Skip to main content

Posts

Do you find change a bit messy?

When you start out on a new path of change it can often be a little messy. The idea you have in your head doesn't always appear when you try the 'new thing' for the first time. As this is so true of many continuous improvements I thought I would share a few of my thoughts on the matter. When a business identifies improvements in its communication then some form of meeting is usually instigated to improve the said communication issue. I'm a big fan of standardised meetings. These are meetings that are focused on very specific outcomes, are usually as short as they possibly can be, and support the effective routines already defined by the business. Often the first few meetings bring up all kinds of additional issues that the business is facing. This noise can be distracting and it may take a few meetings to get past this confusing stage and into short productive meetings.

What's The Right Forum To Support Improvement?

When you review a high level process map of your business, or perform some kind of root cause analysis on problems you have you may find that you need to have a conversation with another department... about their performance. There is nothing wrong with this. I'm sure that your customers will happily have this conversation with you and your department should the need arise.

Finding The Right CI Question To Ask

Central to Continuous Improvement is the PDCA (Plan - Do - Check - Act) cycle. I talk about this a lot as I believe it is rare for every improvement that we attempt to work perfectly the first time. One part of using this approach effectively is the ability to modify your questions when you aren't getting the answers that you need.

Forklift Truck Kamishibai Board

Kamishibai boards are one of the most popular searched for items on this blog. So, with that in mind, I couldn't leave Kev's kamishibai board out! Kev is a Team Leader at one of my clients and he has taken the idea of the red / green visual management approach to help communicate the state of the TPM of their forklift trucks. The wall above is in a very visible location in the factory grounds so that anyone can see the status. I love it, simple but effective. Kev, I salute you! Giles Johnston ...fixing MRP systems and re-engineering business processes

Continuous Improvement: Find A Friend

No one knows all of the answers. Continuous Improvement can sometimes seem like a lonely place to be when you are making a decision on how to improve a process. That's exactly the time when it's good to 'find a friend'.

SOPs Need To Detail Each Step

One of the key features of an effective SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) is the ability to capture each step along the way. I worked with a great team yesterday and this was one of the things we discussed after attempting to write some SOPs.

Can I Set My Watch By You?

One of my clients said the other week 'it's just about creating some good habits, isn't it?' He was talking about the outcome of the work we were doing together and largely he is right. Businesses are driven by habits, or routines. The ability to spot them, develop them and then do them is critical for effective day to day management.

One Person Is Responsible

I was helping a team last week come up with their action plan to improve part of their MRP system . During the creation of the action plan two names were put into the 'responsible' column. After a bit of negotiation they changed it to read only one person's initials. This is something that I see time and time again, but often seems to cause more confusion than is beneficial for the business.

Just Admit To Your Production Losses

Last night whilst choosing something to watch on TV I caught part of an episode of 'Secret Eaters' on Channel 4. The part that I watched was where the so called secret eaters watched themselves in dismay as the real level of eating was revealed. Each time they saw themselves munching away on something they would provide a running commentary of "no, don't put that in your mouth", or similar. There is a parallel to running a business operation. If things aren't going as well as you hoped then you need to be honest and detail everything that isn't going well. When you do this you can fix your problems and improve your performance a lot more quickly.

Speeding Up Meetings

Meetings take up a lot of time in any business, don't they? Have you ever wondered: a) how much time they actually take up and cost the business? b) what would happen if they could be re-engineered?

The Reality of 'Stuff Happens'

One of the comments I hear time and time again is 'but our business is different'.... If you are making changes in your business then I guess it is likely that you have heard this phrase before when trying to introduce new methods of working. I spend a lot of time helping businesses develop fast and effective ways to plan day to day operations. A little planning can go a long way, but this again is a topic that raises contention with many people.