Wenn es darum geht, ein System zu verbessern, wählen westliche Ingenieure gerne den technischen Ansatz und optimieren die Maschinen und Werkzeuge. Bei Toyota wird dies jedoch anders gesehen. Bei Toyota versucht man, ein Problem anzugehen, indem man zuerst die Mitarbeiter schult, dann die Standards und das Layout verbessert, bevor man die Ausrüstung verbessert und schließlich an der Konstruktion herumschraubt. Schauen wir uns einmal genauer an, wie Toyota an Verbesserungen herangeht
Problem Solving
(EN) Cardboard Engineering – Alternatives
Cardboard Engineering is a quick way to try out different configurations in reality. As the name says, this is done using cardboard. However, there are a few alternatives. Let me show you a portfolio of different ways to make cardboard models with (not only) cardboard, from ultra-cheap to very fancy. Please note that the fancier methods are usually not so well suited for layout optimization, but more for workstation optimization.
(EN) Cardboard Engineering – Workshop
In my last post I talked about what you need for Cardboard Engineering. In this post I will show you how to do a Cardboard Engineering workshop. Spoiler: Keep in mind that the goal is not to just put something together but to try out different options (and I will repeat this a few times in this post). It is very easy to have fun with cardboard while learning very little about the problem you want to investigate!
(EN) Cardboard Engineering – Preparation
Cardboard Engineering (CBE, sometimes also Cardboard Modeling) is in general the building of models from cardboard. These models are usually quick and inexpensive to build, but often not very durable. In lean manufacturing, these cardboard models are often workstations or entire assembly lines to test different concepts before building the whole thing in more expensive and time-consuming aluminum and steel. This allows faster and easier experimentation with different concepts to improve your production system.
(EN) Example of Problem Solving – Japanese Men’s Relay Team Rio 2016
Good problem solving can seriously help you with the performance in your plant. John Shook recently pointed out another nice example to me: the Japanese Men’s 4x100m relay team during the 2016 Olympics in Rio. They were the underdogs, with none of their team having ever run 100m in under 10 seconds. Yet they stunningly won the silver medal! They achieved this through good problem solving. Let me show you the details:
Alles über 5 Why
Wenn Sie sich mit Lean beschäftigen, werden Sie häufig auf Leute treffen, die Ihnen sagen, dass Sie „5 Why“ machen sollen. Die Methode klingt einfach: fünfmal „Warum?“ fragen, um die Kernursache eines Problems zu finden. Allerdings hat diese Methode eine überraschende Tiefe und auch einige Fallstricke. Lassen Sie mich das näher erläutern:
(EN) My Workshop Structure for Creative Problem Solving
In lean manufacturing – or in fact, in any kind of production system – you have to solve problems. Depending on the problem, you may need a creative solution and have to access the wisdom of the crowd. For this I have a workshop structure that I frequently use for problems that have lots of different options. Let me show you my workshop structure with which I’ve had quite good results.
(EN) How to Do Brainstorming
A lot of lean is about problem solving, and most of these problems are complex and difficult. Otherwise, someone would have solved them already. Hence, I would like to introduce you to different creativity techniques for problem solving. Most of them can be used in groups to access the collective wisdom and creativity. Most of them are also suitable to develop a number of alternative solutions, of which you can pick the best ones (see my previous post on Japanese Multidimensional Problem Solving). Many of them can be combined in sequence. Let me start with the most common one, brainstorming: