Seconds Matter…So Save Them

Paul Akers at FastCap talks about the 2 second lean.  Everyday we should be working to save two seconds.  Just two seconds.

All too often, this aspect of lean is missed.  Most people are looking for the BIG savings.  They don’t deem 2 seconds worth the savings.  People miss the value of a bunch of 2 second savings adding up quickly and creating a lot of capacity and savings.

Recently, I was working with a group that found several 2 second savings in their area and it added up to over 200 hrs of gained productivity over the year.

The picture below is an example of a 2 second savings they found.

The box on the right shows where the label was outlined to be placed.  The label is low and is blocked by the lip of the shelf.  Every time a person has to put something in the box they have go scan the label, so they have to push it back to scan the label and then pull it forward to put the item in the box.  Several people doing this over 300 boxes with upwards to 20 items per box.

The box on the left shows where they moved the label.  Now a person does not have to push the box back and pull it forward saving about 2 seconds per box per item.  This alone saved over 28 hours of time during a year.  That is over a full day’s worth of worked that can gained from this simple change.

All savings are important.  Seconds matter.  Save them every chance you get.