What is value stream mapping?
A one-page explanation of value stream mapping - what it is, where it came from, and what it's actually good for.
The 8 wastes (TIMWOODS)
The eight categories of waste in Lean - Transport, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, Defects, Skills.
Cycle time vs wait time
The distinction that makes value stream mapping useful - and why wait time usually dwarfs cycle time.
Takt time
Takt is the beat of customer demand. Every stage that's slower is a bottleneck; every stage that's faster is over-producing.
Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) explained
PCE tells you what proportion of your lead time is actually value-adding. If it's below 10% you have a flow problem.
Lead time, cycle time, and throughput
Three related but distinct measures. Confusing them is one of the most common VSM mistakes.
Building a current-state map
The current-state map is the honest picture of how the process runs today. Get this right or the rest is useless.
Building a future-state map
Future-state maps are hypotheses. They need to be specific, sequenced, and testable.
Value-Add, Non-Value-Add, and Incidental work
A three-way classification is more useful than a binary VA/NVA split. Learn where incidental work fits.
Standard work
Standard work is the current best-known way to do a task. Not a straitjacket - a baseline for improvement.
The Gemba walk
Go and see. The single most important habit in Lean, and the one most often faked from a conference room.
5S - workplace organisation
Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain. Boring, unglamorous, and the foundation of every good Lean transformation.
Root cause analysis basics
Symptoms are easy to spot. Root causes take discipline. Two techniques that reliably get you there.
The 5 Whys
The simplest root-cause tool. Ask why. Then ask why to the answer. Repeat until you can't.
Running a kaizen event
A kaizen event is a focused, time-boxed improvement effort. Done well, it moves a process in days that would otherwise take months.
DMAIC problem-solving framework
Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control - the classic Six Sigma problem-solving cycle.
OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness
OEE is the standard measure of how well a station or line is performing against its potential. Availability x Performance x Quality.
SMED - Single-Minute Exchange of Die
Shigeo Shingo's technique for reducing changeover time - typically by 50-90% - without buying new equipment.
Kanban systems
Visual signals that trigger work. The mechanism that makes pull production work in practice.
Line balancing
Distribute work across stations so each takes roughly the same time. The prerequisite for smooth flow.
Bottleneck analysis
The Theory of Constraints in one page. Find the constraint, exploit it, subordinate everything else to it, elevate it, repeat.
Spaghetti diagrams
Draw the actual path an operator or work item takes through a space. You'll be shocked.
A3 problem-solving
Distill a whole problem-solving effort onto one A3 page. Forced brevity is the discipline.
Process capability
How well does your process meet spec? Cp, Cpk, and why they're not the same thing.
PDCA - Plan, Do, Check, Act
Deming's improvement cycle. The mental model behind almost every Lean and quality practice.