Was the Shard really built on a 6ft slab?
Perhaps the developers Sellar Property Group in association with London Bridge Quarter Ltd or the designer: Italian architect, Renzo Piano could help shed more light.
But irrespective of what The Shard was built on – if you want your business to reach new performance heights, three fundamental building blocks need to be in place.
Given that your ultimate business aims are to design out overburden and inconsistency and to eliminate waste…
Organising all jobs around human motion and creating an efficient sequence of tasks without waste, organised in such a way is ‘standard work’.
Total efficiency is basing your entire system on achieving the complete elimination of all waste in pursuit of the most efficient methods.
When you consider that there are two aspects which have to be taken into consideration in sense of elimination of waste.
1) An improvement only makes sense if it has a reduction in costs as a result. This means that only things are allowed to be produced which are really needed. This production has to be accomplished with the minimum of workforce.
2) The efficiency of all workers that are involved in the production system (including supporting functions such as HR, Sales, Design, Engineering, etc.) as well as every assembly line needs to be analysed to find potential aspects of waste reduction.
That means, if only actual work is considered as work and everything else is considered as waste, the result would be the following equation: capacity = work + waste
Let’s look at the building blocks that need to be in place for a business to reach new performance heights.
1. Workplace Organisation (“A systematic approach to safety, encouraging ownership, and promoting self-discipline”)
Top 3 typical symptoms of this not being in place:
- No clear expectations
- Communication styles
- Poor layout
With the top 3 benefits of implementation being:
- Abnormality at a glance (5ft in 5secs)
- Defined performance & standards & status to plan
- Quality improvement (Right First Time)
2. Visual Management (“Visually conveying the current status of a work area compared to plan visually/audibly highlighting an abnormality as it occurs”)
Top 3 typical symptoms of this not being in place:
- Erratic Layout
- Firefighting
- Out of Control
With the top 3 benefits of implementation being:
- Conveys current status to plan (Status in a glance)
- Clear signage & standards (audible & visual)
- Clarity & Efficiency
3. Standard Work (“The documented best current method to carry out a task with minimum labour, space, inventory and equipment.”)
Top 3 typical symptoms of this not being in place:
- Excuses and blame
- Poor process adherence
- Haphazard work flow & sequence
With the top 3 benefits of implementation being:
- Safest way
- Established & clarified guidelines for: Quality, Quantity, Staffing (manpower)
- Clear root cause and solid foundation for C.I
The concept of continuous process improvement can be implemented at any level of an organisation as well as in any type of industry. There are processes in every task which have the potential for improvement, especially through the continuous increasing use of information technology and digitalisation – but fundamental building blocks need to be in place.
#workplaceorganisation #visualmanagement #standardwork
To arrange a consultancy visit or book an appointment with TML Group please email: tony@tmlgroup.co.uk or call
