User Panel
|
"Lean" makes sense in a manufacturing context. Use modern advanced planning and scheduling tools to reduce your inventory, increase turns, and employ capital elsewhere. Appropriately manage your resources (human and machine) to ensure utilization is high.
But.... in a human services context. WTF? That just sounds like "more work spread across less people." |
|
|
Air Force decided to toss Total Quality Management at us a long time ago. LOL.
|
|
|
Quoted: If you are not in manufacturing or more specifically if you are in a service industry, when you hear the words Lean 6 Sigma, Lean 6 ,6 Sigma or Lean Anyfuckingthing just start looking for a job because before it is all over you will need it. If you hear it from a 32 year old in cotton dockers, boat shoes and a Hitler youth haircut then take vacation time and go find one NOW. View Quote Exactly New boss (family owned good boss died..young punk took over) tried that crap. Tried to make me more productive. How can you be more productive when you are trying to troubleshoot a different problem on a different piece of equipment all day. Fix one go gab the next one. Fix it get the next one. Stepping over dollars chasing dimes. Luckily I fell into a dream job for me and the place was bought out and merged/closed. |
|
I'm in manufacturing. Our time table to make something is hours to days at most. Luckily we don't have to deal with this stuff. Something breaks down, burns up, blows up the replacement is needed now. I won't say our customer has an unlimited budget, but when Exxon can't refine oil they get pretty spendy. Time is of the issue more than the price.
|
|
Quoted: Andersen Consulting, now called Accenture, was into that nonsense when I worked there in the '90s. Their corporate language is rife with acronyms that only the most senior people understand. Junior people learn to just smile and nod. View Quote The engineers aren't allowed to talk to the consultants anymore. I guess we hurt some feelings. |
|
Try the Scaled Agile Framework. aka SAFe. It can stop gravity from working.
The value of any methodology is pretty much inversely proportional to how many supposed experts you need on your team to apply it. The magic number is zero. |
|
Before the social norm went to all the title and level bullshit, I worked in a group for a company. This group was voluntold to evaluate our various processes and who touched things, and if they provided any added value or necessity for quality control. This was in addition to my normal jerb. We eliminated a lot of red tape and even a job or two. "Because we have always done it this way" isn't a valid reason to keep doing things a certain way.
In another situation, General Electric OEC division, making portable xray systems, did a similar thing, and eliminated a lot of steps that were actually under FDA regulation. The FDA said "don't fucking do that, or else". GE fucked around and found out, and the division was shut down and could not deliver product for almost two years. Every level of management involved in the decision was fired and GE brought in worldwide managers, just to unfuck things and get back in the good graces of the FDA. Be careful what you wish for. Six Sigma black belts can lick my taint. It was fun playing buzzword bullshit bingo in the meetings. |
|
|
My company uses one of those management fads for the software developers. Whatever one it is, they use it. It seems to work as well as any other.
I'm sure in a few years they'll switch to a different one and that will probably work ok too. We have a good team. |
|
We call it OpEx - Operational Excellence - and just in case any
|
|
Quoted: My company started with "Lean" in 2003. I'll never forget, they opened up a "Lean forum" where anyone could post any ideas they had about how to make the company more productive. Also at the same time, the owner decided that part of "Lean" was being healthy, so he forced the cafeteria to switch to wheat buns instead of white. 75% of the posts on the spitball forum were about the buns. It also was the only time in my entire career that I've seen the entire company come together about one thing. We all boycotted the cafe until the buns were gone. The forum went away shortly thereafter as well. View Quote This is one of the funniest things I've ever read on this site. I went through something really similar. It's like "LEAN" was mostly just stickers, wall posters and something to put on slide decks to show how great we are. And I think the LEAN consultants made a shitload of money. |
|
I’ve seen six sigma used properly. Here’s an example:
I helped roll out a new laboratory information system. The system was integrated with the lab’s instruments. Also, a new space was purchased to set the lab up in. The lab’s director paid a six sigma consulting firm to come in and design optimized walking paths, instrument layouts, supplies storage, etc. based on analysis of the lab’s current workflows, the future workflows, and the new space. Everything looked great. Lots of distance cut out of walking paths, better instrument usage, less storage requirements and on hand supplies, etc. The punchline is: The lab started to get setup, and the managers and pathologists came in and changed everything because they didn’t like the way stuff was organized. They recreated all the old problems and added a few new ones in the new space because that’s what they were used to. The take away is: Unless everyone buys in, it’s a waste of time and money. |
|
I worked for a company that was into that sort of crap. Ended up working in "Corporate Engineering" which was supposed to actually implement these things.
I was not appreciated when in a big meeting, someone asked where they kept coming up with all this stuff, and I just couldn't contain myself and told him that some idiot had given the CEO a subscription to "Management book of the month" club for Christmas. |
|
It's a jobs program with worthless middle management suck-ups.
|
|
The whole "lean manufacturing" thing got rolled out at a shop I worked at for 10 years. The idiots they brought in tried to explain how much more efficient it was going to be and had all kinds of worthless games they had us play to try to prove their point. I shot holes in everything they tried and they hated it. They told the owner I was a cancer on the company, so I told him basically that he either dump their bullshit or I'm out. I left 2 weeks later. My points were proven about a year later when the company folded.
|
|
|
Quoted: Would you like to discuss that at this morning's stand-up, or after our sprint? Don't mind me, I'll be out back cussing at waterfalls... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: I'm happy to see other industries than IT plauged with similarly asinine concepts. Don't mind me, I'll be out back cussing at waterfalls... We'll do it as part of our endless, circular "retrospective." Just make sure to leave no time at all for maintenance. |
|
My company is more of a warehousing operation and they started blabbering a lot about lean when the 1990s era MBA guy took over leadership.
In some ways it made total sense and they implemented a lot of good ideas to save steps or touches to get product out the door. They didn't go all crazy with it and just implemented common sense improvements. Overtime it got bastardized into "how can we keep stock of product ultra low and avoid any real investments so I can pump up my bonus". 1990s era MBA guy got shown the door. |
|
|
|
Quoted: YES. That is literally the only change to my life. We now have a 15 minute call a day. We all work from home. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Why does OP not want to cut waste by having endless meetings to discuss how to cut said waste?... YES. That is literally the only change to my life. We now have a 15 minute call a day. We all work from home. Ah, yes, the gemba... |
|
I got stuck doing lean related stuff at work. Not everything is practical for every company, and it's hard to get everyone on board especially when dealing with multiple shifts.
I bet a lot of "just in time" people have really screwed the pooch with the supply chain issues of late. |
|
Quoted: To be honest, six sigma will appropriately generate reliable vortals. It will also let you enthusiastically synergize front-end niche markets. While also proving rapidiously architect real-time expertise. This will inturn cause your workforce to dramatically incubate innovative sprints. The benefit of that will be to ungibly innovate multidisciplinary virtualization. View Quote |
|
Quoted: implementing lean manufacturing during a global supply chain collapse is fucking retarded View Quote Buy it cheap and stack it deep when you can get it is how I run my company. There's no more running lean. between supply and shipping, I would be screwed. And I'll politely refrain from what I think about Six Sigma people and it's "processes". |
|
IT Dept at non manufacturing corp uses agile for their projects. Glad I don't work ITand have to listen to all the scrum bullshit
|
|
|
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Mission Statement (Official 4K Video) |
|
We had a 'lean' sensei at our place of employment.
Eventually everyone hated him and his tactics, he quit and now everyone laughs about it. Wasted money., jobs program that poisons the work force. |
|
My last company did lean manufacturing. Mostly in the shop. Basically a supervisor with the plant manager or owner/VP watching like a hawk. Supervisor will give an employee a small task to do and grade him/her. Whoever does it better or quicker gets tasked that job while the slower ones get to watch the owner/VP yell at the plant manager and supervisor asking, sometimes yelling, why this person can do it better than the other and why was the slower workers assigned to the job in the first place. It was really a meat grinder back then. I was an office employee so I didn't go through that.
|
|
LEAN, 6Sigma, 4DX, etc. are all just bullshit micromanage tools enacted by middle managers who have to figure out a way to justify their existence within the company.
|
|
|
Quoted: Might need to optimize that process to achieve more synergy View Quote For the first time in like 15 years, I'm looking for a job, and the shit I'm reading in job descriptions is straight up retarded. At least I know who to stay away from when they talk about vaccines and lean 2 sentences into their job description. |
|
Quoted: "Lean" makes sense in a manufacturing context. Use modern advanced planning and scheduling tools to reduce your inventory, increase turns, and employ capital elsewhere. Appropriately manage your resources (human and machine) to ensure utilization is high. But.... in a human services context. WTF? That just sounds like "more work spread across less people." View Quote Unfortunately this concept is biting us all in the ass right now. I have an order of bottles that have been moved from mid February to 6-8 months. I have had multiple delays waiting on materials. Everyone is struggling to get anything right now. But that’s not news to anyone even halfway paying attention. |
|
Quoted: Its why other companies can hand you or others their ass. Its what made the Japs great. It has its place but some places use it like a religion. View Quote Yep, did awesome when all the companies ran out of materials to make their products because they wanted to be LEAN and have just in time delivery of what they needed instead of stacking it deep. My company said F that lean, just in time stuff and we kept 9-12 months worth of materials on hand at most plants. Our production is the same as it has always been, but when your company is over 100 years old, they have some idea of how to run things during good times and bad. When your company philosophy isn't about driving stock prices higher at all costs, but about long term sustainability and continued revenue stream, you'll do better in the long run. Chasing record stock prices every quarter will eventually bite you in the ass. |
|
Quoted: Sounds like they're not going to find all the answers today, and they're going to have to park some of their concerns in the parking lot. For the first time in like 15 years, I'm looking for a job, and the shit I'm reading in job descriptions is straight up retarded. At least I know who to stay away from when they talk about vaccines and lean 2 sentences into their job description. View Quote Thats what happens when HR departments get to "approve" job ads... |
|
|
Quoted: Didn’t you have the “black belt” six sigma trainer in to show lean with the Lego demonstration? We did it a long time ago. We adopted some version of what worked for our manufacturing company. It was a benefit to look at and lean up some areas of production. It did work for us to build some work “cells” in some areas to limit WIP inventory as we did in fact have an issue with workflow and heavy WIP inventory. View Quote LOL. They took all of our spare parts away to de-clutter the area and gave us a little wire cabinet with "all of the spare parts you need" in it. Except that what I needed was almost never in the magic cabinet and I had to walk 1/2 mile each way to the tool crib to try to find what they took away from me. |
|
Quoted: Clearly, you need a black belt. View Quote lol My old job hired one to organize the shop and make production more efficient. Guy just sat at a computer all day and emailed us links to a free app he had our production schedule on. He was also an insufferable Democrat. "Obama was the greatest POTUS since FDR", "Biden's doing a great job", "The NRA is a terrorist organization", etc. Of course, he got fired. |
|
Quoted: Yeah my company did this too. They had a class where you had to read the book. A chapter a week or something. it was connected to the personal development of your bonus. I didn't have to do it because I'm a consultant. But yeah, I had trouble figuring out how this got incorporated into daily job duties. Funny but one reason for all the shortages during the lockdown was because lean manufacturing processes caused zero inventory and factories running at max capacity. (We run ours 24/7 even on Christmas.) View Quote Freight forwarder I worked for tried it years ago. The e only part I remember is having to do a document laying out everything I did. Didn’t seem to make much of an impact otherwise. |
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.