A lot of the stuff you own comes from China, either as a completed product or with plenty of parts that were assembled elsewhere. “Made in China” is a label you see very often when looking for the source of your products, albeit not everybody is convinced of the quality. In this series of two blog posts I want to look at how China improved its technological know-how as well as its manufacturing proficiency, and what challenges it faces as well as in its opportunities to completely close the gap with the Western world. This series of posts is a mixture of facts and a lot more opinions, so feel free to disagree.
Christoph Roser
On the Importance of Deep Dives
To manage your shop floor, or maybe even improve it, you need to understand it. Yet, the complexity of modern manufacturing makes it all but impossible to truly understand the system and all its aspects and correlations, and the whole mess that we call “unintended consequences.” Hence, you need occasional deep dives in addition to the big-picture view. In this blog post, I will talk more about deep dives. Let’s… ahem… go diving…
Why Is So Important for Managers to Listen!
In lean, there is a lot of talk about “learning to see,” with the goal of better understanding the shop floor. This is, of course, important. However, another important aspect is listening, both on the shop floor and elsewhere. This blog post goes deeper into why and how to listen to the shop floor, or generally the gemba.
The Benefit for Denso of Reducing Fluctuations
I have written a lot about leveling and the value of fluctuation in previous blog posts. In this post I will show quantitatively what the benefit of reduced fluctuations is for Denso, part of the Toyota group and a supplier to many other car makers too.
On the Eighth Wastes of Unused Human Creativity
Reducing or eliminating waste (muda) is one of the approaches to lean manufacturing. Traditionally, Toyota uses seven types of waste. In the Western world, an eighth type of waste is also often used, namely “unused human creativity.” There is much discussion whether this is a good, useful waste to analyze or not. As I started to write this article, I saw this type of waste as not so helpful in lean manufacturing. Colleen Soppelsa, whose opinion I respect very much, on the other hand, sees it as a very helpful type of waste. Time to sort out my thoughts and reconsider the pros and cons of including “unused human creativity” in the lineup of the types of waste. Maybe by the end of this article I will change my mind. Let’s see…
Kaizen: Hoshin Kanri, Bowler Charts, Action Plans, and More
In my last two posts I described bowler charts, named due to their similarity to the score charts used for bowling. In this post I want to talk a bit more how the bowler chart fits in the big picture… or, if you will, how the big picture can use a bowler chart.
This will be a big picture on kaizen improvement. First you need your true north, which allows you to set your overarching targets (e.g., in a hoshin kanri). To reach the overarching targets in the hoshin kanri, you need practical problem solving, A3s, or an Action plan to make actual improvements toward your overarching goals. Underlying all of this is of course the PDCA. But, let me show you in more detail:
The Bowler Chart—Caveats and Improvements
The bowler chart, or bowling chart, is a table that is used to track the progress of an improvement project, deliverable, or task. Its name comes from the high similarity to the bowling score sheets that are used to track the progress during a bowling game. In my last post I also explained possible pitfalls with the owner, the projects, and the numeric target. This post continues with more caveats on target progression and the use of color, before suggesting a possible improvement to make the progress even more visual. (Spoiler: Use a diagram!). But, read on…
The Bowler Chart—Tracking Your Projects
Hoshin Kanri (or “policy management” in English) is a way to manage the objectives of both you and your people and also align these objectives with the overall goals and directions of the company. One possible and useful companion document to track the progress of these objectives throughout the year is the bowler chart, or bowling chart. In general, this chart can be used to track the progress of an improvement project. Let me give you an introduction to bowler charts.