After conducting a Lean 101 webinar for Lean Portland, we had some excellent questions from the attendees, so I thought I share my answers. The first question was looking for advice on how to make their forms easier and more streamlined for their customers. The second question asked about how to create psychological safety and build trust in their organization when top management doesn't seem to be driving it. You can watch the Lean 101 webinar in the links below.

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After conducting a Lean 101 webinar for Lean Portland, we had some excellent questions from the attendees, so I thought I share my answers. The first question was looking for more explanation about batching vs one piece flow. The second question asked about classical vs lean management methods. You can watch the Lean 101 webinar in the links below.

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Project charters for improvement projects do not have solutions listed. Instead, they should explain the problem, the management support for this project, the key team members, the scope, the timeline and key metrics of success. They should not have the proposed solution, as we shouldn't have that figured out yet. We still need to follow the problem solving approach. I explain my thoughts on this in more depth.

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Developed by Genichi Taguchi, the Taguchi Loss Function is a graphical representation of how an increase in variation away from the target value (even within specification limits) leads to an exponential increase in customer dissatisfaction. This is different than the traditional approach of viewing results within the specification limits as good, and results outside of the specification limits as bad.

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When describing the methodology of a kaizen or kaikaku event, I often break it up into two main types:

I explain the differences and when to use each type, along with describing how projects and point kaizen (or kaizen blitz/burst activities) fit within these activities.

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A common question I hear is "what if my company doesn't support process improvement?"

I share 4 main approaches you can take to deal with this situation, instead of feeling frustrated by it.

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I share my experience getting my first COVID-19 vaccine shot, and how I analyzed that process from a lean perspective. I found that there was only one second of value, compared to a process that took me over an hour to complete. On a related note, I also have some links to lean applied during the pandemic on my website (see links below).

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I was recently asked about the difference between PDCA and PDSA. I had heard some new information from another podcast, and dug into one of the references to learn more about it. In this episode, I read through a paper from Ronald Moen that provides a good historical perspective. Note: I mispronounced Charlie Protzman's name in the audio. Apologies!

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A recent Value Stream Mapping event was held virtually, and we received some positive feedback from the event attendees. I wanted to share some of the comments to show how process improvement helps much more than just faster processes with less quality issues. It helps engage employees in the future direction of the organization, builds teamwork across departments, and creates a safe space for discussing problems and challenges. Please contact me if you'd like help with facilitating your own lean events, so I can better understand how to assist you in this important tool of process improvement.

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Does your organization use a structured problem solving process, like DMAIC, 8D, or PDSA? If no, why not? I share my views on what challenges are created when you don't have structure to your problem solving approach.

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