Pipe marking communicates all the necessary information about the pipelines including the content, direction and flow rate. Arrows are used to indicate the flow direction while colors often indicate the nature of the content.
Andon lights are powerful visual tools which are installed on production machines to indicate their current status. They are very useful in bringing immediate attention to problems as soon as they arise.
A restaurant team has constructed a why-why diagram to resolve a complaint regarding the increased number of customer complaints about the taste of the coffee they make.
This 5 Whys example is often used during our Lean Six Sigma workshops. Notice the difference between the assumed cause and the root cause.
In this example, a team used the 5 Whys approach to determine the reason behind a customer complaint about the delayed test results at a laboratory. Only four Whys were required to get to what looks to be the root cause.
This is an example that uses the 5 Whys approach to answer a concern during a Lean Six Sigma workshop. Note that you can carry on asking Why and ask, “why doesn’t maintenance department have a schedule for routine activities?”.
5 Whys can be done in a team setting or on an individual basis. This is an example of a template that you can use to record your 5 Whys analysis.
This example illustrates the use of the how-how analysis technique to identify ways to reduce the amount of energy used in a production plant.
This is an example that illustrates the use of the how-how analysis technique to identify ways to achieve the goal of reducing spoilage in a manufacturing business.
This is an example of a template that can be used to manage your problem solving efforts using the A3 approach.
A common example often used to illustrate the PDCA cycle is when a team is initiating a new product development.
This is an example of a PDCA cycle where a lab team has planned to solve a customer’s complaint about the delayed test results.
The example shown here is the output of a brainstorming session on the causes of the increased invoice errors for a particular company. Note that this fishbone diagram is labeled with the 6 Ms.
The example shown here is the output of a brainstorming session on causes of the increased coolant consumption in a manufacturing plant. Note that this fishbone diagram is labeled with the 6 Ms.
A restaurant manager has noticed an increase in the number of customer complaints regarding the taste of the coffee they make. His team has constructed a fishbone diagram and added the possible causes for only two categories.
