In my last post I introduced the Toyota Practical Problem Solving approach (PPS) and gave an overview how it is rooted in PDCA and often used in the form of an A3. Now let’s dig deeper and go into the details of the individual steps. The first is to clarify the problem. The second is to break down and stratify the problem—to try to understand the problem better by looking at it from different angles, preferably using data. In my next post I will talk about target setting.
Toyota Practical Problem Solving (PPS)—Introduction
Lean is a lot of problem solving. Toyota excels at such problem solving, and they have developed their practical problem solving (PPS) approach. For many it is surprising how much time Toyota spends on defining and understanding the problem, whereas (many in) the rest of the world immediately jump to a (possibly inferior) solution. Let me go through the process step by step.
What Exactly Is Overburden (Muri)?
Overburden (muri) is one of the three evils of manufacturing, along with unevenness (mura) and waste (muda). Out of the three, overburden is probably the least understood. Hence, in this post I will look deeper at overburden, including plenty of examples as well as the effects of overburden on your people.
Lessons Learned from the Toyota KPI Dashboard for Your Own Dashboard
In my series of posts on the Toyota KPI dashboard I went into detail about the different sections and KPIs. These dashboards work well fro Toyota. However, this does not mean that they automatically work well for you too. Chances are, you are not making cars. Even if you are, your relevant KPI information may be different from Toyota’s. Let’s have a look…
The Toyota KPI Dashboard—Production Plan
In my previous posts I went into great detail through all the categories of the Toyota KPI dashboard: safety, quality, productivity, and cost. I also explained the additional section on HR development, albeit this may not really be KPI in the normal sense. However, the dashboard often contains even more: a section with the monthly production plan, a section for the allocation of the operator, and different A3s for improvement. Lets dig deeper:
The Toyota KPI Dashboard—Human Resources
With the KPI groups safety, quality, productivity, and cost, this series on the Toyota KPI dashboard has covered the main topics. However, there is more. Not always but often you can also find a section on human resources (HR) development. Yet, these are usually not KPI, but more organizational topics that may be part of the daily shop floor meeting. Below are some examples of how this section could look, although this may vary quite a bit among different Toyota plants. Let’s have a look:
The Toyota KPI Dashboard—Cost
In my series on the Toyota KPI dashboard, after safety, quality, and productivity, we finally arrive at cost. While for some companies it is the number one factor, for Toyota it is far behind safety, quality, and productivity. The argument is that if safety, quality, and productivity are in line, it is likely that cost is also good. Both a lack of quality and a lack of productivity will drive up the cost.
The Toyota KPI Dashboard—Productivity
This post in my series on the Toyota KPI dashboard looks at productivity. After safety and quality, this is the third-most-important KPI group on the Toyota dashboard. The cost is least important. This section of the dashboard measures different KPIs on the productive output of the system. Let’s have a look.