In search of world-class performance
World-class, or best-in-class, are terms that organizations like to use to either describe themselves or to use as a benchmark comparison. These terms are often used as some kind of blanket description.
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Too bright to see opportunity
It takes quite a lot of humility to find opportunity and sometimes being smart simply makes it that much harder.
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Don’t draw your findings from your conclusions
In the last Opportunity we discussed the value of being a contrarian, so it seems only appropriate that now we’ll explore the problem with it. The good side of being a contrarian
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The unlikable tendencies of a consultant
Contrarians have an innate desire to be skeptical, take opposing viewpoints, and want to do things differently. Although it can be slightly irritating for others in a social setting, it’s very helpful when you are looking for opportunities in a business.
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The good and the bad of overtime
Whenever we see overtime over 5% an analytical red flag goes up and we start to suspect that there may be too much cost built into the process. Many organizations use overtime to offset peak volume periods.
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The real value of “5S”
5S is a Japanese workplace organization methodology that is typically part of most “lean” programs. There are a few variations of how to translate the original five Japanese words.
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A solution in search of a problem
A consultant spent three hours watching a production line trying to find opportunity. It was a simple quality inspection area where the product flowed in a continuous stream past a number of trained inspectors.
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Managers don’t provide a “backup” assignment
In many operations, back up assignments can be a useful means to even out daily workflow. By providing a “ready backlog” of work that can be pulled if the main task is delayed for whatever reason, a manager can help optimize the productivity of an area.
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Managers assign work unevenly
Uneven work assignment is a management problem, not a worker problem. Management’s job is to try to elevate the overall group productivity.
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Managers assign work without time parameters
We were working for a large software development company. One of the big operating concerns was the timely coordination of coding and testing. Being off-schedule can cause a serious breakdown in the
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