From the category archives:

root cause analysis

In Their Natural Environment

by Pete Abilla January 28, 2010

I scheduled a meeting this week and a room for our meeting.  During the course of our conversation, we began to discuss process and other items related to the their work.  Gratefully, I had enough awareness to stop the conversation and we, as a team, walked out to the Gemba and continued our discussion there. [...]

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Respect for People, Underutilized People, and Waste

by Pete Abilla September 24, 2009

The two pillars in Lean Thinking are Continuous Improvement and Respect for People.  What is not well understood is that most of what we know as The Toyota Production System comes from these two pillars.  The Lean sub-culture tends to over-emphasize the “tools” of Kaizen, but miss the point altogether, since the tools stem or [...]

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Poka-Yoke Pharmaceuticals

by Pete Abilla August 17, 2009

King Pharmaceutical (NYSE: KG) recently had a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  Their drug, Embeda, has an interesting property: If you take the medication as prescribed, it works fine; if you abuse the medication, it ceases to work.  This is Poka-Yoke (ポカヨケ) for Pharmaceutical drugs. Poka-Yoke (ポカヨケ), translated, means mistake-proof, or [...]

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Unappetizing Spaghetti Diagrams

by Pete Abilla August 9, 2009
This entry is part 18 of 28 in the series Lean and Six Sigma

A Spaghetti Diagram is a simple visual tool to demonstrate the flow of material, flow of information, and flow of money in a process. The word “spaghetti” is descriptive because it describes flow that is not easily understood, can’t easily be followed, or if the flow is literally all over the place.  Indeed, a Spaghetti [...]

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The Source of Dirt

by Pete Abilla May 26, 2009

In Amazon’s 2008 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos shares about a Kaizen event he participated in: At a fulfillment center recently, one of our Kaizen experts asked me, “I’m in favor of a clean fulfillment center, but why are you cleaning? Why don’t you eliminate the source of dirt?” I’ve spoken numerous times about Bezos [...]

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Customer Service and the iPhone

by Pete Abilla March 13, 2009

related update: Jeff Bezos on Root Cause Analysis In some organizations, the Customer Service function is largely viewed as a cost center, draining resources of the firm.  I maintain that this viewpoint is largely false and is one that less mature companies support.  I believe that Customer Service is an accurate litmus test of the [...]

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The Atomic Rules of Kaizen

by Pete Abilla February 18, 2009

Systems that are internally consistent and externally pragmatic stem from just a few rules.  Systems with exceedingly many rules typically fail or will not endure.  For example, Most mathematical truths stem from just a few axioms Music stems from just a handful of finite notes Most Martial Arts stem from a few principles of angle, [...]

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Jeff Bezos and Root Cause Analysis

by Pete Abilla January 23, 2009

unrelated update: Deconstructing the Apple iPhone Supply Chain I’m always impressed when CEO’s demonstrate Deming-like behavior as they lead; it’s rare, but there’s almost a magical, mobilizing, and inspiring force that happens when CEO’s or corporate leaders behave in a respectful, inspiring, common-sense, and thoughtful way. Today, I’m reminded of an experience back in 2004 [...]

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Not Accountable, Not Responsible

by Pete Abilla August 9, 2008

Team size can make a big difference in the success of your service or product. What is counterintuitive for most people is that the larger the team size, the lower the likelihood of success for your service or product.  Why? Entropy can set in and large teams are inherently bad vehicles for communication. More insipid, [...]

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