Have you taken a Gemba walk around your facility before? Gemba is a Japanese term meaning “the real place” and is an important tool for any Lean workplace. A Gemba walk is a scheduled walk that company leaders take around the facility to see processes up close and talk with frontline workers. Managers and supervisors can learn a ton from a Gemba walk by personally connecting with the work up close. It fosters communication and …
A strategy often used in Lean is 5S. 5S is an organizational framework that relies on visual management and offers steps to organize spaces, eliminate wastes, and increase efficiency. The methodology of 5S is comprised of the following five steps: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. Putting time and effort to each step will make the facility an easier place to work, an ultimately make the workplace function better. This video comes the …
Kaizen and Lean go hand-in-hand. Lean aims to reduce wastes while improving quality and Kaizen is the strategy of continually making improvements around the workplace. All of these small improvements will add up to more noticeable changes and ultimately affect the bottom line. In this Tedx Talk, Mike Morrill explains how Kaizen has impacted his life. Morrill’s introduction to Lean was through the teachings of Paul Akers, a self-described “Lean maniac.” He was struck by …
Need help organizing the tools in your facility? Vinyl shadow board tape might be your answer! This vinyl is customizable and can be used on work benches, in tool chests, or on a pegboard. Simply cut out the shapes of your tools on the vinyl and apply to the desired surface in an organized and logical manner. The bright color of tape will leave a “shadow” to let workers know what tools are missing or …
The tools, strategies, and philosophy of Lean manufacturing are derived almost entirely from the Toyota Production System. To understand Lean, one must understand the Toyota Production System. TPS is focused on seven (or eight) different wastes commonly found in a manufacturing facility. By reducing or eliminating these wastes, the overall customer value improves. The Toyota Production System uses a number of tools to meet that goal like Kaizen, Heijunka, and Jidoka. This video comes from …
Having a Lean workplace means having a workplace that is more efficient and less wasteful. It’s a system used primarily in the manufacturing industry but is a system that can truly be translated across industries. The principles of Lean come from principles of the Japanese manufacturing industry, most notably those of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Lean is comprised of components like tools and strategies or different types of waste. But at the heart of Lean …
5S is an important organizational strategy commonly used in Lean workplaces. Red tags are an essential yet simple tool in 5S, used during the sorting phase. Red tags allow employees to tag items whose use in the space has yet to be determined. The sorting step recommends purging the workspace of unnecessary materials and tools and the remaining items (those that are not used on a daily basis) will need to be marked with …