Blog Archives
Error Proofing the Lights
What are some of the biggest wastes in a hotel or a resort? The first answer that comes to mind is the waste of water. Washing towels that may not need to be cleaned. Many hotels and resorts reduced the water used to wash towels by asking guests to put dirty towels on the floor and hang ones that are clean. It has become a fairly common practice.
So, what is the second biggest waste for a hotel or resort? How about the consumption of electricity? Have you ever left your room and left a light on or the TV going? Earlier this month, I was on vacation at a large beach resort with over around 1,000 rooms. Imagine if half of them left a light on in the room for 3 hrs extra a day. That is a large bill.
The resort I was staying at found a way to error proof this and cut down their electricity consumption. The picture below shows how they did this.
The slot on the right is for the room key card. You have to slide the key into the slot to activate the electricity in the room. The guests could then use the lights, TV and ceiling fans. You always need your key when you leave the room (unless someone is still in the room), so you pull the key out and the electricity in the room is deactivated.
It was simple to use and made the right thing easy and the wrong thing very difficult.
Have you seen any other error proofing methods to save electricity?
Error Proofing Swedish Style
I was at IKEA the other week and saw the best error proofing for cart safety. If you haven’t been to an IKEA store, it is massive. The parking for our store is ground level and the store is on the second and third levels. Elevators are used to help get the carts down to the ground level as well as an escalator. The shopping carts have suction cups on the wheels that engage as you get on the flat escalator.
For safety reasons, IKEA does not want customers to take the flatbed carts down the escalator. Products could slide off and cause an accident. In line with the traditional mindset, there are signs posted showing a normal shopping cart is OK to take down the escalator and the flatbeds are not.
In a lean error proofing mindset, IKEA made it impossible to take the flatbeds down the escalator.
There are two poles that are four foot high as you enter the escalator. The normal shopping cart fits through the poles with a couple of inches to spare. The flatbed cart is made to be angled out wider so it can’t fit. The poles are also positioned so neither cart can enter from the side.
It was a great system that a lean person can truly appreciate.
My Continuous Improvement: Personal Kanban – 5th Revision a Success!
In the past, I have posted several times about my experiments with kanban boards for my personal work. Below are the links to past posts.
The last post shows my failed experiment using Trello. I kept hearing other people say how much they liked Trello and how it well it worked for them. It has been about a year since I last tried Trello, so I thought I would give it another shot.
First, I reflected on why Trello didn’t work the first time so I wouldn’t make the same mistakes. There were two things that caused me quit using Trello. The first was how I separated my work. I had a board for each project. I had three projects so that would put my total WIP at 6 (max of 2 for each project). I had a hard time prioritizing my work and I was flipping between boards constantly.
The second thing I couldn’t work out was a way to include my weekly blog posts. I got tired of writing the exact same kanban card every week (“Write Blog Post”).
If Trello was going to work for me, I had to be able to deal with these two situations.
In the end, I realized I was making it too complicated. One board and using the labels would work for me.
New Trello Kanban Board – Click image to enlarge
I create five columns to organize my work.
- Posts to Be Written: This is a list of blog posts with the idea for the post written on each card. I can move this over to my Doing column when I am ready to write. It is a visual reminder to mix in my blog posts with my other work.
- Queue: A list of work to be done. The color labels in the top left-hand corner signify the type of work or the project.
- Doing: This is what I am currently working on with a WIP limit of 2
- Pen: This is a kanban card that is blocked from moving because I am waiting on work or information from someone else. I put a WIP limit of 3 on this and it seems to work for me.
- Done: When the work is complete the kanban card goes in this column. I archive the cards at the beginning of every week.
It’s not fancy, but it is effective. I now have access to my board at anytime, either on my computer, phone or tablet. So, if I remember something I can add it right away.
Are you using personal kanban? If so, how do you have yours set up?
Lean Culture Change
Recently, I had the opportunity to tour a local company that does sheet metal work. The company does not advertise being lean, although they are a part of our lean consortium. When you walk in the manufacturing facility you would be surprised at what you DON’T see. There aren’t 5S markings or visual production boards or kanban levels anywhere to be seen.
What the company is doing is the hard work. The are working to change their culture. They are focusing on it everyday from the leadership down to the floor.
The company is Webco Manufacturing.
What they have done is come up with The Webco Way. Thirty-one fundamentals for everyone to focus on improving. Here are just a few:
- Do the right thing
- Check your ego at the door
- Take ownership
- Practice blameless problem solving
- Be process oriented
- Continuously improve everything you do
- Embrace change
These are just a few. I encourage you to visit Webco’s website to see the complete list and a description of each.
You might think 31 is a lot to remember. I did too, but it is working for them. They focus on one fundamental every single day.
A fundamental is chosen for the week. A member of the leadership team sends out their perspective of the fundamental for the week every Sunday night to everyone with e-mail in the company. During the week, every meeting consisting of more than 2 people is started by reading the quick description of the fundamental and giving an example of how it is brought to life.
This includes meetings with supplier and customers. The meeting could be 1 Webco employee and 5 suppliers but they will start the meeting with the fundamental of the week. This is to let customers and suppliers know what they are trying to do and helps to drive the same expectations from their customers and suppliers.
Webco may not claim to be lean, but the culture they are driving and the way they are going about it sure seems like a lean culture to me.
What are your thoughts?
Book Review: Value Stream Mapping
Karen Martin and Mike Osterling are consultants that have been helping companies with seeing their business through a different lens. Karen and Mike have co-authored two books in the past: The Kaizen Event Planner, a well written how-to guide for planning, executing and following up after a kaizen event and Metrics-Based Process Mapping, a how-to for using key metrics to analyze and improve processes. Value Stream Mapping is their third book together and again they have done a fantastic job.
Name of the Book: Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation
Author: Karen Martin and Mike Osterling
Publication Date: December 2013
Book description: what’s the key message?
Karen and Mike explain the in’s and out’s of understanding and completing a value stream map. They discuss how a value stream map is a tool that can help senior leaders and executives see their business in a new way. A transformative way.
Karen and Mike take the reader through all the steps. They explain the importance of setting the stage prior to the starting the value stream map in order to enable success in changing the business. Karen and Mike also walk the reader through the best ways to understand the current state of the business and the importance of understanding the current reality no matter how sobering it is. Next they walk the reader through developing the future state and then the transformation plan.
This book is not just a “Go do it this way,” book. The book is very complete and explains why the process they describe works.
What are the highlights? What works?
Most people miss the main point of value stream maps. They are about changing the mindsets of an organization through building a strategic direction with a lean lens. Karen and Mike do a great of reiterating this point throughout the book.
If you have never seen or been through a value stream mapping session this book is a great guide. The explanations are spot on. Karen and Mike hit on the most important metrics that can be used on a value stream map in order to get the most out of it. They explain how the map is not complete without the metrics, which is something a lot of people will leave off when doing the map.
The examples of value stream maps in the back of the book can help a reader with guidance in building their own. I know they are in the appendices but it is worth it to study all the examples.
The book also has a link to a downloadable charter and transformation plan templates. I found them to be very helpful.
What are the weaknesses? What’s missing?
The book is very well done. Not only a step-by-step but a great explanation of why for each step. There is one thought that I believe is missing in doing a value stream map. That is the concept and discussion around ideal state.
When doing a value stream map, I find invaluable to have a discussion on the difference between ideal state (perfection) and future state (somewhere between current state and ideal state). Usually, this discussion takes place after building the current state map. The team writes out bullet points of what the ideal state would look like. After that is completed, then build the future state. The ideal state discussion helps to stretch the thinking of the team and as Karen and Mike put it “help change the DNA of the organization.”
Having a direct conversation around ideal state is a step that I feel is important and I wish Karen and Mike would have spent some time on in the book.
How should I read this to get the most out of it?
The book can be used in two ways. One way is by someone that has been tasked to help an organization create a value stream map. It can be used as a learning text book. It can help the reader learn the in’s and out’s of creating a value stream map and give them guidance. Or even as a refresher for an experienced value stream map facilitator.
Another way for the book to be used is as an education piece for executives and senior leaders that want to change their business. It can help them understand their role in the value stream transformation process and how they can help the facilitator before, during and after a mapping session.
Kudos to Karen and Mike for another great book.
Value Streams Are Misunderstood
I really like seeing more and more organizations trying to implement lean. Seeing organizations start to understand lean and want to improve using the lean mindset and principles is very refreshing. A great step in the right direction.
But not all lean starts are created equally. Or for that matter even get off on the right foot.
I recently saw a company giving a presentation on some HR practices and apprenticeship. They were doing some really great stuff around apprenticeship for a machining shop.
What caught my eye was their comments about lean and aligning to value streams. The company listed their value streams on a slide. The first few sounded more like machining functions rather than a value stream but I don’t understand the business so I could be wrong. Then I saw the bottom half of the list: Accounting, Project Management, Human Resources, etc…
Yikes! These are not value streams. These are functions that support value streams.
Misunderstanding of value streams is quite normal. In order to be a value stream, it has to create value for the customer. To understand what creates value a company has to have a definition of value.
I use one I learned from the Lean Learning Center:
- The customer must be willing to pay for it
- It must change the form, fit or function of the product/service
- It must be done right the first time
In a machining shop, accounting does not create any value for the customer. Nor does Project Management.
Value streams are linked process that create value to a product or service for customer. The are not departments (accounting , project management) or functions (milling, cutting).
Grasping the true meaning of value streams and what your companies value streams are can really open your eyes to the improvement possibilities.
My Continuous Improvement: Personal Kanban – 4th Revision FAILED!
A couple of years ago, I read a blog post by Tim McMahon about his experience with using personal kanban to manage his work. It inspired me to try my own. The first one didn’t work as I mention here.
Then I tried again. I had great success with the 2nd board. I used it for a year and a half.
With a new role where I have multiple desks, I am constantly in different areas of the building. I may not be back to my desk for several days or even a couple of weeks. I wasn’t able to keep my board up and I had work to do written in several places.
I wanted to find an electronic kanban that would work for me. I found one that worked well. It was a computer only board. I explain it more in this post here.
This new electronic kanban work well. I could take a note or email myself on my phone with what needed to be on it and then transfer it when I got to my computer. If I had my computer with my, I just added right then.
As a person always looking to eliminate waste, you can see where there was waste in emailing myself and then re-typing it for the kanban board. A friend of mine recommended Trello for me to try. It was web-based. I was able to download an app to my phone which I could open and enter the work and not send myself emails to re-enter.
Everything looked great so I gave it a try for the last 3 months of last year.
It wasn’t hard to use. It had plenty of features and it was setup very similar to the electronic kanban I was using. For some reason, I couldn’t get the flow of it. Trello was not working for me. I tried for three months and I couldn’t get into the flow of using it and making my life easier to manage.
I have no idea why it didn’t click with me but it was a disaster. I forgot some things that needed to be done. I felt disorganized and stressed.
So, to start 2014 I am going back to my electronic kanban board on my computer and not using Trello. I already feel more organized and less stressed since I switched back.
I’m not dismissing Trello yet. I need to reflect as to why it wasn’t working for me. Was it something truly with Trello? Or did it have something to do with the enormous project I was on and I just couldn’t keep up with trying something new at the same time?
The important thing is to understand what was happening because maybe Trello can work for me and help me reduce my waste in maintaining my kanban board.
Learning is important and not just living with a change because we need to change. The change needs to be given a fair chance and if it is failing then you can’t be scared to change back if necessary.
Does anyone else have any experiences with a change that totally failed?
Visual Management in Retail
I want to thank Ann Mazzoli for sending a couple examples of visual management that was used out in the retail environment.
The examples are from a dressing room.
This first example is very clear and can be understood as to how it could help the shopping experience. When trying on clothes, I always separate them into two piles after I have tried it on. No/Maybe and Yes. This shows clearly a place to hang the clothes to make it easier.
The second example…not so clear
I have no idea what “Tomorrow” would mean for a dressing room experience. Do you know what it could mean?
Visual management and labeling is great, but it has to be clear and understandable by the people that will use it.
Ann, thanks for sharing.
If anyone else has any examples please feel free to share them.
Think Inside the Box
I saw a post last week on the Harvard Business Review blog about thinking inside the box. The title caught my eye, but when reading the post it wasn’t what I had expected. The post was about how to find ideas for innovation and improvement from within your company. Great premise and I completely agree.
My thoughts about thinking inside the box have to do with creating and living by standards. I work for a company with an extremely large creative staff. At one time the largest creative staff in the world. So, standards were frowned upon because it was thought to “box in” the creative talent in their designs.
As lean started to be implemented throughout the company, standardized work and product standards were an uphill battle. After some discussion, we were able to get some standards in place.
The most interesting part has been the reaction from the creative staffs. After working within the standards, they have said they have become more creative.
Thinking inside the box (or within the standards) has freed them from thinking about certain aspects of product design and allowed them to be creative within the space given to them.
This is a concept that is commonly misunderstood with lean. Standardized work and product standards are not there to hamper creativity or take the thinking away from the work. They are there to free up the peoples minds to think about the work in new ways. Not think about the mundane aspects of the work.
Don’t fight standardized work, use to become more creative.
More Quick Easy Visual Management
Here is another example of quick easy visual management.
This is a soap mold from my wife’s business. A couple of the spots in the mold have cracked and now they are not usable. She put a quick ‘X’ on the bottom of the mold so when she is pouring she knows she can’t use that cavity.
Visual management doesn’t have to be high tech or fancy. It just has to convey the message quickly and at a glance. In this case, the cavity is usable or it is not.
Share examples of how you have used visual management at work or at home.
Beyond Lean 