THE LEAN MINDSET
Lean Thinking & The Lean Mindset
There are a few things you can train your mind to do in order to start “thinking lean”. Once you have mastered the basics of 2-Second Lean from the previous section, start considering these. They are all concepts which will help mould you into a lean thinker. You will be able to see waste and problem-solve better than ever before.
As an exercise, visit the factory floor and look around. Try and apply each of these concepts in turn to the same problem, and see what results you get.
What's in this chapter?
Fix What Bugs You
Fixing something that bugs you is one of the simplest ways of identifying improvements in your work.
The "5 Whys" Method
If you keep asking why something is happening, you can go upstream and find root causes of issues.
Leave It Better Than You Found It
A basic mantra to ensure high standards is to leave things better than you found them.
Keeping the Rope Tight
If you cut a tight rope, you notice, not so much with a slack one. Keep the rope tight at your work and you will soon notice if anything “cuts” the rope.
Poka-Yoke
Poka-Yoke is Japanese for “Mistake Proofing”. Eliminate waste from errors by preventing the chance of the error ever happening!
3S - Sweep, Sort, Standardise
Keep things clean, sort what you need and don’t need, then set simple rules and standards for yourself.
Quick Wins
Largescale improvements can feel like a burden at times, sometimes focusing on the quicker improvements can yield amazing results.
Small Improvements vs Collaborative Improvements
Sometimes when waste is identified, the solution may be too much for one person to solve, that’s when it becomes a collaborative improvement.
Respecting the Customer - Internal & External
Customers can be the people buying your product, of the people working alongside you. Treating them all with respect is absolutely essential though.
