Blog

What I know from the floor, written so you can use it on Monday

One article per tool, with the mistake I see most often and how to fix it. No loose theory.

A clock like circular form divided into two unequal geometric segments by a clean line, on a dark green background

Lean and kaizen

SMED: getting changeover down to a single digit

Two hours of changeover, the line stopped, the supervisor watching the clock. Nobody separated yet what the stopped machine requires from what could have been ready beforehand.

Two sand colored geometric containers connected by a rectangular card in transit, on a dark green background

Lean and kaizen

Kanban on the floor: the card that stopped moving

The card leaves the station, it is supposed to come back, and one day it stops. Nobody notices until material runs short on one line or piles up on another.

A short bright geometric block connected to a long fading line trailing to the right, on a dark green background

Lean and kaizen

Kaizen event: what happens after the week ends

Applause on Friday, a clean board, before and after photos. And the question nobody answers that same week: what happens next Monday.

Golden geometric rings connected by a flowing line on a dark green background, with empty space on the left

Lean and kaizen

Lean manufacturing: the part nobody installs first

A kanban board, a kaizen event on the calendar, even a couple of certified green belts. And the one question that should have come first, still unanswered.

Eight gold discs in an ascending row on a dusty teal ledge, the last one sealed inside a thin sand colored ring

Problem solving

8D step by step: the format your customer will ask for

The formal complaint lands and the email asks for "a complete 8D by Friday." Half the plants I know open the last one they closed and swap the part number.

A sand colored sheet with one corner folded and thin gold grid lines, with a dusty teal circle marked on it

Problem solving

The A3 report: one page that orders a whole problem

A twenty slide deck on the same problem, and by slide twelve nobody remembers what slide five said. One A3 sheet tells the whole story at a glance.

A sand colored root branching into gold threads beneath a dusty teal horizontal line

Problem solving

Root cause analysis: the evidence I ask for first

"I think it was the material," somebody says, with the confidence of a person who has seen it before. Nobody asked for the lot certificate.

Five gold arrows cascading downward, each one smaller than the last, ending on a dusty teal base

Problem solving

The 5 whys: why almost everyone stops at number three

Three whys in, and the whiteboard already has a name on it. That name marks the exact point where the team stopped asking.

Green steps under soft light on a dark green background

Problem solving

FMEA: why yours has not reduced a single defect

The PFMEA passed the audit. Two hundred lines, every action closed. And scrap is exactly where it was a year ago.

A gold disc and a green disc nested together on a dark green background

Problem solving

Poka yoke examples you can copy this week

The operator is in hour eight and the part goes in backwards once in a while. Retraining will not fix it. A stop block will.

Two gold rulers standing upright on a dark green floor, in order

Lean and kaizen

5S audit: the five minute check that makes it hold

The area was spotless for the customer visit. Three months later nobody can find the torque wrench. What was missing fits in five minutes.

A green tray, a gold caliper, a sand colored notebook and a blue wrench on a workbench

Problem solving

Fishbone diagram: why yours is not working

Twelve branches filled in and not one proven cause. That is how most of them end, and the defect comes back next month wearing a different name.

Next step

What is holding your operation back today?

Tell me the concrete problem. I will tell you whether it is mine to solve or someone else’s, and what I would do first.

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