Monthly Archives: November 2014

Lean for the Masses

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Gutenberg invents the printing press

Gutenberg invents the printing press

The printing press ushered in the first “lean” revolution. No longer did the cost of hand copying books limit the number of copies that could be created. Sage wisdom could be purchased by individuals of average means. This knowledge transfer explosion set the stage for the conversion of a feudal society into the current industrial age. Many years later I arrived as an aspiring engineer. I could purchase 20 text books and obtain the accumulated knowledge of the giants in the engineering field. Even though these books were very expensive, they were worth every penny. Top educators were highly rewarded in royalties and higher education stature based on their ability to distill the knowledge that a young engineer would need to begin his trade.
text books

text books


Enter the computer revolution. Globe spanning telecommunications, bring vast quantities of information to our door. A few individuals have discovered ways to leverage this advancement into serious income. The cash flow has also attracted modern day pirates that apply their effort into gaming the system. Many of the innovators have reacted to pirate attacks by innovating further. The rest of us just see chaos.
This will settle out. While I was in college a new generation of calculator came out about every 6 months. We all progressed from a simple floating point machine to a full
scientific calculator. The interesting point is the process stopped. My current calculator is as powerful as the one I had leaving college. As a more recent example Open Office as a commodity software has heralded the maturing of the Microsoft office suite.
The recent advancements in 16mm low power processors will open the door to combining
memory and computing power onto a single stick. This advancement will close a popular
door used by pirates and enable the monetization of the effort required to create custom lean applications. I suspect that some of the recent wealth gap increase is related to the lack of a secure vehicle for the people who have discovered new lean wealth creating methods to sell that knowledge to the masses
Combined Computer and Memory stick

Combined Computer and Memory stick

Embedded Lean

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Lean automation applies to all aspects of business. With the cost of computing declining as predicted by Moore’s law, we can now afford to multiply the talents
of a few excellent lean practitioners across a wider audience. This trend is matches the activity occurring in higher education where online courses are now becoming the norm. The modern computerized telecommunication miracle is leveraging the talents of the best educators across the world education system.
The secret is providing lean information at the time that it is needed. We could care less about the avalanche of medical knowledge but are extremely interested in the
specific tid bits that apply to our current malady. Blood pressure cuffs that know exactly how to automatically take a reading are a good example of embedding the skill of nurses
as an automated computerized embedded lean device.
Manufacturing has evolved from plants making a few million identical Chevy Caprices
to customized JIT manufacturing on demand. This mass customization would not be
possible without the computerized ERP, TMS and work instruction systems that provide the correct information as it is needed.
The simplest tasks sometimes have the biggest payback. It takes next to no effort to flip a light switch. Most of us have the skill to perform this task from the time we are two years old. A major cost saving is possible by implementing computerized sensors that simply turn off the light when the room is unoccupied.
Technology needs to be the servant and not the master. An “app” for your smart phone that routes you around unseen traffic tie ups saves major time in your life schedule and controls wasted fuel. Plugged into my car is a Mileage Trakker http://mileagetrakker.com that creates an IRS mileage report at tax time without me remembering to turn it on. On the opposite hand, I was talking with one of my truckers who indicated that he chose to move to another sector of the trucking industry because his former employer implemented a computerized ball and chain that rigidly enforced perfect compliance to inflexible rules.
Our lives will be better after we learn to apply the lean benefits of lower cost computing.