Get Back to Basics with a Uttana.Com Course on Lean Fundamentals

Keeping a large scale operation running at peak efficiency is a tricky task, requiring a lot of attention to both the big picture and the little details that affect the bottom line.

Big Picture vs the Details:

When trying to monitor, control and manage a large scale operation, it is important to look closely at the big picture. There you can find the numbers that will show you how well your operation is running. Things like production reports, material usage reports, time/work analysis, labor vs output figures and of course, the all important bottom line act as a dashboard showing at a glance the relative health and vitality of your organization.

If those number go off, you know something is wrong somewhere. But how do you find the problem? And once you find it, how do you fix it? Or a better question: How do you prevent the problems in the first place?

Get Back to Basics- Majoring in the Details:

While it is tempting to ignore the little things when watching the big picture, it is those little things that are holding up that big picture in the first place.

If the details are being executed properly, then the overall plan will roll out properly.If the overall plan is functioning as it should, then the bottom line figures will be healthy and prosperous.

Lean management is all about the little things; the wastes that must be eliminated. The supplies and tools that must be organized for maximum efficiency. The cleaning, the communicating and the ongoing commitment to improve. All about the details.

Correcting and Preventing Problems by Reinforcing Lean Basics:

Uttana has a number of courses on the basic principles of Lean management. When you implemented Lean, you probably viewed many of them. But it is just as important to review those courses from time to time to keep the lessons of Lean fresh in your mind.

• Introduction to Lean: While it may seem elementary, it is important to review what Lean is and how it works. Otherwise, workers and managers forget how important the 5S principles are to the overall operation.

• Lean Wastes: The biggest enemy of your Lean operation is waste. And though you may have gotten it on the run, it remains, lurking in the shadows, ready to deplete your resources, sap your efficiency, and ruin your bottom line. Only by continually reviewing the principles of waste reduction and how to identify and eliminate the 7 wastes of Lean can you keep your Lean operation from reverting to form.

• Fundamentals Course: Lean Fundamentals course should not only be part of a regular review course, but should be consulted when ever any major changes are being proposed. It is important that every change be made in the light of the original Lean plans.

• The Terms of Lean: Lean methodologies has a language all its own, and it is important that everyone working in a Lean environment is on the same page when it comes to terminology.

• Lean Communication: The Lean system makes use of simple and effective methods of communicating information both from management and from the work force. These chains of communication are vital to an effective Lean system and must be reinforced regularly.