The heart and soul of visual management is 5S. It is systematic approach to workplace organization and cleaning that will transform a disorganized workplace into an efficiently running machine. 5S creates a strong foundation that allows businesses to employ additional Lean manufacturing tools such as kaizen. When the work environment is orderly, people can more easily identify opportunities for improvement. The five phases of the 5S methodology…
Kaizen is a Japanese term that literally means improvement – improvement in your personal life and your working life. When a company adopts the kaizen model, it strives to improve its processes in small but meaningful ways, ultimately changing for the better. Kaizen is not just a one-time improvement, but rather a commitment to excellence by constantly testing and improving the workflow, day in and day out.…
The word gemba is a Japanese term that is used as part of many industries manufacturing strategies. The term means ‘The Real Place.’ The concept behind a gemba strategy is that supervisors, manager, and others who may be in charge of different areas need to be spending time in ‘the real place’ where the work gets done. In a manufacturing facility, for example, a supervisor following gemba techniques will…
As a management philosophy, lean manufacturing is all about continuous elimination and reduction of waste in the production and business processes. Small, incremental improvements constantly take place in an organization so that it helps lower costs, increase productivity and maintain top quality products. All these things could be achieved along with profits, and at the same time, put waste to a minimum. For the most part, lean…
In any organization, there will always be problems and issues. It’s a part of the overall process of doing work, and so are the responses put in place to address them. This is why many popular improvement methods and systems abound because they are available for any organization that might need them. One of the favored process improvement methods is Six Sigma, a set of procedures developed…
The need for continuing improvement in the workplace grew over the years with new methods and systems introduced by organizational experts. One hugely appreciated initiative is the “visual workplace”, which is used as both guide and key performance measurement in many companies, businesses and industries. The idea behind a visual workplace is that it helps boost performance and achieve optimum output. On the other hand, its implementation…
The Kanban board has been used extensively in many Japanese businesses for many decades. Tracing back its history, it was practiced by Toyota in the late 1940s to improve their manufacturing and engineering activities. Actual cards were used by the employees to communicate with the group or workers who come next in line. A Kanban card tells the employees involved in the next step of a process…
A workplace culture is the core of any organization, and it can spell success or failure. The character of any business and the personality of any company is its culture. It’s also what makes it unique. Suffice it to say that the total values, behaviors and interactions, the traditions and beliefs of an organization make up its culture. When an organization has positivity, that personality can help…
The Future of Lean Six Sigma Professionals Lean Six Sigma is the combined art and science of eliminating waste and variability in the production process. It’s a school of thought that involves years and years of practice, research, and learning to perfect. Even then, it’s more about the pursuit of perfection than ever actually reaching perfection itself – hey, there’s a reason it’s called ‘continuous improvement’, right?…
Kaizen, commonly referred to as “continuous improvement,” proves very helpful in many workplaces. Businesses and organizations create cultures where employees constantly look for small changes they can make to improve the way the facility operates. Over time, these small improvements can lead to significant improvements in efficiency overall. We always enjoy hearing about unique ways kaizen ideas have been used both in and outside the workplace. This…