Happy 2012 Lean Journey

The gift wrapping season is almost concluded. Let's start a Lean list for the 2012, as the economy is still in fluctuation. 
Here a reminder of the 8 Type of Waste:

• Unnecessary Inventory - Let's not store what we do not need!
• Overproduction - Let's not make more .. just in case. Most of the time it will end-up in the garbage.
• Waiting - Let's try to find something else to do while we are waiting to something to be done by someone else of by a "machine".
• Transportation - Let's move things just once, from the store bag, for example, to the "final destination". Many time we travel around the house with things to put away and they get located in multiple spots before they get where they are supposed to go. Everything has a place and a place for everything
• Inappropriate Processing - ... just do not do it!
• Unnecessary Motion - This relates to movement of people, while transportation refers to movement of objects. 
• Defects - Let's try to do thing once and do it right! Many times we do things just to do them with the expectation to come back and "fix" them. This rarely happens and it reduces the final quality of what you are trying to do.
• Under-Utilized Human Talent - This waste is not usually described in many Lean Text, but I think is a VERY important one. Let's try, in this new year, not to waste our talent! For me, this is the most precious gift we have, we worked hard to develop it and it will be a big waste if we let it go or forget about.

Have a Wonderful 2012!

Verizon's Convenience Fee

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUS29783492220111229?irpc=932


Here another of these changes ... for the "Customer convenience" as Verizon put it. Sometime I think that service companies do not really realize that we, the customer, the client, are smarter than they think. 
We do understand that, in this very difficult and critical financial situation, companies need to find a way to save or increase their revenue ... but we are all in the same boat.
And after a day of rage from us, here Verizon abandons their fee!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/business/media/verizon-wireless-abandons-2-fee-after-consumer-outcry.html


Dear Verizon, did you really have to do that? Do you have a Lean expert in house who can figure things out for you? Try to reduce the waste ... which I am sure you have in tons,.... by maintaining the same service to your customers? If you do not have anyone, you should seriously think about hiring one. That is the new direction anyone should go, I think, if interested in surviving and living with this "new" economy!

Toast Kaizen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N89JJ991pE


I bought the longer version of this video for work and I have shown it to my husband first.
We both loved it, as the entire office :-).
By simplifying the sometime complicated definition of "waste" into a simple toast making process, you can really and quickly get the meaning of Kaizen and Value Stream Mapping.
What do you think?

Best Wishes!

Best wishes for a happy, prosperous and lean 2012 :-)

Lean NICK

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1105782


Just because we are under the Holidays, I came across this very "interesting" article on how to make Santa more "lean" without becoming mean.
Nothing too complicated or too technical, just suggestions on how to streamline his work. 

Flying is NOT Lean

A couple of weeks ago I went to Washington DC for a business trip. While on the plane I was thinking on how UN-LEAN was the all experience. Let's start:
1- When traveling internationally, we have to weigh the bag, check that it is not more than 20 kilos or so, and if it is we should think about adding another bag, which is NOT free, and it costs $50.00. If, for some reason, we get to the airport with a luggage that weighs even 1 Kilos more than what is allowed, then we need to pay $100.00 for the additional weight!!!
What does the customer (the traveler) want? Just pack the needed bags and fly!
When I was in Italy, this past summer, I had to ask to borrow a scale from my cousin, and I had to weigh all my 4 bags, I had to shift things around and finally I had to add one more bag. I "wasted" one entire day of my vacation to accommodate the airline's needs. This is NOT Lean!
2- During Thanksgiving we had Timber (my stepson) visiting from Colorado. Sometimes he flies with United who charges more for each checked bag; other times he uses other carriers that do not charge any fee. But, when you try to reserve a trip via Orbitz or Travelocity, the engine searches for the least expensive trip ... but are they considering the luggage fee? NO. So a customer might end-up spending more even if the flight itself is less expensive.
3- And finally, how frustrating is when you pay your travel luggage fee and then you see people trying to bring to the plane large bags and the hostess tells them that "there is no more space in the cabin" and they get offered FREE bag check-in!

I do understand that the airlines need to reduce costs, but pushing the burden on  the customer is NOT the right decision. I am sure that, again, if they start looking at the process in its entirety, they would realize that waste could be reduced in other ways.
Airlines .. get into some KAIZEN events!

"Happier" by Tal Ben-Shahar

I highly recommend everyone to read this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Happier-Learn-Secrets-Lasting-Fulfillment/dp/0071492399

It focuses on "how to reach" happiness on your job, at work, in your private life and in almost everything you do.

In some way it relates to Lean, I think, because it asks us to focus on what we perceive our purpose "in accordance with our own values and passions". Ben-Shahar recalls Michel de Montaigne "The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to live with purpose".

To me, this means that we should focus on what brings happiness in life and eliminate the "waste" of what is superfluous, what happens to be in the middle of everything and that does not bring value to what we are trying to accomplish.

Thanks Antonio for suggesting me to read it.

LOVE this quote

This is one of the best Lean Quotes I have found:

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. by Peter F. Drucker
How many times are we trying to make our current processes more "efficient" by, for example, introducing a new software? 

We should STOP! Evaluate the process itself (Value Stream Mapping), highlight where the "waste" is and eliminate it. New processes might raise, form this exercise that will make our original process more efficient by simply reducing waste.

What do I mean for "Lean"!

Yes, for those who know me I am "lean" ... but, in this context this is what I mean for Lean:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_manufacturing
Lean is now becoming a way of "living" for me, I am trying to reduce the waste in everything I do and trying to focus on what is really important, what brings value to the "end-user".