Now and then something comes across that makes it all worth it. And nothing is more “worth it” to me than to know something I said or did contributed to someone’s insight or impetus to do something spectacular.
Yesterday Earl sent me an email that is one of those times. I was going to edit it [...]
Following on from the buzz created by the last couple of posts, I would like to go back in time a bit.
In 2005 Steven Spear wrote a working paper called “
Why General Motors Lost and Toyota Won.” A reader can clearly the see emerging themes that were developed into his book
Chasing the Rabbit .
Spear [...]
One question I see coming up a lot in various
forums is how to deal with issues unique to very long takt times. By “very long” I usually hear about many hours, sometimes days, occasionally weeks. Because it comes up fairly often, I thought I would take a shot at addressing it here.
I think the [...]
Yesterday I told you the plan for today. Here is what really happened.
We got the even pitch going for a while. I was at the front of the line releasing units down the line as the pre-build Team Member was done with them. I was watching distance (since distance = time on a moving line). [...]
A few days ago I wrote about asking “What is your takt time?” and the likely responses to that question. But in my list of common responses, I left one out – “What’s the point? We get everything out by the time the truck leaves.”
Here’s a real-life example: In a high-volume consumer goods factory [...]
If you are the “lean manufacturing expert” you probably know. But what answer do you get if you ask the question in the work area?
Here is a quick diagnostic for you: Go to the shop floor and ask a supervisor, “What is your takt time?”
A reply of “Huh?” is pretty self-explanatory. Either the entire concept [...]