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.
Productivity
The opportunity that hides in plain sight
Cyril Parkinson wrote a humorous essay for The Economist magazine, in part drawing from his experience working in the British Civil Service. He observed that work tends to fill the time available for its completion.
When being more productive doesn’t make you more productive
There are a number of functions in an organization where it's tough to move the productivity meter. You might actually produce more but the base costs don't change so the true productivity measured from a financial perspective doesn't change.
How to Determine When to Use Push or Pull Production Scheduling
To fulfill customer demand in the most efficient, cost-effective way, companies can use push- or pull-scheduling or something in between. Which one works best? That depends on the characteristics of your product and market.
Out of Alignment: How Organizational Alignment Issues are Hurting Your Productivity
At a consumer goods packaging plant employees gathered every morning and waited for the Production Manager’s ...
How many managers does an organization need?
Sometimes we do a study that we call the "Span of Control" analysis, where we look at how many subordinates report directly to each manager in an organization. It's a more difficult study than it sounds, because the way organizational charts are drawn is not always how they really are.
The difficulty and importance of managing “shoulder periods”
Many industries experience "shoulder periods." These are the time periods leading up to and away from the peak volumes. Figuring out how to manage these periods can be a difficult task for managers, but it’s also very important for realizing performance improvement gains.
The red flags of management system changes
Management system changes often entail tightening up the planning standards that are used to schedule the operations, and then providing managers with tools to control, monitor and report on attainment to the plan.
The red flags of process changes
Implementing change requires re-configuring processes - and modifying the management systems and behaviors that need to accompany them. But as anyone who has ever tried to instill change knows, maintaining those gains can be very difficult
They myth of working smarter, not harder
It’s not easy for any operation to go through a performance improvement change. Consultants love to say that people should: “Work smarter, not harder,” but that can be a false dichotomy.
The insidious nature of complexity
You simply can't be great at everything. There are not enough hours in the day, and companies would come to a grinding halt if they managed entirely by this edict.
How operating problems are hidden
We spend countless hours in many different industry sectors observing and analyzing how work gets processed. We watch employees, managers and the tools they use in order to determine how much of their day is truly productive.