Month: February 2016

To Be An Engineer

by

Pat Gilbert, of tustinwoodworks.com, sent us this story.

You don’t have to be an engineer to appreciate this true story.

A toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors. Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem. The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP(Request For Proposal), and third-parties selected. Six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution – on time, on budget, and high quality. Everyone in the project was pleased.

They solved the problem by using a high-tech precision scale that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop, someone would walk over, remove the defective box, and then press another button to re-start the line. As a result of the new package monitoring process, no empty boxes were being shipped out of the factory.

With no more customer complaints, the CEO felt the $8 million was well spent. He then reviewed the line statistics report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale in the first week was consistent with projections, however, the next three weeks were zero! The estimated rate should have been at least a dozen boxes a day. He had the engineers check the equipment, they verified the report as accurate.

Puzzled, the CEO travelled down to the factory, viewed the part of the line where the precision scale was installed, and observed just ahead of the new $8 million dollar solution sat a $20 desk fan blowing the empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. He asked the line supervisor what that was about.

“Oh, that,” the supervisor replied, “Bert, the kid from maintenance, put it there because he was tired of walking over, removing the box and re-starting the line every time the bell rang.”

Pen or Pencil in Space?

by

After hearing the Toothpaste Box Lean Story, Wilson Lam shared this story, which is even better at making the point (and more lean!). I also shared this at our Morning Meeting.

“Country A Space Center employed famous consultant and used millions of dollars to modify the ball pen so that the ink inside the pen could overcome the low gravity and the astronaut could write in the space ship and space capsule. Country B spent zero dollar in the same project as their astronaut used a pencil to write in the space.”

The American Innovator – Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 – Emergency Reporting

by

Paul Akers, of The American Innovator show, shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week's presentation is by Dave Adams of Emergency Reporting. For more information on Emergency Reporting, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

For more information on The American Innovator, visit our website or Facebook.

For more information on lean, go to 2 Second Lean or Facebook.

For more information on FastCap, visit our website or Facebook.

To sign up to receive news regarding The American Innovator show, go to this link.

Toothpaste Box Lean

by

I was recently told this story and shared it at our Morning meeting.

How a lean thinker thinks: A toothpaste factory had a problem. Due to the way the production line was set up, sometimes empty boxes were shipped without the tube inside. People with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming off of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which cannot be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean quality assurance checks must be smartly distributed across the production line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket won’t get frustrated and purchase another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory gathered the top people in the company together. Since their own engineering department was already stretched too thin, they decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP (request for proposal), third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later a fantastic solution was delivered — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time. The problem was solved by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box would weigh less than it should. The line would stop, and someone had to walk over and yank the defective box off the line, then press another button to re-start the line.

A short time later, the CEO decided to have a look at the ROI (return on investment) of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. There were very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That was some money well spent!” he said, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

The number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. How could that be? It should have been picking up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He filed a bug against it, and after some investigation, the engineers indicated the statistics were indeed correct. The scales were NOT picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Perplexed, the CEO traveled down to the factory and walked up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed. A few feet before the scale, a $20 desk fan was blowing any empty boxes off the belt and into a bin. Puzzled, the CEO turned to one of the workers who stated, “Oh, that…One of the guys put it there ’cause he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang!”

$8 million vs $20. Lean thinkers use their wits…not their wallets.

The American Innovator – Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 – Vantec

by

Paul Akers, of The American Innovator show, shares another presentation from Global Lean Leadership Summit 2015 that took place in August in NW Washington State. This week's presentation is by Sherri Hotzler of Vantec. For more information on Vantec, visit their website.

A big thanks to George Trachilis, of Lean Leadership Institute, for filming/editing/publishing these videos!!! For more information on the Lean Leadership Institute, visit their website.

For more information on The American Innovator, visit our website or Facebook.

For more information on lean, go to 2 Second Lean or Facebook.

For more information on FastCap, visit our website or Facebook.

To sign up to receive news regarding The American Innovator show, go to this link.