Quality Circles were invented by Dr. Ishikawa as a way to empower workers to enhance product design, make the workplace safer and improve the processes they worked on. Led by trained facilitators, these work groups grew into what are know known as modern day Rapid Improvement Events, also known as…
A Task Board is a visual management tool that can help identify if action items have been completed by turning task board cards from red to green. For a better understanding of Task Boards and an overview of Lean Six Sigma, check out our Free Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Training,…
A daily meeting that is approximately 15 minutes long with direct reports. For a better understanding of Huddle Meetings and an overview of Lean Six Sigma, check out our Lean Training.
Parallel Processing indicates that two separate activities are taking place at the same time. This is a common improvement technique used to reduce the overall cycle time of any given process. This is the opposite of linear or serial processing. For a better understanding of Parallel Processing and an overview…
What are Process Voices? Process Voices captures the four distinct "voices" for any given process. The Voice of the Business reflects the needs of management. The Voice of the Employee relays what it feels like to work within the process. The Voice of the Customer details the needs of…
The Gemba Board is a method of collecting process issues and potential countermeasures that have been uncovered by the people working within the process. Once issues are surfaced they can be assigned to a person, a team or they may become the basis of a Rapid Improvement Event (aka Kaizen).…
The Process Walk Board is a method of collecting process issues and potential countermeasures that have been uncovered by the people working within the process. Once issues are surfaced they can be assigned to a person, a team or they may become the basis of a Rapid Improvement Event (aka…
A Kanban Board is relative of the Kanban cards (Kanban is Japanese for "signpost") that were originally developed to aid production at Toyota. Instead of "cards" the Kanban Board uses sticky notes or other visuals to represent tasks. These visual tasks move through different lanes to indicate where they are…
Leader Task Boards are a visual check system to review critical workplace items. It’s comprised of a list of tasks related to safety, quality, production, cost, Leader Standard Work and daily management. It’s a popular Visual Management tool that helps leaders monitor task completion at a glance. To learn how…
Leader Huddle Meetings are regular (often daily) meeting with direct reports. The Huddle Meetings are conducted in front of the Process Performance Boards in order to work from a visual of organizational metrics. The meetings take about 15 minutes and are often referred to as “Stand Up” meetings to ensure…