Just a few weeks in the past
I sat down with Michelle Bangert, Managing Editor, for a podcast to
introduce the article.
Michelle:
A lot has modified with lean and Kaizen, however is there something you suppose right this moment
that high quality professionals ought to find out about Kaizen?
Tim: Yeah, I
suppose it is a actually useful instrument. In all probability not sufficient firms try this. I
suppose it is type of an idea that possibly is overseas to lots of people, but it surely’s
actually simply an enchancment concept that enables us to get a gaggle of individuals
collectively, frequently have a look at alternatives for enchancment. So if you wish to
be capable of have a look at your course of, if you wish to uncover what possibly is, it pains
you, if you’d like to have the ability to try this, these are the sorts of issues that
Kaizen means that you can do. So it permits us to problem the established order, issues
that we take with no consideration, get the correct individuals in the correct room and are available up
with a brand new course of to do issues higher, extra effectively sooner or later.
Michelle:
I really like that you simply mentioned, if it ain’t broke, do not repair it coverage. It is nonetheless, let’s
hold fixing issues and make it higher as a result of somebody’s doing that. And so we
need to sustain. In order that was very good. That is in all probability the higher approach.
Positively. So are you able to bear in mind the primary time you had been concerned in a Kaizen
occasion or one of many early ones you probably did?
Tim: Yeah, one
of the earliest ones I in all probability did was on the store flooring. You understand, I feel
there is a distinction between doing it within the workplace and doing it on the store
flooring. And positively on the store flooring, you are able to do issues which might be bodily
transformational, you possibly can choose up the equipment of the cell and transfer it round.
So these are very thrilling. So I did a Kaizen occasion that was round altering
the bodily format. So we did issues that had been very, I assume, conventional
the place you may go the product alongside to an space. And we needed to do a change
the place we might consolidate the footprint of the cell and do extra U-shaped
manufacturing cell and elements could be supplied from the again of the cell and
you’d do a specific amount of the work content material and you’d go it to the
subsequent operation as an alternative of what was extra conventional manufacturing. In order that was
the primary Kaizen I ever did and I feel you recognize you in all probability can learn a number of
tales on-line in regards to the U-shaped cells and doing that type of configuration.
However for small piece elements, that is a quite common strategy to try this. However
completely different than you may sort out within the workplace, first workplace guys than I ever
did was a price stream mapping exercise. Sometimes within the workplace, you possibly can’t see
the waste, the identical that you simply may see in a manufacturing unit. So you must map out the
processes and also you may stroll it visually. You choose a course of and attempt to stroll
that from a buyer standpoint and perceive all of the processes that happen
there. So usually a price stream map is likely to be a approach to try this approach.
Michelle:
Positively a variety of worth, no matter which strategy you are doing. Makes
sense. Are you able to consider any that had been particularly memorable, whether or not in a great
approach or a nasty approach the place one labored rather well or possibly did not work the best way you
needed?
Tim: I feel
those which might be most memorable are those that I feel individuals say that
one thing could not happen there or anyone is likely to be difficult. So definitely
once I was at wire mould, we had that Kaizen space that They mentioned the group
chief was actually resistant to alter and you recognize this could not be achieved and I
took it as a private problem to see what we may do there. So I feel
individuals felt that anyone was adversarial there. The group chief was anyone
that was in opposition to change and it actually wasn’t the case. It was attempting to get to
perceive like, the place they got here from. And it wasn’t that they had been in opposition to
steady enchancment. They really had advised a number of concepts for
enchancment. They did not wish to be modified. They needed to be heard. So I went
in there with the tact of, effectively, why do not you simply strive it, you recognize. If I
show me incorrect type of mentality, proper? You understand, let’s simply strive it this manner.
If I am incorrect, then, you recognize, however then, you recognize, so be it. We’ll strive it your
approach. So I all the time took that mentality, like attempt to take heed to what they need to
say, as a result of they’re making the product. I am definitely not the skilled in making
the product. And so if you may get them to take heed to what you must say, and
you possibly can take heed to what they need to say, typically that compromise will get you
an answer in the long term. However I used to be capable of get their concepts included in
the design. Clearly, it is a significantly better Kaizen that approach. That one success led
to a few or 4 completely different Kaizens in that space, and we had been capable of make
important change that approach. However I prefer it when somebody says that we won’t do
it, or that they are actually in opposition to steady enchancment. These are the
challenges.
Take heed to the
remainder of the interview right here:
Supply hyperlink
