Len Bertain offentlig
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This is a continuous flow of episodes consisting of Len reading chapters (or parts of) to provide a source of information for interested followers. Each book is a series of 10 to 18 episodes. You can scan up from the first reading of the podcast from his book with George Sibbald, "The Tribal Knowledge Paradigm". Then he will read from his book Tribal Knowledge Innovation - Terms, Phrases and Concepts" which is an overview of the various terms and such that he uses in his problem solving sess ...
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SUMMARY (The 90 Day Schedule) How to win the War on Waste in 90 days? Having read the book, you can now ask me again: “How can I win the War on Waste in 90 Days?” First of all, you sign up with me.[1] Or do it on your own with a consulting phone support from me. Or you just do it and if you get in trouble, call me. It really is pretty easy to do. I…
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The 7 things listed below are items that you need to do to make the War on Waste work successfully. Begin the 6 Steps of the War on Waste! Of course, that is what this whole process is about. Start it up and stand back. This is really a fun process. Use the tools of the War on Waste. Tools of the War on Waste were explained throughout the book. Cha…
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8. Strategy This is not a chapter to compete with other treatises on strategy. There are a number of great tomes on the subject. This chapter is merely to place it in context within the War on Waste. The War on Waste led to the idea that strategy became aligned with process in the program. We referenced Michael Porter,[1] who is the pre-eminent str…
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9. The TKC The War on Waste creates the ideas and a process to get ideas into play. But it still requires a formal process to get new ideas into the system. Once the War on Waste is completed, the company still wants new ideas to continue. When the War on Waste is over, the implemented ideas need to be tracked. That is achieved with the Tribal Know…
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10. FAQs Have you ever done a company like ours? This is one of the most interesting questions that I get asked. The answer is pretty easy. Probably not or if I did one like yours, it still wasn’t yours. And that doesn’t matter a bit. The War on Waste is about fixing a company’s processes. It doesn’t make any difference what business you are in, th…
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6. Value-adding There are a number of ways to define this term. We define it simply as “what customers are willing to pay for.” In any business, everyone needs to understand why the business exists and how it makes money. As we do the War on Waste, we ask a very simple question, “What does this company do to add value?” The answer to this simple qu…
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7. Tools of the War Over the years, we used tools of the trade in unique ways. We borrowed tools from friends. And we made up our own tools. Some of these are worth noting. 120/20 Rule of Profits. There is a corollary to the 80/20 Rule. A business “turn around” consulting friend showed us this rule. We have all seen it. It is the 120/20 Rule of Pro…
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5. Using the Mission Statement We made an observation early on. It wasn’t a life changing experience but it was part of many of our conversations. We noted that the Mission Statement is rarely involved in decision-making. Once a few bright MBAs put a Mission Statement together, it goes somewhere to die. It just isn’t involved in the daily routine. …
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No Excuses The No Blame motto was developed to encourage employees to come up with ideas. It serves as their protection from the Black Knights that fight change in the organization. But there is a downside. When an employee invokes “No Blame” there is no accountability and that’s why we came up with the idea of “No Excuses”. When an employee team f…
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4. No Blame The War on Waste (waste is anything in the company that keeps money from being made) begins with an idea. It doesn’t matter the size of the company, if you want to find out what’s wrong with the company, listen to an employee’s idea. The idea is not just any idea; it is an idea that identifies a waste in one of the business processes. I…
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3. The War on Waste The War on Waste consists of the 6 steps noted in the previous chapter. We would like to expand on them a little bit here. If the program is a company initiative, the CEO or top Exec needs to announce the campaign and require that everyone get on board. If it starts with a single team, working a project through the Internet eWOW…
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2. How I Got Started The story began twenty-nine years ago, as I stood in front of a group of employees who had been forced to attend a class I had been contracted to deliver. It was a training program that introduced a small manufacturing company to the principles of the Toyota Production System (TPS). The Toyota Production System is the basis of …
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1. What is Waste? In the Toyota Production System, Taiichi Ohno, its developer, identified 7 major wastes: · Waste of over production (largest waste) – making too much of a product and not being able to sell it. Idle inventory is a waste. · Waste of time on hand (waiting) – of course this would be waste because while a worker is not adding value, h…
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I told a client about the title of this book and he laughed. “Len,” he said, “I grant you, we got the processes under control and we made a lot of money as a result of your efforts in less than 90 days. But it is an ongoing effort. Paying attention to our inefficiencies is a continual struggle. But we know how to deal with them. And that is what th…
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As I have delivered the War on Waste for 25 years, I have watched CEOs become shocked as their employees dissected their companies with laser precision as they developed and presented proposals to management. Many CEOs were flabbergasted that their employees could be so smart. Others knew the talent was there but didn’t want to spend the time to fi…
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I love delivering the War on Waste over the years. We have recently migrated the program to the Internet and call it High ROI Problem Solving. There seemed to be some problem with people and the term "War on Waste." And we have changed the name of our Internet company to "The Consortium of Problem Solvers." We really have a consortium of Problem So…
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At the end of the War on Waste, Mr. Grimes will have completed the first phase of the process that is required to create an innovation culture that we call the “Quantum Leap Company.” The War on Waste is Phase 0. It gets the company started but that’s all it does. If the process dies out after a couple of months, which most lean manufacturing initi…
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In a political war, treason is a capital offense punishable by death. A similar rule applies to the War on Waste. In a recent engagement, one of the CEOs who really understood what the War on Waste was about, stood up on the last day of class and gave a rousing speech to his employees. At the end, he said, “I am the General of our War on Waste. We …
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In this chapter, we find Chris is freaking out because his turf is being encroached upon. He is obviously protecting his special Tribal Knowledge and is resentful that any one would think that he could do anything wrong. As Jim points out, his information is not only wrong but it costs the manufacturing operation time and therefore the company a lo…
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A brief comment here on the role that Energy plays in our business model. Energy is one of the most important concepts to explain what happens during the War on Waste or any such business initiative. We use the term “energy” to describe the process of increasing the value-adding activity of a company. From my Physics days, I use the Second Law of T…
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This is what a War on Waste does and the energy is seen in the discussion with Chris in this chapter. It adds energy to a company. In the story of Quality Pump, at this point in the process, lots of Energy is going into the company and so order is being restored as seen in some of the early improvements that are taking place. Think of the War on Wa…
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A number of different types of initiatives have been sponsored by different CEOs. For instance, Ray Dolby of Dolby Laboratories has a culture that flourishes on the energy created by the company’s fixation on audio sound system perfection. That environment creates its own sources of energy. Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines creates energy initiat…
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The second and third parts of the characteristics of the Quantum Leap Company are: Step 2: Recognize Ideas. If you get nothing else from this book, understand this: recognizing the importance of ideas is crucial to the success of this paradigm. No Blame protects the idea from renegade managers and other Black Knights in the Quantum Leap Company. If…
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Step 4: Manage Change. The CEO must agree that he or she will be in charge of change management within the company. It is not the job of a Change Agent—the CEO manages the Change Agent, not the other way around. The CEO must also be alert for the next major change initiative that will drive the organization to greater success. We are averse to maki…
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Step 5: Define the Energy Initiative Plan for the Company. As noted under Energy Initiative, the key to a sustained corporate energy level is implementing a program to ensure on-going infusion of energy into the company. These energy initiatives will keep the company employees motivated. As noted in the energy initiative definition, every CEO must …
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The creation of the CRB is an important part of this process. It is the way that we are able to insure a continuation of the process and move the company to the Quantum Leap Company. It is through the continuation of ideation (the process of generating ideas) and conversion ot the ideas to innovations that our clients are able to sustain this cultu…
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The CRB is the CEO’s mechanism to manage change and encourage ideas. In the Quantum Leap Company, the CEO has three newly defined job responsibilities: 1) managing change, 2) coordinating ideas of innovation and 3) searching for the next energy infusion initiative. The CRB helps the CEO with two of those functions (change and ideas), and it is amaz…
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You will notice that we don’t call this the “Innovation” Review Board but the “Change” Review Board. Although the CRB manages the ideas that are submitted to it, when they are completed they become innovations or one of the four types of innovation: incremental, disruptive, organizational and new business structure. In a typical distribution 85% of…
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Historically, the 80/20 Rule was the greatest tool in our bag of tricks before we discovered the 5/67 rule. The 80/20 rule tells us that 80% of revenues comes from 20% of customers, 80% of customer problem calls come from 20% of customers (hopefully they aren’t the same as the customers generating 80% of the revenues) and so forth. I remember learn…
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In this chapter, we find that Bonnie has some Tribal Knowledge that is clearly untapped. When challenged with a problem, she brings up her credentials and contributes to a great idea. It represents another example of unused Tribal Knowledge. It is present in the company the minute that Bonnie joined. But then it sits untapped. When we try to get a …
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As a corollary to the major War on Waste Paradox, consider this. Why is it that companies care about their people but don’t care about what they know? I call these little gems, “War on Waste Paradox Corollaries.” The greatest waste is the mind. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. And that is what this book is really about. Enjoy, Len…
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SMED has application in just about all businesses. We did a project at a hospital that was planning to expand their facility. They were going to raise $6 million for this new hospital wing. When we did a SMED analysis on surgery we found that they were using the surgery rooms to only about 20% of their capacity. For instance, when a surgery was com…
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Over the years of doing this work in Problem Solving, I am always amazed about SMED as a tool. When you explain the concept of separating value-added steps from wasteful non-value-added steps, you watch the lights click on as employees grasp the concept. 30 years ago when I did a bank and I asked a stupid question, "Who in the bank adds value?" Tal…
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Are we having fun yet? We talked in the chapter about 5/67 Analysis. In the real world of the War on Waste, 5/67 Analysis is what we call a “forcing function.” In the hands of an engineer, it serves as the forcing function to define the 5% of the features that give 67% of the benefit. It forces rapid prototyping. Today, the goal of the engineering …
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How do you know that you have identified a good waste to work on? In the December, 2001 issue of Fast Company magazine, Tom Peters made an observation that I have been using in War on Waste projects since I started in 1985. Peters observed that good ideas came from someone who was “pissed about something.” In his perception, things only happen in t…
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In the last episode, the problem described was a good example of Tribal Knowledge gone amok. The scheduler loved to respond to crises and he and the shop foreman had an unwritten understanding that all jobs identified as priorities by the CEO would be introduced into the schedule to meet the targeted dead line. They did this knowing full well that …
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No one owns the market on ideas. This last sequence with our hero getting interesting and valuable input from someone who doesn’t know anything about his work, namely his wife, is very real. It comes from one of my most exciting moments as a consultant. I was in a class and a couple of machinists were arguing about the best way to do something. The…
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In my view, Tribal Knowledge applies to situations like this all the time. In this case, the Tribal Knowledge was contained in the past experiences of the receptionist. It was her unique skill set or her past experiences that defined the receptionist’s untapped Tribal Knowledge. The story of Sully, the plater, is again one of those real situations …
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Dr. Elbie seems to be pleased with the way the training is going. Tony gets into the process and helps Bonnie understand how Sales can be more involved in what's going on in the plant. The interesting thing about Yes/No charts is that they serve as anchors for making it clear that No Blame is operational as a philosophy at the company. By that I me…
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In the War on Waste Problem Solving, everyone is involved. It always seems that people in the accounting department want to hide out away from the rest of the company. They can in the old Quality Pumps. But in the new Quality Pumps, they will be involved. The problem that most companies create is isolation of functions. In fact, that is the basis o…
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Dr. Elbie and Mr. Grimes begin the first serious discussion of the War on Waste Paradox. It concludes with an observation that a paradox exists when Managers say things like: “I trust my people." when he really meant: “I trust my people but not all of them." I don’t know how many people have heard this anywhere, but I sure have. People hear stuff l…
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When you watch this process unfold in company after company, it is indeed a pleasure and an honor. The employees are telling me that they are on board and want to make the company better. And surprisingly, this happens very quickly. In this chapter, we delve into the Process Map and it is a mind blower. An interesting thing about doing a process ma…
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Dr. Elbie does a pretty good job of explaining Yes/No Charts. When people first hear about them they dismiss them as primitive. But the bulk of the resistance to change or modifying of Tribal Knowledge and integrating it into the mainstream of the business process requires a formal behavior modification tool. And that is the Yes/No Chart. It is ver…
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Ideas generate enthusiasm for work. And sometimes that enthusiasm can get us in trouble, just like our hero. One of the greatest motivators for work is psychic reward from the job environment. People get turned on when they have opportunities to introduce ideas. If a company just allows ideas to happen, profits will follow. In the War on Waste, Mr.…
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Teams are integral to the success of No Blame Management enterprises. The problem with most efforts using teams to create value in a company is that personnel who are not familiar with the work objectives of the teams are assigned to head up these efforts. Perhaps the key to the success of any team, whether it is a work team or a sports team, is th…
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We call the War on Waste process a discovery because as the process goes forward, all employees realize that they can contribute to the improvement process and each idea, small or large, is important. And as the dialogue of the classroom continues, the employees are starting to see the mess that they have created together. And yet, the process is s…
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One of the more interesting discussions that we have is what we call GAP Analysis. It is a way to describe the skills and opportunities that the company has to offer the market and what the company delivers to the needs and wants of the customers. Where this two capabilities and requirements intersect is the value added part of the equation. Where …
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They get into a discussion of a problem that requires input from all those in the room and a few that aren't. Problem Solving in this program is always a group effort. That is a recognition of the value of how extensive Tribal Knowledge really is. It is spread throughout the company and no one has total knowledge of what goes on in a company and ho…
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A word of caution: be careful when you get into a discussion of what is value added and what is essential support. The discussion with Buck is one that I have engaged in over a 1000 times. It is crucial to get this out on the table for group consumption. Once this is clear and all the anxiety is addressed, then the War on Waste can proceed. Buck is…
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