Lean Six Sigma Academy

Right, so as long time LSS Academy readers know I am a huge Ohio State University football fan.  I grew up in Ohio and was watching the Buckeyes play football before I even knew what football was.

Well, as my American friends probably know my beloved Bucks lost to Penn State Saturday night.  It was a close game and one mistake, a fumble, by our true freshman QB Terrelle Pryor may have cost us the game.

Devastated

After the game Pryor was obviously devastated.  He’s always saying the right things but honestly, in the past, I wasn’t quite sure how authentic his words were.  But after watching this interview it’s finally clear to me that this young man takes responsibility for his actions.  When asked if he felt he lost the game he replied with a resounding yes.

Part of me wonders if being this hard on yourself is healthy.  After all, the defense could have played better, our special teams (Maurice Wells absolutely KILLS me) could have played better, and our offensive line definitely could have played better.

Personally Accountable

But Pryor didn’t mention any of this.  He explained how he personally let the seniors down and how the loss was on him.  In a world full of people like Pac Man Jones and other selfish - it’s never my fault - athletes it’s refreshing to see a young person take personal accountability for their actions.

Do you agree or do you think Pryor’s attitude is self defeating?  Would your answer change if the situation was not sports based?  Again, here is the video if you want to watch it.

Go Bucks, beat Michigan!

Sunil, a reader of LSS Academy, recently asked me several value stream mapping questions via email.

I have been to your site and was quite impressed by your e-book on Lean Manufacturing. I need your guidance related to VSM as per below. I will be grateful for your help.

• Q1: How do we calculate the waiting/processing time for the inventory which is build between two workstations? Does it depend on the cycle time of the process before it is build or does it depend on the customer demand per day or exit rate per day or takt rate?

Generally speaking, the standard way to calculate the days of supply for a certain amount of inventory is by dividing the number of pieces on hand by the average daily demand for the product.

So, for example, if a given product had a daily demand of 100 units and we counted 50 pieces of inventory between process A and process B, we would have 0.5 days of supply between those two process steps.

• Q2: If a particular workstation has 90 minutes of tool change time which happens once in a shift, how do we account for this in the process lead time?

This is an interesting question. If we consider tool change time as non value added we could simply include it on the VSM timeline as non value added time similar to the way we note days of supply.

Another technique, and something Jon Miller and I recently discussed, could be to include this changeover time in our takt time calculation. In other words, we would deduct this change over time from the net available time which would then adjust the overall takt time accordingly.

With this said, one thing is for sure, no matter how we “account” for this changeover time we’ll definitely want to attack this 90 minutes of non value adding changeover time with a strong dose of SMED.

• Q3: If a particular workstation has 200 minutes of tool change time which happens once in a 7 days, how do we account for this in the process lead time.

Again, as stated above you could add this to the VSM timeline although it’s trickier since you don’t deal with it everyday. You could “level load” the time over the week or have different lead times depending on the day.

One of the things I’m interested in is whether or not this long changeover only happens once a week since the organization likes to set things up and run long batches since the changeover takes so long.

If this is the case you’ll want to attack this changeover time in such a way that it no longer takes so long. And when this happens you may be able to level out your production using the concept of heijunka.

I am definitely speculating a bit and would need to know more details in order to really help.

In the end, dealing with things like calculating production lead-time and days of supply is not as important as dealing with things like long changeovers, poor scheduling, and waste in general.

What do you think?

Would you offer Sunil any other advice?  If so, please share it in the comments section below.

This post is my contribution to Blog Action Day, joining thousands of other bloggers to write about one topic for a single day. This year’s topic is poverty. Finally, this post is deeply personal and not related to lean or six sigma in any way.

I’ll never forget the day I broke my Mom’s heart. It was the morning of my 7th birthday.

My parents separated when I was only a few years old and my 3 siblings and I lived with my Mom throughout the school year and spent the summers with my Dad in Canada.

My Mom, who I love more than any woman on earth – short of my wife – worked at the phone company and didn’t make much money. In fact, it’s safe to say we were poor.

But back to the morning of my birthday.

I Want to Be a Cowboy!

As a young boy I loved watching Roy Rogers on Saturday mornings and wanted to be a cowboy more than anything. I dreamed of one day riding my horse through the prairies battling the bad guys day and night.

There was just one problem. I didn’t have a cowboy hat.

So, being the young problem solver that I was, I asked for one. It was the only birthday present I asked for and I was sure I was going to get it.

The morning of my birthday had finally come and I remember bursting from my bed and running to find my Mom. As I came around the corner I saw her carrying a large bag.

A Big Problem

I’ll never forget the huge smile my Mom had on her face as she handed me the bag. I tore the bag open and there it was. My cowboy hat. But there was a problem. A big problem.

It was obvious to me that this particular cowboy hat was not new. It also didn’t have the cool shape to it that my brother’s cowboy hat had. My Mom explained how she had bought it from a co-worker since she just couldn’t afford to buy a new one. I stood in silence holding the hat in my hand with my head hung low.

Then I did it.

I looked at my Mom with disgust and threw the hat on the ground and ran for my room. I was in total disbelief that my dream of being a real cowboy would not happen on this particular day.

Truly Blessed

Eventually I got over it and came to realize how truly blessed I was to have the things I did. I also later apologized – more than once – to my Mom for my despicable behavior.

Looking back on my childhood I vividly remember the sacrifices my Mom made for us – including sleeping on the couch in order for her kids to have their own bedrooms. I remember how tired she looked when she came home from work only to find the mess my siblings and I created in the house.

I remember having bad dreams and bringing my blanket out and laying beside my mom as she slept on the couch. She would hold my hand and all my fears and troubles just melted away.

I also remember how I would curl up with her after she came home exhausted from work. She would often heat up a frozen burrito for her dinner even though we kids always ate something much better.

What Poverty Taught Me

So, while it would be easy for me to sit here and say how poverty ravaged my young life I wouldn’t be telling the truth. You see, my big brother probably said it best when he explained, “We weren’t poor… we were just short of cash.”

So, the way I look at it, while we were technically facing with the problem of poverty I now realize those years formed me into the man I am today.

They taught me that no amount of money is more important than love and compassion.

They taught me that no amount of money is more important than holding your child’s hand in the middle of the night when they wake up from a bad dream (as timing would have it I have a lot of work to do with this one as I have a child getting out of bed all the time these days).

And those years taught me that no amount of money is more important than being truly thankful for the abundant blessings our mighty and powerful God sends us, even a used cowboy hat.

Thank you Mom for all you’ve taught me. I know I can never repay you, but I promise to die trying.

Guest Post by Jason Stokes

As practitioners of lean, we’re all in favor of using this powerful methodology to ensure we efficiently manufacture to customer demand while increasing throughput at the lowest possible cost.

However, often times it seems we only focus on half the equation – filling the demand that customers have for our products.

Toyota Stagnant

Toyota is often heralded as the champion of lean, through books like The Toyota Way, through Taiichi Ohno’s teachings, and through countless blog posts that reference the stellar way they do business. Why, then, if Toyota is a manufacturer we all need to emulate, are they not gaining business over their competition, especially Honda?

Toyota’s sales were down 8.3% by volume YTD in August. Honda’s sales were up 1.2%. These numbers would probably look worse in dollar amounts, given the product mix.

Honda Delivers

What gives? Simple.  Toyota is a great manufacturer. Honda makes vehicles people want to buy.

Honda manufactures 9 models for sale in the United States:

5 Trucks / SUVs / Vans:

1. Odyssey - Minivan
2. Pilot - Large SUV
3. CR-V - Small SUV
4. Element - Medium SUV
5. Ridgeline - Pickup Truck

4 Cars:

1. Fit - Ultracompact Car
2. Civic - Compact Car
3. Accord - Mid Size Car
4. S2000 - Sport Convertible

Toyota needs to Rationalize?

Toyota, by comparison, manufactures 18 models:

9 Trucks / SUVs / Vans:

1. Sienna - Minivan
2. RAV4 - Small SUV
3. FJ Cruiser - Small SUV
4. 4Runner - Medium SUV
5. Highlander - Medium SUV
6. Land Cruiser - Large SUV
7. Sequioa - Large SUV
8. Tacoma - Pickup Truck
9. Tundra - Pickup Truck

9 Cars:

1. Yaris - Compact Car
2. Corolla - Compact Car
3. Camry - Mid Size Car
4. Avalon - Full Size Car
5. Prius - Hybrid
6. Scion xA - no idea
7. Scion xB - no idea
8. Scion tC - Compact Car
9. Scion xD - no idea

Toyota’s car sales were down 8.3%, while their truck sales were down 16.8%.

Toyota, by virtue of its product mix, has set itself behind its primary competitor. It has added considerable complexity to the mix, by adding the Scion line of cars and a bevy of virtually indistinguishable models, along with a large stable of trucks and SUVs, which, as we are all well aware, have been hammered by high gas prices.

The Prius

Toyota’s one bright spot, the Prius, actually sold less through August 2008 than through August 2007. With customers clamoring for this vehicle, what happened? Toyota wasn’t able to predict demand well enough and was caught without the ability to sell its cars.

Keeping it Simple

Honda, on the other hand, has kept its product offerings simple, and has been able to capitalize on the small car push by selling 10% more Accords and Civics this year than last.

By marketing cars that people want to purchase instead of a stable of SUVS with no demand, Honda has kept sales flowing in the face of a tough market.

Customer is King

We must always remember that while we can be the leanest manufacturer in the world, it matters little if no one wants to buy our product.

Takt time = Net Available Time / Customer Demand

What happens to takt time if customer demand is zero?

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
- Thomas Edison

When it comes to my work I probably land more towards the perfectionist side of the spectrum.

Of course I’m far from perfect… but I still try to be. Oddly enough, the more I reflect about it the more I realize this attitude is probably more counter-productive than productive.

First, let’s look at a definition of perfectionism. Here’s what we find on Wikipedia.

Perfectionism, in psychology, is a belief that perfection can and should be attained. In its pathological form, perfectionism is a belief that work or output that is anything less than perfect is unacceptable. At such levels, this is considered an unhealthy belief, and psychologists typically refer to such individuals as maladaptive perfectionists.

So, besides being called maladaptive… here are some reasons I think perfectionism can be dangerous.

1. You’re scared to try new things.

A perfectionist may plan and plan and plan the improvement idea, or new business, or new anything… only to find themselves frozen with fear in such a way as to never actually give it a try.

2. You may lose focus of what really matters - long term perfection.

Some of you may have read Dr. James Womack’s good work. If this is the case you probably know his fifth step of lean implementation is to pursue perfection.

So, does this mean he’s saying we should all become short term perfectionists? I don’t think so.

Instead, I think Womack is saying to keep our eyes down field. He’s saying that the “ideal state” we’re all aiming for doesn’t really exist since better is always possible which, in this case, makes it the perfect target for us continuous improvement practitioners.

3. You may just lose your mind.

If nothing but perfection is acceptable you may end up losing your mind. You may read and re-read every email, document, or blog entry hundreds of times only to skip over the fact that you meant to say “morale” and not “moral.” And when someone calls you on it, in front of thousands of others, you may feel like curling up into the fetal position and dying. Of course I’m not speaking from actual experience here or anything.

What to do?

So, if short term perfectionism is bad, what’s a person aiming for long term perfection to do?

Simply put, my advice, and something I’m trying to do myself, is to not worry about short term perfectionism as much as I used to. Instead, I think it’s best to obviously plan and think about things… but once you have some ideas give them a try.

In some cases you’ll fail. So what. Try again and fail better.  To be sure, this takes courage. But if people like Thomas Edison didn’t exude this type of courage who knows where we’d be?

So, while it’s a great thing to aim for long term perfection… short term perfectionism, in my opinion, is not the way to get there.

Do you agree?

From time to time a blog article absolutely knocks me out of my chair.

This morning was one of those occasions. One of the blogs I always, without fail, read is Evolving Excellence which is written by my friend Kevin Meyer.

Today, Kevin had to write the type of post no one wants to write.

Yesterday I got the 5am call all of us dread: one of my manufacturing team members had lost her life in a car accident on the way into work.

I was inspired by Kevin’s words and how he, as President of the company, reacted to this tragic situation.

I was also inspired how Kevin reminded us that the folks we work with – often times just some number in our massive ERP systems – also have dreams and families and aspirations.

One of the reasons I’m so passionate about authentic continuous improvement is its focus on the person. Stated another way, authentic continuous improvement practitioners don’t just talk about respecting people – they actually do it.

Kevin obviously gets this and I truly admire him for it.

I’m going to kindly request that you not leave a comment here on LSS Academy in response to this particular post… instead I’d really appreciate it if you would take the time to visit Evolving Excellence and then leave a comment there, if you so wish.

I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. ~Abraham Lincoln

I’m severely addicted to learning new things.

I haven’t always been like this. As a young boy school stressed me out. This probably explains why it hasn’t been until the last 5 to 10 years that my desire to know more and more has nearly become an unquenchable thirst.

Some “friends” and I have begun to work on an extremely exciting project that has allowed me to learn about something I knew absolutely nothing about a year ago. I can’t say much more about this right now… but rest assured it’s going to be something special and you all will be the first to hear about it when the time is right.

It’s new projects like this that keep me awake until 3:00 AM in the morning. Heck, its things like blogging – which again I had no idea how to do (and am still obviously learning about) a few years ago – that has me reading, studying, learning, etc.

And while I know not everyone feels the need to constantly learn about new things I do feel it’s extremely beneficial to learn about something new every once in awhile.

Here are just a few ways I have succeeded at increasing my knowledge.

1. Read Blogs

I religiously follow 26 blogs using Google Reader. While I don’t read every new article word for word I’ve learned so much from the blogosphere.

2. Read Books and Trade Magazines

I read a lot of books. Lately I’ve been so busy with the aforementioned “project” that my reading has slowed as of late. But just sitting down with a good book has been an excellent method for me to learn more.

3. I Blog

I blog. Believe it or not, there is a tremendous amount of work involved in maintaining a blog. Once an idea has come up we bloggers still need to find the words to communicate it. And as any blogger will attest to… no one wants to make a blatant error in what they are writing about.

So, as you might imagine, a lot of research and study goes into most blog posts here on LSS Academy. And the fact that this is article number 366 tells me I’ve probably done more research for this blog than my entire time in graduate school.

4. Try and Fail

I try new things. While reading and writing are excellent learning techniques there really, in my opinion, is only one sure fire way to learn something and that’s to try, try, try.

You can read and research and plan ‘til the cows come home. But until you get up on the saddle and attempt to ride the bull you’ll never actually learn how to do it.

What About You?

I’m very curious to learn (hmmm, imagine that) how you go about sharpening your skills. Do you also like to read? Or do you have other techniques I’ve not listed above?

With all the news of our struggling economy (in America) and massive bail outs I couldn’t help but think of two people – Tim Ferris, author of The Four Hour Workweek and Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV fame.

Four Hour Dream is Bogus

Now, I’ve written about The Four Hour Workweek before. In case you missed those articles let me cut to the chase and say that while Ferris does offer up some great ideas for simplifying our lives and being more productive… I personally think his whole pitch of striving to only work 4 hours per week is dangerous. I’ll explain why in a second.

Work Your Face Off

Conversely, Gary Vaynerchuk preaches a very different doctrine. If I were to narrow Gary’s approach down to a few words I’d fall back on his famous quote of “you must work your face off.” Check this video out when you have a few minutes to spare to get a better idea of what I’m talking about. Please note that there is some bad language used during the video.

Contrasting the Two Approaches

So to contrast the two styles, we have Ferris waving this carrot of the easy life in front of us… you know only working a few hours per week while our virtual assistants slave away for far more than that… and we have Vaynerchuk telling us to work our face off as the way to true and lasting success.

Now to be fair Vaynerchuk also preaches to stop doing things we hate while searching for the things you love. But once you find this love he recommends pouring your heart into it.

No More Teachers

The main problem I have with Ferris is this. How does he expect, for example, the school teacher making $36k per year (who also works 50+ hours per week) to profit from this approach? The only way I can see it happening is for this school teacher to stop being a teacher! Obviously this presents a problem if all teachers decide to essentially “outsource” the instruction of our children. I’m not certain, but I don’t think Ferris has any children so perhaps this isn’t high on his list of importance.

And what about the construction worker or even the employees at any manufacturing company? Are they supposed to walk away from their jobs as they set up some automated money making system? If so, who builds our houses, cars, microwaves, and just about anything you can imagine?

Best of Both Worlds

As I said, I do believe Ferris has some great ideas for being more productive. But, at least for me, Mr. Vaynerchuk’s approach to success is far more meaningful… not to mention beneficial for society overall.

Perhaps the best solution is to combine the best of Ferris with the best of Vaynerchuk. In this case, we’d all work our faces off while being wickedly efficient and productive at the things we’re truly passionate about. Now this sounds like a decent plan if you ask me.

What About You?

Where do you land on the spectrum? Do you aspire for the 4 hour work week or want to work your face off doing something you’re truly passionate about? Or is it somewhere in between?

To view a larger version of this video click here.

In this video I demonstrate how to use this free takt time calculator.

Feel free to download the calculator and use it however you see fit.  As always, comments and questions are not only welcomed… they are much appreciated!

Since I live in the DFW area and travel a lot… I’ve gotten pretty familiar with American Airlines.  I should eclipse the magical “Executive Platinum” status within the next month – something that makes me feel sort of sad if you want my honest feeling!

Anyhow, I came across this article which referenced the troubles AA is facing related to customer service. Here’s a little taste.

• It finished last among 19 U.S. carriers in on-time arrivals for four straight months between March and June, before improving to 16th in July – its highest finish in nine months.
• Its on-time marks have been beneath the industry average every month since December 2006.
• For the 12 months ending July 31, American was last among all carriers in on-time flights, with only 67.5 percent arriving within 14 minutes of schedule. That was 6.7 percentage points worse than the industry average of 74.2 percent.
• Among the 10 largest carriers, American ranked second-worst in the rate of lost-bag complaints for the year ending July 31, ahead of only Delta Air Lines Inc.
• It has had the third-highest rate of flight cancellations through the first seven months of 2008, ahead of only two regional carriers, Mesa Air Group Inc. and American’s own partner, American Eagle.

Obviously AA has some problems… but so do a lot of people. So instead of dwelling on how bad they are let’s turn our focus to what they intend to do about it.

Change the Specs!

You would imagine, especially as it relates to the on time arrivals issue, AA would relentless attack the waste in their process. They’d look for opportunities to improve flow, cut out non value added steps, while practicing the principles of single minute exchange of dies whenever applicable.

Well that’s what you and I would think.  AA on the other hand, not so much.

No, instead of focusing on making value flow AA is actually increasing the time their planes are on the ground!

American believes that the answer is to add time to its schedule, both on the length of the average flight and the length of stops on the ground. It is taking other steps as well, but the added schedule time represents the thrust of American’s attempt to return to an acceptable on-time record.

The changes won’t speed up flights. But the added time increases the cushion for dealing with problems.

Yep, that’s right… “the added time increases the cushion for dealing with problems.”

I don’t normally like to bash companies… especially companies that hold my life in their hands many times a year… but this really irks me.

The sad thing is this move may actually make AA’s on time metric improve… but the real question is will their customers be any happier?

DFW to New York

Well, if you plan to fly from DFW to New York the answer is probably no.

For an example of how the schedule changes will work, consider American’s Flight 743, an afternoon nonstop flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to LaGuardia in New York.

Until Sept. 2, American scheduled the flight to take 3 ¾ hours from gate to gate. On Sept. 3, the time was increased by five minutes. On Nov. 2, it’ll go up another 25 minutes, to 4 ¼ hours.

Nice, huh? Sounds pretty much like the opposite of increasing value for the customer.

What do you think?  Am I being too critical here?  Or am I being too nice?