Lean Tools

Task Standard Work

Sunday, January 24, 2010
By Vivek Naik
Task Standard Work

This is a simple tool that we used initially for the purpose of documenting sustaining the processes we had setup. It can also be used for aligning   processes to the top level strategy of the company. Most organizations will have following basic processes: Operations Supply Management Customer Relation Product Development These are any processes which have to be done routinely to... »

Lean Management – Driving force of Lean Transformation

Sunday, November 15, 2009
By Vivek Naik

How many times have you sucessfully implemented change using lean tools only to realize, after few weeks or months, that the manager and other people  have either reverted back to the old methods or have found ways to circumvent the newly established methods. We learned the hard way that lean transformation cannot be supported and... »

Leader Standard work – A bite a day keeps audit away!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
By Vivek Naik

I was reading “Audit Vs. leader Standard Work” by Mark Rosenthal and I suddenly realized what potential we have created at our work place. Over the course of the year we have grown very fond of the audits. Especially for 5S and we are developing audits  for maintaining other lean management systems put in place.... »

5S- The Foundation of Lean Manufacturing

Sunday, October 25, 2009
By Vivek Naik

5S is often misunderstood as just a mere housekeeping tool. Impact of having a successful 5S system is more profound than just keeping the place clean. 5S is the starting point of any lean transformation and forms a catalyst for culture of change. Due to the very visible results it makes the process of buy-in... »

Realigning

Sunday, May 17, 2009
By Vivek Naik

As we organize our shop floor and start identifying issues that interrupt the flow of products, we will need to be very organized to efficiently solve them. As I had mentioned in my previous post Scientific Thinking is very much required. But now what is a more significant issue ,which... »

The First Wave of Change

Sunday, May 17, 2009
By Vivek Naik

It has been very beneficial to organize the plant using 5S. The basic goal of this program was to achieve stability and standardization. We used tools like 5S and Standard Work and educated ourselves as how they form the foundation for any Improvement in the future. The System that was setup, not... »

Leader Standard Work

Thursday, May 7, 2009
By Vivek Naik
Leader Standard Work

After almost a year after writing the job descriptions we realised it was not sufficient to manage process as our shop floor evolved with lean implementation. It just did not provide the information of what needs to be done and when on day to day basis. Effectiveness at a particular job was more dependant... »

Visual controls vs. Computerized data collection

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
By Vivek Naik

Visual controls are one of the most effective tools of lean managment. They are simple to use and when properly designed and used will provide real time information About the process. Computerized data collection on other hand may not necessarily be real time. Someone has to enter the data and then it has to be... »

Starting to roll the wheel of Change

Sunday, July 13, 2008
By Vivek Naik

The recent recession paranoia followed by some of the highest price increases of raw materials served as the burning platform, accelerating the process of change Identifying your highest cost center and selecting the projects which aligned to reducing those have greatly proved to show how we can reduce our cost and... »

The Best Tool – Q&A

Tuesday, May 20, 2008
By Vivek Naik

Few days ago I had question posted on Linkedin asking : Which is the most effective lean tool you have ever used and why? One of my reason to ask this question was help me decide which tools would be the best and effective to use in lean transformation. I was searching for something simple yet... »

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