Improvement Insights Blog

All too often companies waste too much money, time and resources on waste and rework. Maybe it’s time to whittle it down.

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“Hi, I’m Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma For Hospitals” and QI Macros [software].

“When I was a kid, my mom and I went back to visit her mom and dad, my grandma and grandpa in Fairborn, Ohio, right outside of Dayton. My grandpa would sit on the front porch, and he would take twigs, and he would just sit there and whittle those twigs down. And eventually, when they got too small, he’d throw them out. If they got the right size, he’d use one as a toothpick and throw it out.

“And isn’t that the essence of waste and rework? If something’s too big, you whittle it down until it’s the right size. If it’s too small, you can’t use it, you can’t make it bigger, so you have to throw it away. That’s waste.

“So, look around. What things do you spend too much time whittling to try and make them fit? I talked to one company and they made… paramedic trucks. And one group was making the cabinets and things, but the cabinets didn’t fit. The other group had to rework the cabinets so they would fit. There was all this rework going on. Well, why don’t you just go back to people who make the cabinets and then make it the right size to fit into these things, right?

“So, that is my Improvement Insight. Stop whittling. Stop throwing stuff away. Let’s go out and improve something this week.”