Day 22: Old dog, new tricks

Old Dog, New Tricks

Yesterday I finally got back on my bike to commute to work. I typically ride to work 10+ days every month, but due to a myriad of reasons, I hadn't been on my bike since Jan 2nd. I love riding my bike to work - it's often faster than driving, I get some solid alone/thinking time, and I find that I start my work day off on the right foot more often than not. Many a morning has seen my mood improve dramatically after my ride into work.... plus it justifies my love of all things bacon-y.

As I rode in yesterday, it occurred to me just how much I had missed riding my bike. And how my legs felt after riding... which was: surprisingly good... Why am I surprised? I'm a pretty experienced rider, the legs should remember how to ride, right?

I have been a cyclist since I got my first road bike for my 14th birthday (14 speeds! wow! cool!). Some years I rode a lot, some years not much at all. But I would say that I averaged from 2,000km to 5,000km most of my adult years, with some peak racing years up near 10,000km. For 20 years, that's a minimum of 40,000km but in reality I've probably logged closer to 75,000km, maybe even more...

That's a lot of time in the saddle. At ~20kph, that's... close to 4000 hours of riding.

But is it? Is it really? 

I would suggest it is NOT a lot of riding. Imagine a pro cyclist - they ride 6-7 days a week, often logging hundreds of kilometers each ride. Let's say they ride 25 hours a week - probably not a stretch for some top end riders. With 2 weeks vacation in there, that's 50 weeks/yr x 25hr/week = 1250hr/yr. Now let them ride for only 10 years, and they have cracked 12,500hrs.

Why am I telling you this? Because to be very good at a particular skill it takes a significant investment of TIME. A common number thrown around is 10,000 hrs to master a task. Genetics, aptitude, motivation can all help take a bite out of that number, but it's small - more like a nibble.

I recently took up a new sport: speed skating. Yes, speed skating. I have been wanting to do this sport forever so when running was reduced (hip injury, long story, yadda yadda yadda) I had to find another outlet. I was taking my daughter to her karate class, and decided to go into the ice rink to change for a short run on the high school track nearby. Inside, lo and behold, were the Burnaby Haida Speed Skating club members, just starting their season, and a big fat "Come join us!" sign.

Well. Seems to me that sign showed up exactly at the right time and place in my life, heck, who am I to ignore destiny...

So I have been skating now since early October, and I thought I was doing pretty well. It's an incredibly technical sport - you face a large penalty for poor form - but when it clicks, it's fantastic! 

I enjoy racing - it's part of what I have been doing forever so I get a lot of satisfaction from the process of racing. As I begin thinking about speed skating racing (my first race is on Feb 22nd!), I have been thinking about how many hours I have actually put in on learning this new skill. In all honesty, it is no more than 30 hours. 

30 hours?!? And you want to race?!?

Well, shucks, why not. I won't be great, I won't be fast, but it will be fun and I will learn a lot from the experience.

Some times we need to be pushed out of our comfort zone to truly make improvements. So I will begin with speed skating.

AMac

Day 15 - Poka Yoke

Today was spent in a learning session on mistake proofing or Poka yoke. The course focused on the concept of removing the possibility of errors occurring in the first place, to support not only delivery of defect-free products to our customers but also to support single piece flow (or just improved flow in general). 

Why do errors occur? Is it because people don't care? Or don't try hard? 

No. 

Errors occur because people are human, and poorly designed processes and unclear communication make it easy for errors to occur. We often design products, services or processes in such a way as to virtually ensure errors. I see it every day in our organization. No wonder people get frustrated... Employes and customers...

 We did an exercise to try and error proof putting into a cup from ~8' away. Most groups came up with SOPs, visual aids, and the basic funnel design - we tried to eliminate the passive or "don't care" employee factor with a starting chute. But the most interesting solution to this was another group's solution: they removed the human almost entirely by creating a ramp and "gutter" that pointed directly at the cup. Gravity ensured sufficient power to reach the target and the gutter provided accuracy. Human effort required? Virtually nil: simply push the ball onto the top of the ramp. Very clever solution!

So how can the human factors be minimized if perhaps even eliminated? I think to one of our products, Te50, which has a number of point-to-point wiring connections, any of which can be incorrect or loose. Some of the wiring is between a PCBA and a terminal block attached to a controller (essentially). The PCBA provides little to no actual functionality - so what if we could modify the design to eliminate the entire PCBA? Likewise, could other wiring be done with a keyed connector, which would simply snap into place, ensuring correct wiring every time? If a connector costs $2 more to the cost of the wire, as an example, but reduces the labour to wire from 2 minutes to 20 seconds, at $40/hr that 1:40 saved is worth $1.113 (40$/60min x 1.67min = 2/3 x 5/3 = 10/9 = 1.11$). So we are paying maybe $0.49 to reduce the labour time and eliminate a possible defect. Let's also consider that we can now eliminate the time to inspect this wiring - let's be conservative and say that we save 30 seconds - that works out to $0.33. We are down to adding $0.16 to the cost of the product. 

Now if that defect were to make it to our customer, how much does that cost? Thousands and thousands of dollars is what it costs. And that's if the customer's unit doesn't fail in such a way as to require replacement/return for repair. All it takes is one assembler maybe rushing or losing concentration for that defect to show up.

Isn't that worth $0.16?

I think so.

AMac

Day 5: Manufacturing in China

I am writing this entry from Guangdong China, where I have just visited three of our contract manufacturers. This is my first time to China, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I had heard so many stories - good and bad - about the factories here that I thought I better just go with an open mind and try to enjoy the experience.

Here are some random thoughts and observations:

Crazy traffic.

Horns.

Pollution.

Construction. 

Bicycles everywhere. 

Jaywalking. 

Street front shops.

Smells of cooking oil.

Dust.

Isolated spots of landscaping.

Small spaces.

Small green spaces.

Trees overhanging paths.

Factory campuses like universities.

Thousands of employees.

Tens of thousands.

Multi-story buildings - always. 

Offices on the first floor.

Manufacturing on the upper floors.

Boards in a line.

Waiting for the next operation.

Waiting for the next operator.

Which operation?

Which operator?

Visual management by handwriting.

SOPs everywhere - yet at the wrong height?

Bottlenecks at every station.

Batch.

Queue.

Wait your turn.

Red.

Green.

Is it under control?

[no comment required]

Day 1: Welcome to your Master Black Belt, here's your accordion.

Day 1 Today we had our kick-off call, Brett and I, with David from LSI. I knew that this program would have high requirements, lots of tough deliverables, and a tight time frame, but I didn't really think that Day 1 would actually arrive. Well, here it is chica and now it's time to step up.

My employer had essentially given me the option of completing a Master Black Belt or an Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA). Why did I pick the MBB over the MBB? 

Lemme break it down:

MBA

• expensive ($70K? really? where's the fridge?)
• huge time requirements (every weekend for at least 18 months - blech)
• partially-relevant curriculum* (see below)
• every one's got one (yawn)
• moderate to low value for my organization (we have several MBAs in management)

MBB

• better priced than an MBA
• more international experience and exposure
• totally relevant curriculum
• not many folks have one (or have heard of it)
• better value for my organization

What's with the *? Well, the fact is I have been having the MBA debate with myself for almost 15 years now. Every year I have decided against it. Why? Primarily because I don't think I will learn something new and challenge myself throughout the entire program. 

A bit of backstory on me is required here I think.

In 1999, the company I worked for was acquired and shut down by our new overlords, er owners. I had been in commercial software since finishing university and quite enjoyed the field. Myself and three of my employees, along with a business peer, took our "kiss-off" cheques and started our own company doing, essentially, what we had been doing before - providing a service to software development companies. Tricky thing with having your own company is that you actually have to do EVERYTHING. So I learned first hand and the hard way:

Everything you wanted to know about owning a company (but were afraid to ask)... such as: legal, accounting, payroll, benefits, employment law, tax, company structure, corporate reporting, marketing, graphic design, website design, press releases, trademarking, sales, contracts, IP protection, work-for-hire, copyright, non-disclosure, indemnification, insurance, facilities & physical plant, telecom & IT (network, security, server, desktop), invoicing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, financial reporting, and that was before we actually did the software services themselves!

So I am not convinced that for all that time and money that I'm going to learn something absolutely new and earth shattering to me. I don't think I'd enjoy spending that much time on something I have a low level of passion for... so... when I completed my Black Belt in Spring 2012, and David approached me about doing a Master Black Belt, I have to admit I was intrigued. 

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. I had expanded my role at work to include Continuous Improvement in my areas of responsibility, along with Quality and Environmental Management. So it seemed the right direction in which to go....

... and so here we go!

AMac