Reflecting on Lean’s 8th waste

In a previous post I discussed the reduction of the Lean wastes to only 3, this time it is about the widely accepted eighth waste, often related to as “human abilities”, “skills”, “brainpower”, etc. Does it fit into the list? Lire la version française de cet article : Que penser du 8ème gaspillage de Lean …

Can the Lean wastes be reduced to only 3?

The Lean wastes got famous to a point they somewhat define and embody Lean’s principles. They have been taught, explained, kept being taught and to some people may be seen as almost as sacred as the 10 commandments to Christians. Their original list counts 7 Wastes but as Lean got somewhat more people-centric an eighth …

Updates, hassle and resistance to change

Anyone subscribing to an online service or apps has experienced the annoyance not being on familiar ground anymore after an update. When familiar elements get scrambled, our physical memory, i.e. knowing where to click, where to look or search and where to input is disturbed at best, rendered useless in the most severe cases. Our …

Muri, mura, muda simply explained

Not familiar with Lean's all types of wastes (expressed in Japanese words)? Don't worry, in less than 6 minutes I walk you through Muri, Mura, Muda in a simple way. https://youtu.be/dbrMwhnJXrs

The Zoo or why many improvement initiatives on shop floor fail to deliver noticeable results at company level

The zoo is one of the metaphors used in the book “Thinking in Systems” by author Donella Meadows (1941-2001) and one of my favorite takeaways from her book. Told in my way, the zoo is a convenient way to observe animals that would not be that easy to observe in their natural habitat. In a …

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to software “robots” that can be taught or programmed to mimic human actions like typing, copy-and-paste, open files, read files... do many tasks across programs and applications just as human workers do. It is especially suitable for tasks requiring no subjective judgement, that can be described simply. The RPA software …

The blurring definition of waste in a 4.0 world – Part 2 of 2 – Robotic Process Automation

In part 1 of this series I took the example of Additive Manufacturing vs. traditional machining to explain the blurring definition of (Lean) waste and value. In this post, I propose another take with Robotic Process Automation (RPA). With RPA, some tasks considered unnecessary and wasteful in the classic Lean point of view are automated …

The blurring definition of Lean waste in a 4.0 world – Part 1 of 2 – Additive Manufacturing

Until recently in the Lean community, the definition of waste was “simple”: waste is any activity consuming resources without producing value for the customer. In this definition time can be  considered a resource and “customer” is extended to anyone beneficiary of the outcome, like a patient in a hospital getting faster and better care. Focusing …

The success of a 4.0 transformation is strongly dependent on the initial conditions

The success of a 4.0 transformation in manufacturing (and industry at large) is particularly dependent on the initial conditions for its implementation. The “founding fathers” of Industry 4.0 and the organizations who help its implementation soon recognized the importance of a suitable “ground” as well as a number of prerequisites for a 4.0 transformation to …

Lean: Waste in office work – part 2

In the first post of this series the focus was much about waste of human potential, that comes in many forms. In this second part reviews the 7 others wastes, first uncovered in manufacturing and later translated into office work. Office work isn’t as much prescribed in work instructions and standards as the work in …