July 2023 Community Newsletter

News: July 2023

This month I've had a great time visiting a number of "gemba" where we are conducting teaching and coaching activities. A couple of weeks ago David Marriott and I kicked off Rapid Problem Solving at a partner site. There's nothing like teaching and coaching to help you reflect. The participants had a useful range of problem solving experience, were great at analysing data and asked thought provoking questions.

Here are 3 that I thought useful to share:

• "I understand problem solving is about closing gaps. What is the difference between a caused and created gap?"

A caused gap occurs where there is a difference between where we are and where our current standard is. We can close these gaps through troubleshooting or by structured problem solving to find the root cause. By closing a caused gap we are reacting to the situation. A created gap occurs where we are meeting our current standard but want to improve beyond it, raising it. Here we set a target condition, going beyond the existing performance of a stable process. Created problems can also be closed by structured problem solving or by innovative approaches. Closing created gaps is proactive.

• "How do I decide the 'problem to pursue'?"?

There may be a number of problems associated with a gap. We need to analyse the gap to find the problem to pursue. These may be based upon frequency of occurrence, intensity of occurrence or the impact of solving the problem. Most organisations have an infinite number of problems but a finite amount of time to work on them. Therefore it's important to dedicate the right amount of time and resources to solving the "right" problems.

• "When I'm using a structured problem solving approach how do I ensure I don't go off solving other problems but not addressing the one I identified from the gap analysis?"

There are several tips and tricks. One is to ensure your "problem to pursue" is followed through to an investigation of direct causes. For example you can put the problem to pursue in the head of a fishbone diagram, then investigate each of the items in the fishbone to determine if there is a cause/effect relationship between the potential identified cause and the problem (effect.) Can you do the equivalent of a "light switch test?" Turning the problem on and off. Don't forget the problem to pursue can have more than one direct cause.

We've developed a useful hint sheet for our Rapid Problem Solving learning process. We think it's a useful way of developing strong problem solving thinking without being too prescriptive. It's available as part of the on-line learning platform. We hope you find it useful.

If you are just about to depart for vacation. Happy holidays!

Best wishes,

Dave Brunt

How to Apply Lean thinking & Practice with John Shook & David Brunt

At our UK Lean Summit John Shook and?Dave Brunt discussed The Lean Transformation Framework.?Dive into the insightful wisdom shared by Dave and John in this keynote?and gain valuable knowledge that can transform your own approach.

Lean Certification Blog

On the LEA blog, Dave Brunt discusses lean certification and contrasts it with Toyota's approach to capability development and why LEA doesn't offer lean certification.?

Irrespective of your sector, the article highlights lean as a learning journey, with insights and reflections along the way.

Access the Blog Here

UK Lean Summit - 23rd - 24th April 2024 - Registrations Now Open!

Registrations for the UK Lean Summit 2024 are now open! Simply click the link below to purchase your ticket. If you'd prefer to pay via invoice contact?[email protected]. We?will be also releasing more information about Pre-Summit and Post-Summit Events soon.

Purchase UK Lean Summit 2024 Tickets Here

Lean Learning Platform

Our learning platform offers a unique approach for?developing your capability in Lean Thinking & Practice through our learning processes and materials.?Our goal is to enable you to become self-reliant on your lean journey, enabling you to?achieve?better, faster, and more cost-effective results.

Want to get started on our learning platform or simply find out more? Click the link below.

Explore our Learning Platform

As always, thank you for taking the time to read our Newsletter,

The Lean Enterprise Academy Team

Get in touch by either emailing?[email protected]?or completing our online?enquiry form.