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lean six sigma and Parallel Processing

By on February 27, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

To save Lead time (calendar time) we can, through Lean Six Sigma or Lean engineering the process steps that are currently being completed in series.

Another possibility is to take out some process steps from the series and do them in parallel to other process steps.

This is often called concurrent engineering; the idea being that you can design the different parts of a product at the same time. Unless concurrent or parallel processing is carefully planned and coordinated, it results in chaos.

Two things are required for Parallel processing:

  • The customer (or the business) would value the reduction in lead time
  • Only process steps which are independent of each other can be done in parallel
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Lean and Value Streams.

By on February 23, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

The key to Lead Time & Waste (Lean) is thinking about Value Add form a customer perspective.

  • This leads us to think in terms of categories for all other activity; either it is Value Add or it isn’t.
  • If it isn’t then it is something we have to do to “enable” Value Add (like deal with regulators) or it’s waste.
  • Waste comes in many different forms and the 7 wastes shown here are usually found in all operations.

But there are other forms of waste which we also should be aware of particularly the waste of human potential.

Once we understand the value add we then think in terms of ‘streams’ of value (a type of process mapping) and we think in terms of ‘families’ of products/services that have the same value streams.

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Lean Six Sigma and the Baby Boomers

By on February 23, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

Europe’s population is aging. More and more workers, especially the Baby Boomers, are or will be approaching retirement age in the very near future. When this group of workers begins to leave the labour force, it will place great demands on the existing workforce and on the economy as a whole. Through Lean Six Sigma and Lean Transformation we might be more efficient with less resources. But how will we deal with the lesser knowledge and experience of the Baby Boomers?

Europeans relocating from other parts of the continent or immigration will not address the full shortage of workers in the European economy. In order to successfully meet the challenges of the demographic shift and the high demands of today’s employers, we need to tackle the labour issue from both the supply and demand sides of the equation.

It is important to understand that all companies compete in a global market place and, more often then not, are competing with companies with a greater cost advantage. To ensure European companies are able to sustain themselves, they must look at how they can improve operational efficiencies to maintain their competitive advantage.

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Looking for new types of waste in Lean

By on February 21, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma @de, Uncategorized

As Lean concepts have been developed over the years some other wastes have been added to the original 7 (TIM WOOD).

  • The waste of Untapped Human Potential

This relates to intellectual capacity not just physical labour

 

  • The waste of Inappropriate Control Systems

This relates to minimising complexity (Push ERP/MRP/SAP vs Pull JIT and Kanban)

 

  • Wasted Energy and Water
  • Waste of Customer Time and Defecting Customers
  • Service and Office Wastes

 

  • The waste of Human Capacity

This relates to physical capacity during meetings, decision making

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Translating Customer Needs into Key Process Measures

By on February 6, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma @de, Uncategorized

Listening to the Voice of the Customer.

Do we really know the answer to these questions?

  1. How does the customer view my process?
  2. When it starts for them?
  3. When it is finished?
  4. What is the customer looking for when measuring the performance of my process ?
  5. How well does my process meet the customer’s expectation of what constitutes value ‘in their eyes’?

We must first understand who the Customer actually is.  We should then define how to listen to the Customer when he is expressing his opinions about the quality of our products or services.  There may already be an established process within your business to extract this valuable information on an ongoing basis (Market Research), however, it may also be the case that the business does not capture such information in a coherent and usable format.  This is often the case with internal customers.  Therefore, specific techniques and deeper analysis is required to understand what the customers requirements for the process output actually are.

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Green Belt Training Sessions in Krakow and Warsaw

By on January 23, 2012 in Lean Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma @de, Uncategorized

the next green belts sessions have been booked in March and May for the Polish participants. the green belt weeks can be used at the same time as the 1st week for the future black belt trainees. all sessions will be conducted in the Novotel Conference Centres in Krakow and Warsaw. starting Mondays at noon and ending Fridays’ at noon, after the Green Belt examination. Polish candidates can book for special prices. all material and training is in english. coaching in polish is available. pls look for the details on the site.

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Why does productivity matter?

By on November 15, 2011 in General, Lean Six Sigma, Uncategorized

Productivity growth plays an active role in offsetting inflationary pressure and as well as long tern economic growth. This is achieved through greater resource allocation and human resource efficiency, effectiveness and engagement; increased innovation and technology diffusion and capital investment.

Productivity is an essential component to the success and health of every company in Europe and the overall standard of living.

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