But first another question…

What is this:

Answer: A drill. 6mm diameter, 100mm long for concrete drilling.

Can you say how many people in the world wanted to have exactly this drill in the year 2019? Difficult question?

Do you need to make some calculations based on a few assumptions?

What if I said to you that no one in the entire world wanted to have this drill in the year 2019 or any other year. Certainty millions of these drills are sold every year. However, what a person really wants is something very different. This person may be just wanting a 6mm hole in a wall, other person maybe is wishing to hang a painting or attaching a support or fixing a loose lamp. That sort of things is what a person really wants when he or she buys the 6mm drill. The drill is just a tool, a mean to an end.

Shopfloor meetings

Now, how many people wanted to have shop floor meetings in their factories? I guess you got the idea… no one… What someone really wants is to have fast solutions to daily problems, keep productivity high, improve quality, reduce cost. These sort of things. Shop floor meetings are just a tool, a mean to an end. If your tool has not given you what you really want, then it might be time to adjust. The same way as a football coach gathers the team during brake time to align and adjust the tacticts, the shopfloor meeting also is there to enable fast reactions and should also be constantly adjusted to fit the current situation.

Be clear on what you want to achieve, then choose the right tool for the job, adjust and tweek until you get the result you need.

Besides shop floor meetings, there are innumerous other tools, methods and principles which can help manufacturing industries to progress. A list of 44 tools and principles related to lean manufacturing can be found here.

Enjoy your reading and see you next time.