Client: Major Aerospace Manufacturer Situation A major aerospace manufacturer engaged Andy Watkins LLC after internal teams spent more than three months attempting to resolve a persistent machining challenge within an aerospace component production line. Despite ongoing effort, the desired performance and consistency targets were not achieved. Action Upon engagement, Andy Watkins LLC conducted a focused evaluation […]
Having a problem is not an issue. How you handle the problem is what matters most. We all could think of many examples of the issues we run into when attempting to problem-solve. To list a few we have: lack of ideas, communication barriers between blue- and white-collar workers, lack of participation, reluctance to share […]
What experiences have you had with solving business problems? Do you believe that tools like the Affinity Diagram, the Interrelation Digraph, and the Nominal Group Technique are a help to open up useful dialog and create breakthroughs? What successes have you had using quality management tools? #continuousimprovement #leanmanufacturing #leanthinking #operationalexcellence #leantransformation #continuouslearning #manufacturingexcellence #hoshin #processimprovement […]
In the last few posts we covered some of the basic tools of Hoshin Kanri. Let’s take a look at an example where these tools helped to create a Ahh-ha! moment. The problem: Operators were not always filling out routers correctly and not always scanning the barcodes to move the part to the next op. […]
We have covered some basic tools of Hoshin Kanri that will help you find those pivotal breakthroughs in business. We have learned that the Affinity Diagram will help us gather, group, and organize ideas from our subject matter experts. The Interrelation Digraph helps us understand how these groups of ideas have influence on each other […]
We have covered some of the Hoshin Kanri tools that you can use to create breakthroughs for the most stubborn issues. Our last three posts covered the intro to Hoshin, using the Affinity Diagram(AD), and the Interrelation Digraph. So then how do we get group consensus to focus on the key actions that we have […]
In our last 2 posts we covered how to use some basic tools of Hoshin Kanri like the Affinity Diagram (AD). Now let’s look at how we can find cause and effect relationships from the natural groupings we created using the AD. Enter the Interrelation Digraph. (IRD) The facilitator will place the header cards from […]
Our last post introduced how Hoshin Kanri helps create Ahh-ha! moments to solve business related issues. Let’s discuss how the Affinity Diagram works in this process. It allows a team of subject matter experts to quickly gather ideas and organize them into natural groupings. This exercise will have everyone discussing the merits of each idea […]
How Hoshin Kanri helps your team of experts uncover surprising breakthroughs and solutions for your business. Let’s discuss three simple yet powerful tools of Hoshin Kanri. The Affinity Diagram, The Interrelational Digraph, and The Nominal Group Technique. Utilizing each tool in succession will produce Ahh-ha! moments that each member of the team will have ownership […]