Blog Archives - The Institute for Strategic Improvement

5S

10/30/2016

Are you familiar with the lean management tool called 5S?
The 5S method is a tool to control outcomes and make continual improvements. It stands for sort, straighten, shine, standardize, and sustain. You can use it for any process or service.

Sorting is just as it states, organizing and separating what you need and don’t need.

Straighten means to straighten up and arrange items you need for your process or service so they are easily identified.

Shine means to clean up your area and set it up where you can keep it clean.

Standardize means to organize the first three s’s so everything has a place.

Sustain means to keep it going in all of your areas. The 5 S method improves process flow, reduces space requirements, increases environmental and safety compliance, improves communication, boosts morale, removes non value added steps, and reduces wasted time looking for items.

5S means the workplace is clean there is a place for everything and everything is in its place.

5S helps you by eliminating the unnecessary, establishing a place for what remains, and cleaning up remaining equipment, tools, and storage devices. This helps reduce clutter and needed items are readily found. Use visual cues and visual management such as signs, labels, stickers, and cards marking where things go.

The steps to the 5S are listed here:

Sort—Eliminate whatever is not needed
Straighten—Organize whatever remains
Shine—Clean the work area
Standardize—Schedule regular cleaning and maintenance
Sustain—Make 5S a way of life

Having Japanese origins you can see the English and Japanese translations for 5 S no matter the language, the principles are the same. Sorting Straightening Shining Standardizing and Sustaining.

Look at the space you gain and efficiency you can gain in your organization or work area.
Before 5S During 5 S After 5 S

Standard Work

10/25/2016

Standard work or standardized work is another lean tool for employees to determine the best ways to make it fit the need of their customers.

Standard work is a simple written description of the safest, highest quality, and most efficient way known to perform a particular process or task by a single operator. Standard work reduces variation, increases consistency, productivity and is continually improved.
Standardized work is created by using these steps:

1. Define the extent of the process for which you are creating standard work, the start and endpoint:

Determine the steps and function in each multi-function process
Employees doing the same job will use the same standardized work templates and processes
The start and end points of a process need to be standardized

2. Gather the required information:
Observe employees doing the same work to determine how much variation there is from task to task and employee to employee. Compare this with the benchmarks of leading competitors.

3. Determine the standard work requirements to include in the standard work document including:

Task or process title
Document location and ownership
Work area
Document author
Document revision date
Work sequences
Cycle times
Process Takt time

4. Create the standard work documents based on your known data and benchmarks.

5. Train supervisors on the standard work they are the “owners” of the process and must understand it in order to train others to do it correctly.

6. Train the employees to do the standard work. Each employee must be able to demonstrate their ability to perform the standard work correctly.

7. Run the process after establishment of the standard work and observe the results. Once employees are trained start the process and make observations to look for improvements.

8. Determine any waste and make adjustments and modifications to the standard work. The standard work document is a living document and should be changed based on your observations.

Improving Quality

10/24/2016

Quality is achieved through assessment and development of the company’s quality culture. This assessment and development occurs by facilitating cultural awareness, adopting quality goals, requesting stakeholder input, developing performance measurements, rewarding performance towards quality, and creating teams to pursue continuous improvement.
Achieving a quality culture includes:

Having a clear understanding of what quality looks like.
Having a clear understanding of Quality Improvement and why it is necessary
Having the employees connect with the benefits of quality.
Maintaining a clear structure and framework for quality management.
Buy-in and support at all levels in the company.
Communicating the quality improvement plan and progress throughout the organization.

• Develop the Strategic Perspective - Leaders provide their teams with a sense of purpose and direction.
• Instill Trust - Leaders should be in touch with issues and concerns of individual employees and should provide an environment for building relationships.
• Inspiration and Motivation - leaders focus a level of additional effort and energy that can make the difference between organizational success and failure. Every leader is charged with developing ways to inspire their employees to function at a higher level of performance.
• Drive for Results - Leaders that do this well are not afraid to ask their employees for a higher level of performance and continually remind them of their progress relative to the goal. This behavior includes two actions pushing where they “drive for results” and pulling where they “provide inspiration”.
• Collaboration - leaders should promote a high level of cooperation between their work groups and create a positive and productive atmosphere. Objectives are created in a higher level with a high level of inter-group cooperation. When this occurs energy is created and every employee enjoys the work experience.

Leadership

10/16/2016

Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1900–1993) is best known for reminding management that most problems are systemic and that it is management's responsibility to improve the systems so that workers can do their jobs more effectively.

Deming argued that higher quality leads to higher productivity and that leads to long-term competitive strength. He noted that workers are responsible for 10 to 20 percent of the quality problems in a factory and that the remaining 80 to 90 percent is under management's control.

Deming's theories were taught as a part of his System of Profound Knowledge. His knowledge system consists of four interrelated parts: (1) Theory of Optimization; (2) Theory of Variation; (3) Theory of Knowledge; and (4) Theory of Psychology.

Deming wanted to transform management and began teaching his 14 points. Here's a chart of them.

The 7 forms of Waste

10/15/2016

What kind of waste do you currently see?
Over-processing? Rework? Inventory? Overproduction? Transportation? Waiting? Motion? Eliminating waste can save you time and money. Have you ever heard the saying “If you don’t have time, when will you have time to do it over”? In the literal sense we may not take that to heart, but when you think about it, if you do a bad job and have to redo something you have wasted the initial time to do the job plus the additional time to do the job again.

Depending on what you are doing, for example, if you are building a wooden framed structure and have to rebuild it you have two wasteful points. You have the initial incorrect build, then 1) time to demolish or disassembly of the incorrect structure and 2) rebuild for the 2nd time. So instead of one build you have a build - tear down - and build. What helps here? Verification of the process against the original specifications and quality control. Continuous monitoring throughout the projects lifecycle helps to minimize rework.
There are 7 Types of Waste (muda) defined by Taiicho Ohno (Toyota executive 1912-1990)
1. Waste caused by product defects
2. The waste caused by overproduction
3. Waste caused by waiting for the next step in the process
4. Waste caused by transportation
5. Waste caused by movement within the factory or between process steps
6. Waste during processing
7. Waste due to inventory

What types of waste are you seeing? Try A3 Development or 5S we even have a course for it here
https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p17/A3_Management_Training.html

Six Sigma Terms

10/12/2016

What is the DMAIC methodology? DMAIC stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. It is a tested methodology with tools for all applications to manage a project for improvement from start to finish.

The Basic DMAIC activities at each level include:

Define the core project activities which include the development of the project charter, scope, deliverables, process mapping, cost benefit analysis, return on investment, and stakeholder analysis.
Measure core activities include a measurement systems analysis, industry best practice benchmarking, failure mode and effects analysis, and development of a Gauge R&R.
Analyze core activities include analysis of data, determination of root causes, determining data correlations including the, mean, mode, median, variance, variation, and correlation as well as hypothesis testing and design of experiments.
Improve core activities include determining 3-5 solutions, selecting the solutions to implement as a team, piloting the solutions, and deploying them within the company.
Control core activities include developing the control plan, control charts, and educational information.

The first step in the DMAIC process is the Define Phase. In the Define phase we determine what is important to the customer and Critical to Quality CTQ in the core business process. We define who customers are, what their requirements are for products and services, and what their expectations are. We define the process to be improved by mapping the process flow.

The second step in the DMAIC process is the Measure Phase. In the measure phase we develop a data collection plan for the process and collect data from many sources to determine types of defects and metrics. We compare to customer survey results to determine shortcomings.

The third step in the DMAIC process is the Analyze Phase. In the analyze phase we use data collected and processes maps to determine root causes of defects and opportunities for improvement. The analyze phase will help identify sources of variation.

The fourth step in the DMAIC process is the Improve Phase. In the improvement phase you will design solutions to fix and prevent quality errors. You will list these improvements in an implementation plan.

The fifth step in the DMAIC process is the Control Phase. In the control phase you will set controls to keep the new process on track to improve quality and hinder regression.

Strategy Deployment

10/10/2016

What have you thought about recently in the context of Strategy Deployment? Is your strategy something you revisit frequently or is it something you review once or twice a year?

Strategy Deployment relies on consistent action in between planning periods and your strategy requires a commitment to continuous improvement. There are a number of tools you can use as you transform your organization into the optimal state you desire.

Here are some of the best tools to propel your strategy.

The Value Stream Analysis is a review of all of the processes that help you develop your product or service.

Kaizen and rapid process improvement activities help you to get results fast by discovering a problem, making a fast review of it and determining some improvements you can trial.

An A3 is a structured problem solving approach to improve a process in one stop shopping.

Continuous daily improvements or daily start planning gets each day off to a start with your overall strategy in mind before the day becomes filled with non strategic activities.

Using the four of these together you can determine which processes need improvement (Value Stream Analysis), hold a rapid improvement event (Kaizen), develop an 11 x 17 roadmap to improve it (A3), and review your plan to meet your goals daily (Continuous daily improvements).

Keeping focus on your strategy is the best way to meet your goals.

A sample A3 follows. Interested in more? Try our A3 Management Course
https://www.instituteforstrategicimprovement.com/store/p17/A3_Management_Training.html

Quality in your life

10/5/2016

We try to differentiate and separate our blogs into categories that can help in your personal life and those that help at work or in your business to promote making life easier through quality, productivity improvements, or efficiency.

Quality is relevant in both aspects home and work and we strive for the best in both worlds. In businesses we find quality is many times used as a key differentiator in competition. Businesses invest in quality and continuous improvement because they have a direct impact on effectiveness and profitability. They also find that quality helps serve as the catalyst for risk management and innovation.

Where do you stand on the continuum of quality infusion?
Do you have a commitment to excellence as a leader?
Do you routinely invest in performance improvement? How?
Do you intricately understand your customers needs?
What type of performance metrics do you have in place and how often do you revise them?
Do you take risks but also manage risks?
How do you engage customers and employees? How do you keep yourself engaged?

It's important to understand how your performance contributes to your goals and success. Set goals that consistently raise the bar in terms of quality.

Remember if you make a product or provide a service your customers needs drive your competitive focus. Engage in consistent action increasing your level of performance and articulate this through your business vision.

Workplace efficiency

10/2/2016

Want to make life easier at work? Want to free up time so you can knock out the things that worry you so you can make work less stressful?

You have to take time to make things better. Do you have one of those jobs where you feel like you have more and more demands to the point you need to bring work home to keep up? Many times we take on a number of tasks at once and feel overwhelmed. About a year ago I put some thought into how I would make my work life more enjoyable so the workload was not so unbearable. I used some of the 5S techniques of sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain. It helped but there was more work to be done. Things where organized and that helped but I still needed more. So what helped?
I started taking 10 minutes a day to do anything I thought would make myself more efficient. Like printing out the next day’s meeting materials, making a list of things I didn’t want to forget and organizing any supplies I needed for tomorrows meetings. The important thing is I was taking out time for myself to make things better. In essence it was advanced planning and it had a cascading effect when I did it every day the effects where magnified. Each day I found myself working on something different than the day before to make myself even better or add quality to work such as writing thank you cards, or adding additional touches to make work life better for everyone.

Make a quick list or edit your calendar the day before so you know what’s on the books and can build a mental strategy.
Go digital – I had a file cabinet 5 feet tall, 24 inched deep, and 48 inches wide. Why? I felt in customer interactions I would need them again because many were tied to projects and activities I had done over the last 3 to 4 years. I started scanning in the documents that had signatures or drawn diagrams etc. and shredding the remainder. In this day and age everything should be digital and backed up to another source if you are worried about loss. The benefits of getting rid of the paper where many. I gained about 8 square feet of office space, I gained efficiency because if a client, colleague, or I needed a paper I had to find it, I was helping the environment by no longer printing so many materials.

Another efficiency maker was email. I had rules, I had auto delete, and I got rid of junk mail but the email box became a 08:00 to 4:30 job. Why? Because we let it, society has become email driven in the workplace and we make a job out of drafting emails and making attachments. It’s a common work language. You have to take charge of it and I used a tip from Tim Ferris, Author of the Four Hour Work Week. I checked just the ones I needed info from to start the day then I dispositioned email at 12:00 and 3:30. I no longer spent all day at my email box. I went out and got the things done that needed to be done and were probably going to wind up in my email box anyway. Half of the time I had already done something someone had emailed about.

For me taking 10 minutes a day, going digital, using 5S and managing email instead of it managing me turned out to make great improvements in my work life, I hope it helps you too.