Page 70 - Lean six sigma demystified

Chapter 2 Lean Demy S tifie D 49

Purchasing departments, for example, try to minimize the cost of goods pur-
chased. They ask for three bids and wait for the best price, never considering
the high cost of this process. Purchasing is often rewarded for saving money, but
not penalized for delayed or defective production.

Become the Product or Service

Most people find this hard to believe, but when you take the perspective of the
product or service and notice how long you sit around waiting for something
to happen, how many things go wrong and have to be reworked, you get some
idea of the waste in the process. All of this delay and rework can be eliminated
using Lean Six Sigma.
Whenever I go in to work with a group on Lean, I start wherever the product
starts and follow it around. I ask dumb questions about why things are done
this way. The usual answer is that it’s always been done this way. Then I’ll ask,
what if we move this machine over there so that the product or employee
doesn’t have to travel so far? Often the team will say it can be done. Then I ask
Can we do it now?
This is the essence of Lean. The moment you notice one of the seven speed
bumps, ask yourself Can I change this now? If so, just move the machine, tool,
or material. Most people are surprised when Japanese counselors come into a
plant and they just start moving machines into production cells. Don’t study it
to death; get on with making things better.

Double Your Speed!

How long does it take to build a three-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage
house with all of the plumbing, fixtures, paint, carpet, and landscaped yard? If
you’re like most people, you’d guess a few days to a few weeks.
There is an annual contest to build a house as fast as possible. Last year’s
record was 2 hours and 48 minutes. They do it by taking all of the idle time out
of the process, combining steps, and getting all of the construction steps in the
right order.
When it comes to Lean, there are a few main principles for innovative solu-
tion development.

• Pull versus push. Let the customer pull the product or service; don’t push.
• No delay versus delay. Eliminate delays.