You know you're into lean six sigma when...the next top 10 signs

[Randy Littleson]

Thanks for all the comments on the Top 10 Signs You Know You’re Into Lean Six Sigma. Since Lean practitioners usually do a great job at brainstorming, there was no problem adding another 10 to the list. Looks like the first place for that first “at home” kaizen event is the kitchen!

1. You explain that placing the beer fridge next to the recliner is not being lazy; it is point of use inventory and practiced by some of the best companies in the world.
2. You design your kitchen in the shape of a U to mimic a cellular manufacturing line. (Ben Lowe)
3. You load the dishwasher like this; place forks and spoons UP, so food doesn’t drain down and get stuck on them, and knives down so you do not cut yourself taking the utensils out! (Todd L. Greges)
4. You study Google Maps before going into town to find the minimal walking distance from home to the post office. (Simon Neale)
5. Containers are nested (pots and pans in the kitchen) for reduced storage space and point of consumption storage (pantry as floorstock). (Mark Hoekstra)
6. You give one of your kids their walking papers with the notation, Reason: redundant. (Robert Chaif)
7. You think about walking the spoon/fork/knife from the table to the sink, rinse off without letting go of the handles, wipe them dry on your shirt and put away in the drawer. (Leslie Sprick)
8. You thought the Bon Jovi hit was titled, “You Give Lean a Bad Name”.
9. You think the recession could have easily been avoided if people closely measured the variation between income and expenses and a poke yoke signal would go off if the two got dangerously close.
10. You are diagnosed with “OPID” - Obsessive Process Improvement Disorder. (David Snigar)

Bill Dubois is a Business Consultant for Kinaxis, provider of the on-demand RapidResponse service that empowers multi-enterprise manufacturers with the collaborative and integrated demand-supply planning, monitoring, and response capabilities.

[dreck]

Randy:

What you have described are lean activities and not "lean six sigma" (that was started by a six sigma author trying to sell some books and fob themself off as a lean practitioner).

Lean does not need six sigma and Toyota (the originator of lean) uses simple statistics and 5 whys instead. Jeffrey Likert, author of "The Toyota Way" also mentions the problems caused by how six sigma is typically structured...only "belts" are worthy or smart enough to solve problems and this goes against the respect for people part of lean...it is not respect for some people, it is respect for all people. (Everyone participates, not the chosen few.)

To be sure, statistical analyis is very helpful in solving variability issues, but when you get down to it, six sigma is only a tool, whereas lean is a philosophy. (Or at least doing lean correctly.) What concerns me and other lean minded people is that without the philosophy, all people are doing are projects, programs or "lean things".

I view this simply...when you have a hammer (six sigma), everything else looks like a nail.

[wesdavidson]

A few more,
You base your gocery shopping on minimum cost and volume per calorie.

Your kids teacher complains about you crossing out your kids redundant homework questions so that more chores get done.

The daughter dumps her boyfriend because the "beard to IQ ratio is too high".

You have tracked long term classroom / spring break video ratio, and trends for your favorite college towns. Each year the one with fewest videos wins.

You link your kids parent based college funding to attendance at the winningest school.

You explain to your spouse that the new lawn tractor, leaf blower, and weed whacker are needed to meet your "yard work continuous improvement process"

You actually HAVE a "yard work continuous improvement process".