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You Had One Job!

8 February, 2024 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

laundrette

Design Error I’m in the doghouse. Mrs Lawther asked me to do the washing whilst she was out. As I am a modern man and expect to do my bit, I was happy to comply with the request. Unfortunately, there was a complication. The washing included my wife’s very chic and expensive dress. Ordinarily, this […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: culture, design error, error proofing, fail safe, feedback, human error, mental models, simplicity, usability testing, visual management

Heavy Metal and Process Improvement

15 May, 2019 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The checklist It isn’t very rock and roll is it?  Checklists are up there in the train spotting school of management.  The sort of activity carried out by dull earnest people who ought to put their clipboards down and get out a little more. Tiresome and tedious. Heavy metal I’m not big into heavy metal. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: accident prevention, checklist, devil is in the detail, operational excellence, visual management

The Rules of the Workplace

27 September, 2015 by James Lawther 3 Comments

The 20 rules: Prioritise the work Don’t make your customers wait There is always more work than people Study the work Understand how the work works Standardise the work If the work is important write it down Train your staff Make the work easy Build systems Stream line the work Find the bottleneck Clean the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Tools & Techniques, Wild Cards Tagged With: bottleneck, communication, customer focus, effective meetings, error proofing, five s, gemba, lean thinking, learning, process mapping, service improvement, SlideShare, standardisation, systems thinking, visual management

Rule 16: Communicate

23 August, 2015 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Communication

Operations work two ways: 1. Products and services flow one way: Insurance claims are paid Pizzas are delivered Passengers are transported Diagnoses are issued 2. Money and Information flow the other: Orders are placed Invoices are settled Requirements are specified Complaints are made Like yin and yang The flows are interconnected and interdependent, you need them both if the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: communication, gemba, supply chain, visual management

Rule 14: Make it Obvious

6 August, 2015 by James Lawther 3 Comments

Shaddow Board

Keeping the workplace clean is good But making it obvious is better. The picture is a shadow board of a kitchen knife rack. The shadows show where every knife should go. This is a good thing, the chef knows exactly where to look for a knife when he wants it. It removes confusion and speeds up […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: gemba, visual management

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