My first article for 2012 addressed New Year’s Resolutions and made the argument that they are a critical requirement for any personal Continuous Improvement program and speaks directly to “Plan, Do, Check, Adjust”. A year has gone by and I find that I believe in it still. I resolved that 2012 was going to be…
I am sure that for many of us, 2011 was quite the ride. And in spite of the considerable challenges and incredible odds, the vast majority of us made it to 2012 (certainly, those reading this article did). A “Hip-Hip-Hurray” to all of us!
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is the formal search for an individual or group of interacting true causes of a problem. The trick is to use the right tool to identify the root cause of a problem and not just the symptoms of a problem. It is common to find more than just one root cause…
Recently, technical discussions at a recent company revealed that there were four different meanings for the term “uptime”. In addition, at another global manufacturer, four plants in the same country utilized different definitions of OEE. Often, the data sources used, as well as the variable definitions and computational procedures are different. Also, plants tend to develop their…
Stuff…. Wikipedia defines “stuff” as “items, things or matter”. It goes on to say that; “Stuff” can also refer to a particular woolen cloth woven in the United Kingdom and – somewhat disturbingly – “stuffing” is referred to as a “substance” often placed in the cavities of food items. A “substance”? Like it’s otherwise unidentifiable? I…
