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Coefficient of Variation
One of the things that I have noticed as I look out at the world is – things change. The weather changes, the tides change, and customer demand changes. Of these three, variation in customer demand...
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US National Debt Reaches $16.7 Trillion 170 Million Jobs Will be Lost Due to Sequester ET–Elvis Love Child Raised by Bigfoot We are constantly confronted with data. Some good, some bad, some out of...
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Quick and Easy Continuous Variable Gage R&R Test
Looking for something to do? Why not run a continuous variable gage repeatability and reproducibility test? Our experience is that while many organizations have their key measurement devices on a...
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George E.P. Box (10/18/1919 – 3/28/2013)
I am saddened to learn of the passing of George E.P. Box. I never met him, but like many, I knew him through his work. I have read and reread several of his books. They are some of my most prized...
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Average – Not Always Plain and Simple
When most people hear the word average they think normal, typical, boring. But, in many cases that is very far from the truth. Averages can not only be interesting, but also impossible! Consider the...
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To Celebrate, or Not to Celebrate, the t-Test Will Tell
So you cut your cycle time by 10%. …Or did you? We are constantly experimenting. We make improvements, measure our performance and update standard work. In comparing the cycle time before and after a...
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Got a Second?
Suppose you saved a second today. You went to work and you found a way to shave one second off the time it takes you to complete your daily tasks. Your achievement will most likely not make the...
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When Better Is Worse (or Don’t Forget Process Capability)
When evaluating countermeasures, it is common to determine which countermeasure has the best average result. A lazy analyst may then conclude that the countermeasure with the overall best average is...
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Need to Identify Your Value Streams? Take a Trip around Manhattan.
Lean practitioners must properly identify product families in order to value stream map a given family’s flow of material and information. That’s very important, but not always simple. In order to...
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Bayes’ Theorem and the VMA’s Were Outrageous (Again)
The VMA’s were outrageous?!? Well, if the media is to be believed, the news of the day was that it was an outrageous Video Music Award show. Not true and true. Yes – the show was outrageous, no – it...
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Blocking without Pads
Blocking, not to be confused with the type that exposes one to the risk of physical injury, is a REALLY clever way to run experiments. Blocking can be thought of as grouping experimental runs. And when...
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Math-Assisted Decision Making
Having trouble deciding what to do? Some lean math can help! Resources are not infinite. Often we have more improvement opportunities to work on than we can accommodate. A simple but powerful...
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Numeric Simulation, Apple Pie Sales, and Thanksgiving
Accurately determining the appropriate stocking levels of perishable items is very important. Stock too few items and you will have disappointed customers. Stock too many and you’ll have unsold product...
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Markov Model Mania (or Will You Stay in Business?)
We are coming to the end of the year so it is a good time to reflect on where we have been and start thinking about next year. And to make the thinking definite, let’s suppose that you estimate that...
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Three Correlation Cautions
Be cautious when there’s some, be cautious when there’s none, and be cautious when adding more than one. What do the heck does that mean??? Let’s take these correlation cautions one by one. Be cautious...
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Snow Plow and Water Spider Routes
A rather simple sounding but often vexing challenge that faces lean practitioners is: What is the optimal physical route for pickups and/or deliveries? This is especially true for a fixed interval,...
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George’s Lean Transformation Math
So, you have been asked to lead an enterprise wide transformation. How many kaizen events should you plan on conducting in order to achieve sustained improvement? In his book, Leading the Lean...
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Agile: Planning Projects with Poker and Pi
Plan-Do-Check-Act is the key learning cycle that is at the foundation of lean thinking. But how do you make a good plan, and more specifically, how do you estimate how long the tasks in the plan will...
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Basic Probability (or What Are the Chances?)
Let’s suppose there are three BIG potential orders in your sales pipeline. What are your chances that you are going to win an order? This is a question that faces manufacturing and service industries...
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Pick’s Theorem (or Pick an Area, Any Area)
Pick’s Theorem is a simple way to calculate area. This theorem is particularly useful when calculating the reduction of square feet (or square meters) that was achieved by improving a process layout....
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