FITT Facts: Waste #4

Waste #4 - Waiting

Waiting is defined as people waiting for information, material, tools, machines, other people or anything else while a process sits idle.  No value added work is being done.

Waiting is everywhere; it can be found in ANY business that is selling a product or service and it doesn't matter if your company’s model is Business-to-Business or Business-to-Consumer. 

The funny thing about waiting is how much everyone dislikes it, yet so many businesses aren’t actively trying to eliminate it from all their customer’s interactions, internal or external.  Seriously... You don’t like waiting, so why make your customers do it?

Waiting Waste Examples	What to do about it…
An order sitting on a Purchaser’s or Customer Service Rep’s desk waiting for an approval.	Ask why the approval step is there in the first place; usually it’s due to a lack of trust upstream in the process.  Solve the upstream problem.  Define spending/decision levels for teams and individuals (only if the value exceeds X do you need an approval).  Re-prioritize the approvals so they can happen immediately.
Machines sitting idle, waiting for material or supplies to be delivered.	Work with suppliers to deliver product as needed, tied to your production schedule.  Share the production schedule with multiple stakeholders to eliminate the “I didn't know” comment.  Put supplies on kanban so you don’t run out.  Cross train crews so others can jump in should a person be temporarily unavailable.
Customer’s sitting on hold while they get transferred from person to person.	Usually caused by not knowing what others do or are responsible for.  Complete process-level value stream mapping that spans multiple departments; you’ll be surprised with all the “so that’s what you do” comments.  Don’t have an automated phone system.  Fully train your Customer Service Team to be able to handle most customer questions and know exactly where to transfer a call should they not know an answer.
Not being able to start a meeting because everyone is not on time.	Clarify expectations.  Ask yourself if you’re ready for meetings on time consistently and are actually creating the problem (set a good example).  Create a closed-door practice at the time meetings are to start.
Waiting for someone else on the crew/team to finish their job so that you can keep going.	There must be something value-added you could be doing other than standing and waiting.  In production; grab a broom and use it, work on a different order/project or clean something.  In an office; return a missed call, start drafting that e-mail or work on something else.  Ideally you should help the other person and balance the workload so people aren't waiting for other people.

Your ultimate goal should be to discover all the times a process stops due to waiting, get to the root of why the waiting exists, then put countermeasures in place to eliminate the waiting.  Processes must flow.

Be FITT!

Why I Run in the Rain

As I was completing my usual Sunday evening run tonight, I thought to myself, "why am I running in the rain?"  The rain was coming down a lot harder than I can remember, and I can say with complete confidence that I was the wettest I've ever been following a run in the rain. Literally every inch of my running gear was soaked.  Back to the question: Why?

Finishing my run, the answer became more and more clear.  Here's why I run in the rain.

1. I don't want rain to be an excuse. 

Excuses are easy to come by but they all stink. I run in the rain to prove to myself that rain isn't an excuse not to run, instead it's a reason to go running. Yeah it's raining, so what?  Yeah I'm going to get wet, big deal.  If it wasn't raining I'd get wet anyway from sweating. Besides, after the first few minutes you get so wet it doesn't really matter anyway. 

2. Three-and-a-half years ago I made a choice. 

I made the choice that I was going to make running part of my life to get, and stay, in good shape.  The choice was the first part, having the discipline to stick with it is the hard part. However, I'm happy to say that three-and-a-half years later I'm still running and only missed a handful of runs in that time. Remember, nobody's perfect!

3. I can beat the voice. 

We all have that little voice in our heads telling us that it's too hard, too late or I'm too tired. I don't like that voice. I'm not going to say I beat that voice all the time, I have my moments and I think we all do, but when I can find a moment to prove that voice wrong I'm going to take it. 

Your turn!

FITT Facts: Never Give Up!

There is a video (actually a Volkswagen commercial) I use in my FITT training of a little boy, dressed as Darth Vader, who tries to use the Force on a variety of things from the family dog to a sandwich on a plate.  

For the non-Star Wars geeks out there the Force is what allowed the Jedi, using their minds, to move/manipulate objects and alter people's thoughts.  

Back to the commercial…  Despite having many unsuccessful attempts at using the Force the boy does not give up.  The commercial ends with the boy's dad pulling into the driveway in his new VW and then getting brushed off as the boy runs by him to try the Force yet again on the car.  As the boy is standing in front of the car, hands outstretched at the car and sheer determination in his focus, the engine erupts to life and the boy is shocked.  It worked!! 

I’ll never know if the dad ever tells his son it was the remote car starter and not the Force that started the car, but the lessons from the commercial and its ties to Lean are evident.

Never give up
No matter how many times that little boy tried and failed to use the Force he didn't stop trying.  One of the fundamental visions of Lean is to strive for perfection.  However, you and I both know that perfection doesn't exist and is in the eye of the beholder, but that shouldn't stop you from trying to get there.  Even if you achieve a fractional improvement, it’s still improvement.  Even if you fail, at least you learned what not to do.  Failure is only a result and one step closer to success.

Lend a helping hand
Two times in the commercial the little boy is helped out by people around him; once by his mom who pushes over the plated sandwich, and in the end by his dad.  When you see someone around you working towards a goal or struggling with a project help them however you can.  Don’t ask, just help.  If someone doesn't want your help let them tell you so.

Choice and Discipline

First you have to make the choice to do something, no one else can make that choice for you.  Second, if you’re going to be successful, you have to find the discipline to stay the course no matter what obstacle gets in your way.  The boy had made the choice to use the Force and wasn't stopping for anyone or anything until he got it.  Lean/FITT is the same, the only way anyone will get good at it is to continually practice the skills and apply the knowledge not only through successes but also through missed targets for improvement, poor or no attendance at training, failure on projects or any other hurdle that gets in your way.  Leap the hurdles and keep going.

Check out the Volkswagen commercial here: Volkswagen Darth Vader Kid

Be FITT!

FITT Facts: Waste #3

Waste #3 is... Motion!

Wasted motion is defined as any movement of people or machines that does not add value to the product or process.

Motion Waste Examples	What to do about it…
Moving your chair and/or reaching across your desk to answer the phone.	Especially if answering the phone is a large part of your workday, it’s time to find a new home on your desk for the phone.
Bending down to get a tool out of a toolbox so you can setup or work on a machine.	Canvass stakeholders for input and create a tool board to hold all tools used in each area, then create multiple tool boards.
Turning around to get supplies/inventory to work on a process or production line.	See previous solution.  All supplies should be kept at point of use, which may require two storage locations (one at point of use and another central store).
Making a movement twice when one should be enough.  Also, forgetting to get something and reaching twice.	Visual SOPs to remind you of tools needed.  Avoid doors on cabinets that prevent you from seeing what’s available/needed; something may be behind the door you didn’t open and opening a door/cupboard is wasted motion.
Using your mobile device while driving…	Besides the legal issues, you should really think about using hands-free technology.  But my car doesn’t have Bluetooth…  Then invest in a Bluetooth device for your vehicle!
Any bending, reaching, turning, etc…	The ultimate goal for eliminating wasted motion is to have all items/tools that are used on a regular basis be within arm reach and in front of you.

Be FITT!

FITT Facts: Waste #2

Waste #2: Inventory.

Inventory refers to the unnecessary storage of materials (raw or finished goods), supplies, products, information, data, etc.

Although some inventory (a.k.a. buffer inventory) can be deemed necessary due to supplier lead times, sourcing challenges, cost or delivery constraints, the goal should be to minimize or eliminate inventory.  Inventory is a cash flow killer that ties up money in stuff that just sits and doesn’t create any value.

Remember: if you ever find yourself justifying a waste with “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” then you probably have an opportunity for savings and improvement.

Inventory Waste Examples	What to do about it…
Keeping many years of order history, physically or electronically, when the data is never/rarely looked at or used.	Why do you keep it in the first place?  Only keep history of changes and the previous two orders.
Buying “extra” office supplies because you ran out once.	You need an inventory replenishment system with min/max/restock quantities, trigger levels, and process owners.  Kanban can be a simple system that doesn't require an ERP or fancy software to implement.
Producing/storing too much raw/finished product for a customer because they will “eventually use it” and you “won’t have to purchase/run it as often.”	Work with suppliers to determine ideal/minimum order quantities and lead times that maximize cost and value.  Work with customers to get consumption forecasts.  Improve setup times so that many shorter runs is more cost effective.
“It’s cheaper if I buy 10,000 rather than 1,000.”	Sure, the per unit cost may be less, but what if the product becomes obsolete?  What else could you do with the space needed to store so much?  Find the sweet spot  between cost, storage space, customer demand and lead time.
Leaving all your e-mails in your inbox.  Also applies to files in folders on your computer/network.	Create files and sub-folders to organize your e-mails.  Really ask yourself why you’re keeping all those e-mails in the first place.  Think of the time spent scrolling through your inbox/folders to find that one e-mail/file.  Keep it clean and current.

Be FITT!

The Launch of FITT Facts

At Ideon, we've been on our Lean journey at since 2010, in which time we've cut amazing amounts of waste out of our processes across the entire company. Right from the beginning we wanted to make Lean our own, something that we could all rally around and take pride in. To achieve our unique Lean identity we had a company-wide naming contest from which came the winning name FITT, which stands for Finding Innovation Through Teamwork.

Part of our continued FITT journey involves me, a Certified Lean Blackbelt, delivering training to our Team Members on many Lean tools and topics such as 5S, set up reduction and an introduction to Lean with my FITT 101 course.

I was ing FITT 101 to a group of Ideon employees the other day when I was inspired to start sending out e-mail teachings on a weekly basis to keep the ideas, topics and learnings from my Lean training at top of mind; and with that, FITT Facts was born.

FITT Facts will be a resource to help teach about Lean through Ideon's and my own wins from completed projects, information and examples of lean, and even the history of lean. To help launch FITT Facts I will be touching on each of the forms of waste in no particular order. The forms of waste are at the foundation of lean; all lean activities/kaizen are ultimately meant to reduce or eliminate these forms of waste.

Waste #1: Transportation. Transportation waste is defined as the unnecessary movement of people, products, material, information, supplies, etc..

Here are some transportation waste examples and ways to reduce/eliminate them:

1. Pushing anything on carts or dollies over long distances. Instead, receive/store at point of use/occurrence. Also, aim to do packing or boxing immediately at the end of a production line.
2. Inefficient route planning (sales and drivers). Take a few minutes and plan your route and/or group all close destinations together.
3. Printing a report and walking it around an office. First off, do you even need the report? Find out who needs the report and what specifically is needed, maybe you can cut down some of the report processing time. Next, e-mail or electronically share the report using cloud technology instead of walking it around.
4. Using forklifts to move materials. Some easy solutions to this are changing the area layout to reduce driving distances and/or create circular paths. Ultimately though, AGV's (Automated Guided Vehicles) are ideal but can be cost prohibitive for small and medium size businesses.
5. Walking to get a common-use tool, supply or item. It's time to create a new home for the thing you're walking to get, sometimes and ideally this can mean getting multiples of the same tool. If multiple homes is not an option then find a central home for all people to access it. A detailed example of this waste is to place a printer centrally in an office rather than in the far corner.

Some of this stuff sounds simple and obvious, but you would be surprised how often people continue to do something a certain way because it's THE WAY WE'VE ALWAYS DONE IT and have never stopped to ask WHY?

Stay tuned for more FITT Facts. There are many Lean professionals out there, I'd love to hear their comments and ideas on these topics.

Be FITT!

Thank you Lena (aka Lean-a), James and Colin for the inspiration.

What is Your Running?

I run.  I like to run.  Running is my time to reflect, to think about the day and to all around focus myself.  It's the time of the day when it's just me, my thoughts, my focus and my drive to push a little more.  Tonight while I was running I had a realization that I'm getting faster and my endurance is improving (in actuality, I track all my runs with NikePlus).  One thing I should mention is that I'm not running as part of a training program to eventually run a marathon, 10km run or even a 5km run...  I'm just running to get better.  I don't tell you this to boast, because there are a lot of people out there who run faster than I do and have better endurance.  I'm writing this because my big thought when running tonight was a hope that everyone else is pushing themselves too.  Are you?

We all have running.  However for you, your running may be your profession, being a great parent, some other sport, a hobby, playing video games or any other activity.  But for me, it's running.  Here's the thing...  No matter what your running is, you need to be pushing yourself to improve.  Don't just settle with the results you're getting today, get better.  Be progress!

Even 1% improvement each time you do your thing will eventually get you to 100% improvement.

When I'm running or focusing on any other facet of my life where improvement is a focus, which by the way is everywhere, here are my personal reminders and mental "shots" that keep me focused.

When you feel like quitting, think about why you started.

We don't grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.

Success is Choice and Discipline.  Discipline is doing what needs to be done even though you don't want to.

If not now, when?

Now go out there and be the progress you want to be.

Mike