Problem Solving

Title	Description
Visual Management	Building on the 5S Module visual management takes candidates through the principles required to make all operations visual allowing the quick detection of anomalies.
Disturbance Management	A system for deploying process control on the shop floor that involves all support functions. Disturbance management focuses support function efforts to immediately solve problems affecting production as they happen
4 Step Jidoka	The concept of detecting and correcting problems and then ensuring that questioning techniques such as the 5 why’s to ensure these problems are eliminated at their root cause to prevent reoccurrence
Small Group Activities	SGA allows employees to work together to solve problems that confront them in their daily duties by using basic tools. This module will provide guidelines and basic information on how an SGA team is formed, uses several tools and methods such as brainstorming, a cause and effect diagram, registration forms, and standardisation to tackle problems on the shop floor and in business processes.
Value Stream Mapping	Value Stream Mapping provides a detail overview of all the process steps in a value stream. By highlighting the process and information flows it provides a vital baseline upon which improvement iniatives can be built

Dieting and Lean, different story same outcome
17/04/2010
Whilst out with friends at dinner the other day the conversation turned to diets. Turned out that at our table of eight people five of them were on one sort of diet or another. As I listened to the conversation it became apparent that most had been on other diets before with varying degrees of initial success but after a while the initial weight was regained, sometimes with an extra kilo or two.

Now I don’t profess to have an expertise in this field although I have always wondered why, if any particular diet works, there are so many others?

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The Lean Toolbox
02/12/2009
This article first appeared in the Quality Digest Magazine. The author makes a very important point about how just having lean tools does not support a lean change.

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You only get what you measure
24/11/2009
If you truly do get what you measure it is interesting to note that many traditional organisations rely on metrics that are focused on operational features like cost of labour, raw materials and production output vs. sales projection or forecasts. Making decisions in the current business climate on such narrowly defined operation factors, see examples in Table 1, could prove disastrous.

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Enabling Excellence