“The First Law of Mentat”, from Dune
“A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.”
This is the critical first step in all improvement efforts…understanding the flow. Be it parts in the factory or data in the office, all work is characterized by flow. The goal with workflow is to make it definable, repeatable and predictable; to streamline, shorten and optimize it; to make it mistake proof. All of this is possible with a sound Kaizen and the journey begins with understanding the workflow. This is easily accomplished with a workshop as follows:
Purpose of the Workshop
* Learn how to visually describe work
* Develop “eyes” for “seeing” tasks within a process
* Become capable in creating “standard work” documentation for office and shop processes
Success at the end of the Workshop…
Participants will be able to take work which must be accomplished and people with content expertise and
Visually describe the sequence of events required by the work with supporting details, state the core purpose and core process, the outputs of the work and beliefs which guide how the work is performed so that
The work is definable, repeatable, predictable and can be handed-off without loss of continuity.
Prerequisite skills:
- Disciplined thinking
- Curiosity
- Openness
- Objectivity
- Honesty