltered message. If you want to know if your message is getting out clearly why not ask the most obscure person on the night shift if he or she heard the message? The day shift is easy but how about the rest of the folks?

Open communication is at the center of Lean and Respect for People. Employees need to know what is expected of them and how they’re performing. Visual displays such as scoreboards, scheduling charts, team communication boards, and recognition displays all help to keep information flowing between employees, departments and upper management.

Communication is a key ingredient for empowerment. Give every employee equal and direct access to information. Many companies have developed a trickle-down style of communication that alienates those employees who may not be "in the loop." The more informed employees are and the more communication is open, honest, direct and complete, the more likely employees are to feel empowered and connected to the daily operations and overall goals of their company.


I am humbled and honored that Marci recognized my post on communication in her top 10 list. Communication makes all the difference in this world which is why I do this, blog.  I find great joy in sharing my thoughts and experiences with others. In return I have learned more than I could have imagined and me some of the most amazing people. 

Seven Best Poka-Yoke Devices

Generally the most effective way to achieve quality is to avoid having defects in the first place. It is much less costly to prevent a problem from ever happening than it is to find and correct the problem after it has occurred. Focusing on prevention activities whose purpose is to reduce the number of defects is better. The idea is to have processes and procedures in place that reduce or eliminate mistakes.

Mistake Proofing is about adding controls to prevent defects, reduce their severity, and detect them if they can occur. The concept was first put to widespread use by Shigeo Shingo within the Toyota Production System (TPS).

The main aim of mistake proofing is:

PREVENT a defect from occurring and when this is not possible, DETECT the defect every time one occurs.

Defects found in later operations or steps of a process have more costs associated with them. There are more materials, labor, overhead, previously reworked product that are at risk. Ultimately if the product gets to the customer as a defect, the intangibles, such as reputation, can exceed the tangible cost.

Poka-yoke devices could be characterized by effectiveness:

GOOD: Detect defect before proceeding to next step.

BETTER: Detects defects while in process at an operation.

BEST: Prevent defects from occurring at all.

The 7 best poka-yoke devices are:

1. Guide Pins

Guide pins of different sizes and/or shapes and placed in the proper locations ensure that parts are being assembled correctly by providing the operator feedback when a mistake has been made. Guide pins can also be used to ensure proper positioning of the part.

Applications

• Proper alignment of a work piece
• Proper orientation of a work piece

Features

• Easy to develop & implement
• May be the result of DFA and DFM activities

Human Error Prevention

• Wrong order, incorrect selection, incorrect positioning, incorrect orientation

2. Error Detection & Alarms

In general, an error detection device can provide a visual alarm such as a flashing light or an audible alarm such as a horn or siren.

These devices signal that a problem is either about to occur or has just happened. With a warning effect, the response is not automatic; someone has to take action.

Application

• The signal must be triggered by something in the process, usually a sensor.

Features

• For audible warnings, there are sirens, horns, bells, and even voice synthesizers.
• For visual alarms, there are lights that flash, rotate, strobe, or just light up.

Warning: If you do use these warnings, the audible or visual signal must stand out from background noise and lights. If audible alarms are used, be careful not to exceed noise standards.

Be careful of “alarm silence buttons.” It is easy to silence the alarm and then forget to take action. Operators need thorough training on how to react to warnings.

3. Limit Switches

Limit switches are electro-mechanical devices that are activated or deactivated when an object comes in contact with them. They are used to detect the presence or absence of an object.

Applications

• Proper positioning of safety devices
• Detection presence or absence of an object
• Positioning of a work piece

Features

• Requires physical contact

Human Error Prevention

• Omission, excessive/insufficient repetition, incorrect selection, incorrect counting, incorrect positioning, incorrect orientation

4. Sensors

A. Proximity Sensors

Proximity sensors emit a high-frequency magnetic field and detect an upset in the field when an object enters it. They can be used to detect the presence or absence of an object.

Applications

• Sensing of tank or bin level
• Confirmation of part or object passes by
• Detection presence or absence of object
• Positioning of work piece

Features

• Non-contact
• Work in harsh environments
• Small sensors are available for installation in tight areas
• Fast response speed

Human Error Prevention

• Omission, excessive/insufficient repetition, incorrect selection, incorrect counting, incorrect positioning, incorrect orientation

B. Laser Displacement Sensors

Laser displacement sensors focus a semiconductor laser beam on a target and use the reflectance of the beam off the target to determine the presence of a target and distance to it.

Applications

• Measuring distance
• Detection of presence or absence of a feature
• Confirmation of part or object passes by
• Positioning of work piece

Features

• Non-contact
• Works in harsh environments
• Some devices can achieve measurement precision down to 0.004 mils (0.1 um)

Human Error Prevention

• Omission, incorrect selection, incorrect counting, failing to sense danger.

5. Vision Systems

Vision systems use cameras to look at a surface and then compare the surface viewed to a “standard” or reference surface stored in the computer. They can be used to detect the presence or absence of an object, the presence of defects, or to make distance measurements.

Applications

• Missing of incorrect parts in an automated assembly line
• Poor quality surfaces or components
• Correct orientation of parts or labels
• Ensure correct relative position
• Color detection

Features

• Non-contact
• Need to have sufficient light
• Flexible (can be reprogrammed for a variety of applications)
• Compact systems are now available

Human Error Prevention

• Omission, incorrect selection, incorrect positioning, incorrect orientation, misrecognition

6. Counters & Timers

Counters (optical or electro-mechanical) look at the occurrence of events. They are usually triggered by some type of sensor. Counters can be programmed to shut down the process if a set number of events do not occur or if too many events occur. Timers can shut down the process if processing time or activity time does not meet or exceeds a preset level.

Applications

• Ensuring the proper number of events occurred
• Preventing failure of equipment or a component usage

Features

• Flexible
• Easy to use
• Easy for people to understand

Human Error Prevention

• Excessive/insufficient repetition, incorrect counting, incorrect positioning, incorrect orientation

7. Checklists

A checklist is a type of informational job aid used to reduce failure by compensating or potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task.

Applications

• Shift Start-up
• Product Changeover
• Equipment Set-up

Features

• Easy to develop
• Easy to use
• Easy for people to understand

Human Error Prevention

• Omission, early/late execution, wrong order, misrecognition

Ideally, poka-yoke ensures that proper conditions exist before actually executing a process step, preventing defects from occurring in the first place. Where this is not possible, poka-yoke performs a detective function, eliminating defects in the process as early as possible. Don't allow defects to occur in your processes by neglecting to prevent mistakes in your work. Use poka-yoke to make the work easier and mistake proof your process.

Post Courtesy of QualityTrainingPortal.com

Lean Quote: Great Things are Done by a Series of Small Things Brought Together

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.

"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." — Vincent Van Gogh

In the spirit of doing better, the smallest ideas are likely to be the easiest to adopt and implement. These improvements are sometimes called Point or Mini Kaizen. Making one small change is both rewarding to the person making the change and if communicated to others can lead to a widespread adoption of the improvement and the possibility that someone will improve on what has already been improved. There's no telling what might occur if this were the everyday habit of all team members. 

One of the most counter intuitive facts about small ideas is that they can actually provide a business with more sustainable competitive advantages than big ideas. The bigger the ideas, the more likely competitors will copy or counter them. If new ideas affect the company's products or services, they're directly visible and often widely advertised. And even if they involve behind-the-scenes improvements--say, to a major system or process--they're often copied just as quickly. That's because big, internal initiatives typically require outside sources, such as suppliers, contractors, and consultants, who sell their products and services to other companies, too. Small ideas, on the other hand, are much less likely to migrate to competitors--and even if they do, they're often too specific to be useful. Because most small ideas remain proprietary, large numbers of them can accumulate into a big, competitive advantage that is sustainable. That edge often means the difference between success and failure. 

In a Lean enterprise a strategy of making small, incremental improvements every day, rather than trying to find a monumental improvement once or twice a year equates to a colossal competitive advantage over time and competitors cannot copy these compounded small improvements. 

 

Lean Do’s and Don’ts

Implementing Lean, or any change initiative is difficult.  If it wasn’t, everyone would be doing it, and they’re not. Lean is not easy. It's not easy to understand. It's not easy to implement. And it's especially not easy to sustain. But anyone who has embarked on a so-called lean journey already knows this. Lean, in fact, is hard work and it's a challenge to keep it going.

The following list of do's and don'ts is aimed at focusing on the right things.

Do have an implementation strategy. Companies must determine ahead of time what the vision and direction will be. A proper strategy must assign clear responsibilities and show what resources are to be committed. Metrics and timelines must be defined. Management must decide what core elements are to be deployed and the order of deployment. They also must determine where to start and how Lean will expand throughout the operation. Finally, the strategy should anticipate problem and recovery scenarios. This is critical. Companies can fail by attempting too much. They also can fail by attempting too little and assigning the initiative to a "backburner" status.

Do find a Lean coach. A Lean coach brings a range of experiences from previous Implementations that can help you to ensure that your implementation will be smooth and efficient. A good Lean coach should be continuously pushing your company.

Do develop a value stream map to differentiate the value added steps of a process from the non-value added steps, sum the time for each individual step and determine how much time is given to a process.

Do engage employees in transformation. Employee participation in project decision making is a main principle affecting innovation, productivity, and work satisfaction. Workers typically have more complete knowledge of their work than does management; hence, if workers participate in decision making, decisions will be made with better pools of information.

Don’t focus on tool implementation. Tools do not solve problem but rather people do. It is not about the tools it’s how they are applied. A large number of organizations have failed to produce the desired results from the direct and prescriptive application of Lean tools. The tools themselves have been proven to work in many situations. The difference must then be in how the tools were applied, their appropriateness, but not the tools themselves.

Don't optimize a bad process. Ensure current and future processes are accounted for when implementing lean initiatives.

Don't just set it and forget it. It is important to continually reevaluate your lean manufacturing efforts. Even when you take the long-term into consideration, changes in your business plan, demand levels and industry trends can create possibilities to further improve your factory.

Don’t blindly copy others. Some enterprises think they will get desirable effects by applying Lean tools that others have gotten great achievements. Successful implementation of any Lean tool must be closely related to the management philosophy. So we can’t succeed by imitating and copying practices of others indiscriminately, it must be combined with local culture.

Lean is not a quick fix and you cannot pick and choose the tools you use.   The key to ongoing success is to embed Lean as a philosophy, and a requirement in everybody’s role; ensuring the right levels of line-management responsibility and accountability for gradually implementing the various tools and techniques that support it.

Learning is the key to success—some would even say survival—in today’s organizations. Knowledge should be continuously enriched through both internal and external learning. Learning needs to become part of your daily routine. You are most likely to succeed if you consistently pursue a learning activity each day. Keep learning.

What Do’s and Don’ts would you share with others starting their Lean Journey?

Recognition: Top 10 Management Improvement Blogs

John Hunter with Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog recently ranked the top management improvement blogs. A Lean Journey was ranked 10 out of 43 blogs.

John created a ranking of top management improvement blogs for fun. There is no way to objectively rate blogs by how worthy or valuable they are. He just wanted to create a listing that ranked blogs I thought were worth reading using a collection of metrics that he thinks have some merit.

Here are the top 10 as of now (it will change over time):

The most important factor is my selection of what blogs to include in the first place. Then I rank them using several other factors: link popularity (how many links to the sites, with more authoritative links carrying more weight), a subjective ranking by me, traffic (using an admittedly pretty flawed measure of traffic – but again this is just for fun so…), Twitter authority of the author, domain authority (based on links, not just to the blog, but the web site overall).

I am very honored that John selected my blog and that I made the top 10 list.  It is always wonderful to be recognized for all the effort I put into this labor of love, blogging in the Lean community.

Lean Quote: Leadership is Unlocking People’s Potential to Become Better

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.

"Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better." — Bill Bradley

Successful leaders understand the difference between things and people in an organization. They know that it’s important to manage things, but that it’s even more important to lead people. Leaders don’t just mouth empty phrases like “people are our greatest resource;” they demonstrate by their actions that people – not strategy, products, plans, processes, or systems – are the most critical factor in an organization’s performance. That’s why leaders invest heavily in growing and developing people, while managers see people as objects to be commanded and controlled.

Developing people means challenging people. But just issuing challenges isn’t enough. It would be disrespectful to not also teach a systematic, common means of developing solutions and meeting those challenges. Leaders facilitate the solution of problems by pinpointing responsibility and developing employees. Leaders do not solve other people’s problems.

Your role as a leader is to develop talent to the highest levels of independent and autonomous thinking and execution. Great leaders don’t subscribe to a “Do-It-For-You” methodology of talent management, rather they lead, mentor, coach and develop team members by getting them to buy-into a “Do-It-Yourself” work ethic. Great leaders view each interaction, question or even conflict as a coaching opportunity. Don’t answer questions or solve problems just because you can, rather teach your employees how to do it for themselves. If you make it a habit of solving problems for people, you simply teach them to come to you for solutions at the first sign of a challenge.

The best way to develop employees is not to manage them. You need to coach them to success. This is a process of developing their skills and providing them specific feedback to meet high standards. Employees want to be on the same team with their bosses.

To get people across an organization to systematically work on improvement every day requires teaching the skills behind the solution. And for that to happen, their leaders and mangers also need to practice and learn those skills. Be their coach and lead the team to success!

In order to fully realize potential, you’ll have to add knowledge, skills, and experience. Don’t expect your people to do their best if you don’t equip them with the training they need to perform. And don’t expect your potential to spring forth in a final draft; it takes time to hone your skills and build your confidence. This could come from formal schooling, from the school of hard knocks, or from both. Either way, your education is the house your realized potential will live in.