Ceptara

I recently had the opportunity to deliver a webinar for the ASQ Lean Enterprise Division (May 2013).  We talked about how to leverage the Training Within Industry (TWI) methods for reinforcing Standard Work.

SUMMARY

Training Within Industry's Job Instruction provides a method for assuring that Standard Work processes are operationalized into the everyday employee work interactions.  Supervisor's are taught how to teach their area's jobs so that the workers can efficiently and predictably execute the work while practicing 5S work habits.

Course Description
The Training Within Industry (TWI) service was created by the United States Department of War, running from 1940 to 1945 within the War Manpower Commission [1].  Its main purpose was to provide consulting services to industries that were critical to the ramp up of the war machine for World War II to assure there were enough trained and skilled personnel necessary to meet the demands of the war.   At the end of its 5 year service record, the TWI program has instructed over 1.6 million workers in 16,500 US plants.

SUMMARY

• America was the global manufacturing leader.
• Process & Productivity were paramount.
• Social technologies are defocusing.
• We need to apply process thinking to information and innovation.

Necessity is the mother of Invention. – Anonymous.

Problem

I have always struggled with note-taking.  Since college, I've been using the paper method for taking notes and have a 'method' for identifying different types of notes, e.g. actions, questions, ideas, etc.  But the thing that has always alluded me is 'how to capture the actions in notes' and make sure I do them and not forget.

Problem

In 1987, at the University of Nebraska, my engineering career had its beginning.  As a celebration of that moment (and after I had gotten a job - which is important), I bought my first new car, a 1987 Chevrolet Camaro Sport Coupe.  Perhaps because I just graduated from engineering school, I kept a mileage log, carefully recording every mile each time I filled up with gas.  And then I got married, had two kids.  Guess what happened to the Camaro when the first child came into our lives?  Life got busy, and the mileage log was left behin

There are many factors in deciding an organization’s success or failure.  Many are outside of their control, e.g. significant economic changes or catastrophic weather events.  However, many factors are certainly within an organizations’ control, e.g. selecting and operationalizing a successful strategy, hiring and developing the right people, and defining and executing their work efficiently and effectively.  In fact, the better the organization operates, the less the external factors affect it.

Stakeholder analysis provides a method for identifying those impacted or potentially impacted by a change effort (or improvement project) and their relative interest and influence on the change process.

The analysis assesses each stakeholder by their:

• relative interest in the project,
• relative power to impact the project, and
• positive or negative view towards the project.

The template provides a mechanism for recording the assessment and documenting a management strategy for each stakeholder.

About one third of small businesses fail in the first year and less than one half make it to their fourth year. In the U.S. economy starting in December of 2007 through June 2009, approximately 8.8 million jobs were eliminated in the ‘Great Recession’. New and existing organizations face significant challenges in surviving and providing value to their customers, assuring the economy continues to sustain a healthy place for people to work and play.

Summary

The Six Sigma Black Belt approaches problems using disciplined problem solving methodologies. One such approach called DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) focuses on reducing process variation and defects. Regardless of what approach is used, the problem Definition and Measurement phases are most critical to avoid foolish effort in Analysis, Improvement and Control resulting in much pain by fixing the wrong problem.

DMAIC Refresher

For those who are not familiar or need a refresher, here is a summary of the DMAIC process steps.