Keeping the workplace clean is good But making it obvious is better. The picture is a shadow board of a kitchen knife rack. The shadows show where every knife should go. This is a good thing, the chef knows exactly where to look for a knife when he wants it. It removes confusion and speeds up […]
Rule 13: Clean the Workplace
Dirty places In the 1970’s my Dad worked for British Steel. Can you can imagine what a Steel works was like 40 years ago? Noisy, hot, dirty, smelly and downright dangerous. The enlightened manager One evening he came home singing the praises of a new plant manager. The new boss had insisted that the workforce […]
Rule 12: Find the Bottleneck
The job of an Ops Manager Is to manage three things: Time: how long does it take you to deliver something? Cost: how much money did you spend getting it there? Quality: how good was it when it arrived? We get hung up on cost “Make it cheaper, hit the budget”. Making things cheaper is easy, you […]
Rule 11: Streamline the Work
Expensive places Sometimes I work in an office in the City of London. It is a very expensive office with a very expensive address and some very expensive views. It is also chock full of very expensive people. Try as I might I don’t quite fit in. Despite all the steel, glass and marble there is a problem with the […]
Rule 10: Build Systems
Serious fast food In 1954 Ray Kroc walked into the McDonald brothers burger bar in San Bernadino. It was clean and well run, but it wasn’t really any different to any other burger bar in the US. Every town had one. It was unremarkable. The system Ray made McDonald’s remarkable. He systematised the burger business. He took […]