Lean or JDI?

Sometimes, people think of Lean Manufacturing as being very complicated. It doesn't have to be. There's a wonderful Lean technique, it is so simple that it's really advanced; it's called JDI or Just Do It. Here is an example.

I live in the country and ride a 920 pound Gold Wing motorcycle. I noticed it was getting harder and harder to pull out of my carport and get my bike turned around in my backyard. When I actually stopped and looked at the problem, it was easy to see that over time, my nice little path had become covered with huge hickory nuts and assorted stones, sticks and roots.

The solution? Just rake the darned crap out of the way and be done with it. Just Do It! Five minutes later, I was done. My solution took no money and hardly any time or effort. Now, my morning commute is not just more comfortable, it is also easier on my tires, shocks and springs and much safer.

A quick look revealed the problem. No wonder I was having a hard time.

My Just Do It solution? Rake the darned rocks and nuts into the woods. JDI!

The Easiest Part of Fixing What Bugs You

Making things better can be tricky. The tricky part is learning to notice what's wrong in an active way, not just in a bitching and moaning and blowing-it-off sort of way. Fortunately, there is a trick to it. What usually bugs us is waste, and there is an acronym that helps us learn to see waste. The acronym is T.I.M. W.O.O.D.S. Meaning:

Transportation

Inventory

Movement

Waiting

Over-production (the number one waste)

Over-processing

Defects and

Skills (the saddest waste).

When you get in the habit of learning to recognize these forms of waste, you are halfway done fixing them.

So, if recognizing waste is a trick you can learn, what's the easiest part of continuous improvement? The easiest part is, of course, coming up with solutions! As soon as you see the problem, you automatically see the solution. That's how our brains work. We are problem solving machines! We are making too many donuts, is the waste of over production. The solution? Stop making so many extra donuts! The answer is in the question.

Simple. Right? So, why is continuous improvement so difficult? Because it's always hard to change. It is always hard to get things done.

My suggestion is to schedule a half hour every morning, for making improvements. Make it part of your morning cleanup, your morning preparation, your morning routine. You grab a coffee, you clean up your work area, you make an improvement. When you are working in groups, you take a step forward on whatever your assignment was. Look up busiest day for donut sales? Done. Next day, breakdown donut sales by types. Done. Next day, put together a donut graph. Just one step forward every morning, first thing.

First thing every morning, make your life a little better. It's addictive. Especially when today's improvement makes every day a little bit better.