In my last post I talked about lean in the professional kitchen, especially the impact of Auguste Escoffier on modern kitchen management. In this post I will look at the history of the home kitchen, where lean also made some significant changes that you still can see today (albeit some other improvements have been lost). And, one interesting fact for this post: It was all women who made these improvements!
Efficiency
Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 4
Work standards are key to kaizen, and their correct use requires process confirmation. The BMW Group Dingolfing plant does an outstanding job with this process confirmation, driving their continuous improvement. This gives BMW automotive plants an outstanding performance on par with Toyota. In this last post on the series on the process confirmation standards at BMW Dingolfing, we dig deeper into the confirmation for the work standard documents and the digital displays used to manage the product variety coming down the line.
Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 3
Process confirmation is essential for maintaining standards, which are essential for continuous improvement. In my previous posts I introduced the process confirmation standard at the BMW Group Dingolfing plant, which helps BMW to achieve efficiency on par with Toyota. We already looked at the verification of the material supply standards and 5S. In this post I will talk more about the Gemba standards for the actual work. They demand improvement ideas directly from the shop floor, which is the best way to have fast kaizen cycles toward operational excellence. Read on!
Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 2
In my last post I introduced the process confirmation standard at the BMW Group Dingolfing plant, which helps BMW to achieve efficiency on par with Toyota. In this post I will talk more about the actual process confirmation checklist, starting with a brief overview, followed by a deep dive into the first two sections of the checklist. Read on!
Process Confirmation Standard for Kaizen at BMW Dingolfing—Part 1
Continuous improvement in lean works through work standards. Improving the standards improves your processes. However, all of this is for naught if the standard is not followed. In this series of blog posts I will look in more detail at how the BMW Group Dingolfing plant (a company on par with Toyota in terms of efficiency) does process confirmation on the shop floor. And, maybe even more important, how they drive the whole improvement process through the front-line workers on the shop floor using this process confirmation.
How to Turn Your Car for Assembly—Part 2
In my last post I started looking in more detail on how to turn a car on an automotive assembly line. This is a deep dive in a specialized topic, but I hope it can inspire you in similar issues with your own assembly line. The big question is how to reduce the overall walking distance for all your operators. But, as we will see in this post, it is also a question for tool and material access. Read on!
How to Turn Your Car for Assembly—Part 1
In this small blog post series I will do a deep dive on one aspect of automotive assembly—namely, how to position the car for assembly. While not all of you assemble cars for a living, understanding the approach on walking distances may be helpful to optimize other production systems. Read on …
A Low-Tech Alternative to Pick by Light: Pick by Stencil
Pick by Light is a well-known technology in manufacturing to simplify the picking of multiple parts for kitting. It is a proven technology, albeit setting it up is still time-consuming. In this post I would like to show you a low-tech alternative that I have seen at the BMW Group Dingolfing plant: Pick by Stencil! You use a pattern, stencil, or jig to have one slot for each part of this particular pick. Another pick simply uses another stencil. Let me show you…