Comments on: Job Shops http://theleanthinker.com/2010/01/05/job-shops/ Thoughts and insights from the shop floor. Fri, 18 May 2012 16:29:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Tom Warda http://theleanthinker.com/2010/01/05/job-shops/comment-page-1/#comment-34559 Tom Warda Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:11:20 +0000 http://theleanthinker.com/?p=1076#comment-34559 Mark, I have developed an approach to the “job shop mentality” over the last few years that seems to work pretty well in getting folks to understand that at least some of what they do is repeatable and thus desireable to have some level of standardization. I ask the group if any two emergencies in a hospital Emergency Department are the same. The answer is always that they’re not. Then I generally let them run rampant for a few minutes on what kinds of “jobs / customers” and Emergency Department has just to let them really believe they’re onto something. Then it’s time to drop the hammer. I then note “So there’s absolutely nothing that can or should be standardized in an Emergency Department?” This generally opens a whole new line of reasoning in that it’s actually very important to standardize certain things in the ED – especially in the first few minutes after a patient arrives. I then let them discuss examples of what actually is standardized in the ED. Now it’s time to close the loop. I then suggest that even in an environment where all of us easily agree that no two situations are the same, we can and need to standardize as much as we can. That generally gets folks believing that they’re not as different as they think they are / were. We can then begin discussions on what we can start standarizing. I should also note that one can use a similar argument for calls to a 911 Call Center. No two emergencies are exactly the same, but without standards, how effective would the average 911 Call Center be? Hope that helps! Mark,

I have developed an approach to the “job shop mentality” over the last few years that seems to work pretty well in getting folks to understand that at least some of what they do is repeatable and thus desireable to have some level of standardization. I ask the group if any two emergencies in a hospital Emergency Department are the same. The answer is always that they’re not. Then I generally let them run rampant for a few minutes on what kinds of “jobs / customers” and Emergency Department has just to let them really believe they’re onto something.

Then it’s time to drop the hammer. I then note “So there’s absolutely nothing that can or should be standardized in an Emergency Department?” This generally opens a whole new line of reasoning in that it’s actually very important to standardize certain things in the ED – especially in the first few minutes after a patient arrives. I then let them discuss examples of what actually is standardized in the ED.

Now it’s time to close the loop. I then suggest that even in an environment where all of us easily agree that no two situations are the same, we can and need to standardize as much as we can. That generally gets folks believing that they’re not as different as they think they are / were. We can then begin discussions on what we can start standarizing. I should also note that one can use a similar argument for calls to a 911 Call Center. No two emergencies are exactly the same, but without standards, how effective would the average 911 Call Center be? Hope that helps!

]]> By: Il meglio della blogosfera lean #20 — Encob Blog http://theleanthinker.com/2010/01/05/job-shops/comment-page-1/#comment-34545 Il meglio della blogosfera lean #20 — Encob Blog Sat, 09 Jan 2010 07:32:41 +0000 http://theleanthinker.com/?p=1076#comment-34545 [...] Job Shops dal blog The Lean Thinker di Mark Rosenthal: Come gestire il lean in un officina di prodotti custom fatti su ordine e specifica cliente, mai due prodotti uguali (traduzione automatica) [...] [...] Job Shops dal blog The Lean Thinker di Mark Rosenthal: Come gestire il lean in un officina di prodotti custom fatti su ordine e specifica cliente, mai due prodotti uguali (traduzione automatica) [...]

]]> By: Jim Fernandez http://theleanthinker.com/2010/01/05/job-shops/comment-page-1/#comment-34540 Jim Fernandez Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:28:29 +0000 http://theleanthinker.com/?p=1076#comment-34540 Great piece. I am going to share this with my managers. We call our company a low flow, high mix opreration. I have some challanges in applying Lean. When I first started to map the value streams here where I work, it was a nightmare. As soon as I got a map finished, 80% of it was wrong. Because the workers had moved and the value stream (work area and equipment) was producing a different product. Most of our waste is hard to find and eliminate. It is always moving and hiding in new places. Most manufacturers fight the war on waste like WWII, 1942. I have to fight the war on waste like the War On Terror, 2010. Great piece. I am going to share this with my managers.

We call our company a low flow, high mix opreration. I have some challanges in applying Lean.

When I first started to map the value streams here where I work, it was a nightmare. As soon as I got a map finished, 80% of it was wrong. Because the workers had moved and the value stream (work area and equipment) was producing a different product.

Most of our waste is hard to find and eliminate. It is always moving and hiding in new places. Most manufacturers fight the war on waste like WWII, 1942. I have to fight the war on waste like the War On Terror, 2010.

]]> By: Tim McMahon http://theleanthinker.com/2010/01/05/job-shops/comment-page-1/#comment-34539 Tim McMahon Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:17:53 +0000 http://theleanthinker.com/?p=1076#comment-34539 One of the plants I support is a job shop. It works there. Is it different than our volume plants, yes. The key is to look at the processes not the products. Make logical groupings to create flow. The job shop mentatlity is too convenient an excuse to use to not solve the problems that must exist in your company. Lean is still a people orientated thinking process to solve problems and make improvements regardless of what you do. Tim McMahon A Lean Journey http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com One of the plants I support is a job shop. It works there. Is it different than our volume plants, yes. The key is to look at the processes not the products. Make logical groupings to create flow. The job shop mentatlity is too convenient an excuse to use to not solve the problems that must exist in your company. Lean is still a people orientated thinking process to solve problems and make improvements regardless of what you do.

Tim McMahon
A Lean Journey
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com

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