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Articles on Lean Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, and The Toyota Production System

The Toyota Production System, or Lean Manufacturing as it has come to be called, is the production system developed by Toyota to identify and eliminate waste. It’s pillars are Continuous Improvement and Respect for People. It’s methodology includes both a worldview and tools to make work better through the systematic elimination of waste and a thorough approach to developing people.

Poka Yoke System Design: How To Mistake Proof Your Processes

by Pete Abilla on August 23, 2011

Poka-Yoke, or Error-Proofing or Mistake-Proofing, is an essential aspect of process improvement. In fact, Poka-Yoke is the method by which we can actually get closer to a goal of zero defects without an exponential increase in the cost to detect and eliminate defects. In this article, I’ll discuss two types of situations that would benefit [...]

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Mapping Performance Metrics: A Guide

by Pete Abilla on August 18, 2011

Performance Metrics | Metrics Management

Most business speak of metrics, but fail on one common theme: metrics are often treated in isolation, not as part of a larger whole. As a consequence, our efforts often lead to results we don’t expect. In what follows, I’ll provide a guide to map your performance metrics so that they are actionable, make sense, [...]

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Leader Standard Work

by Pete Abilla on August 17, 2011

Leader Standard Work is a critical step in ensuring that the Lean Culture in your organization prospers. But, Leader Standard Work is dependent on a few things. In what follows, I’ll cover a few of those items and provide an example of Leader Standard Work. Leader Standard Work is meant to accomplish the following: Clear [...]

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FMEA Template and Example

by Pete Abilla on August 16, 2011

failure mode effects analysis, fmea template

Practitioners of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma can use this tool to identify potential problems and their impact on a process. Before you continue reading, be warned: this post is long and is more of a “how to do fmea” than it is entertaining or fun. In that spirit, if you are learning how to [...]

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Value Stream Map: Questions to Ask

by Pete Abilla on August 11, 2011

It’s not good enough to be able to use process map software and create a process map or value stream map for the fun of it. The process map or value stream map actually needs to be useful. To make it useful, one should keep the following questions in mind: What is the purpose of [...]

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Quality Management System: A Survey

by Pete Abilla on August 9, 2011

I usually don’t read articles from Mckinsey, because I’ve found that the content is produced by non-industry people, making the writing seem superficial and, in general, lack meaning. That’s a broad statement, so let me qualify: except this one. Mckinsey launched an interesting Quality Management System survey, which aims to measure the strength of the [...]

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Visual Management Systems in a Mexican Restaurant Franchise

by Pete Abilla on August 4, 2011

Visual Management Systems should be simple, obvious, efficient, and effective. Thus was the case at a recent visit to a Mexican Restaurant in Utah called Cafe Rio. At that Mexican Restaurant Franchise, my wife and I have grown a little too fond of the Cafe Rio Salad – we like it so much that we [...]

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Value Stream Map Symbols

by Pete Abilla on August 2, 2011

A Value Stream Map is an incredibly useful tool that captures the following: The Process Value Add and Non Value Add steps Number of People Batch Size Push or Pull Cycle Time Lead Time Reword Changeover Time and much more . . . To represent the above and other important elements in a process, there [...]

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