Comments on: Push vs. Pull Processes

By: Four Hours of Lean | Encob Blog

Four Hours of Lean | Encob Blog — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:46:13 +0000

[...] author of one of my favorite books The Four-Hour Workweek, recently had a post titled “Push vs. Pull Processes” on his blog. Of course it only makes sense, as his book describes how to do more with less [...]

By: Alan

Alan — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 09:45:43 +0000

Reminds me of one of my favorites quotes by Jim Rohn for systematizing decisions by employees, “Operate by document, not thought”.

By: Link Love - 12/09/08 | rob-thompson.com

Link Love - 12/09/08 | rob-thompson.com — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:08:48 +0000

[...] Push vs. Pull Processes – The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss Tim Ferriss discusses the Lean philosophy. Typical business processes might be 90% waste and only 10% value-added work. Your objective is to create continuous flow in information processes and service processes. No one produces anything before it is needed by the next person or for the next step in the process. This is something which is discussed all the time over on my other blog [...]

By: Michael Port

Michael Port — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:25:15 +0000

JS,

Very nice comments. You know your stuff.

- Michael Port

By: J S

J S — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:21:09 +0000

You’re right about the significant effects of the paperwork processes leading up to manufacturing.

Many manufacturing companies have spent a lot of time on the shop floor making improvements but forget that the paperwork flow in the front office is a real issue. Imagine making 10,000 parts in the wrong color because an error in the order-taking process?

-Eliminate the number of approvers (none or one).
-Time track paperwork (electronic forms too!).
-Evaluate all forms for data “required” (too often too much that is never needed).
-Error-proof processes so no “rework” later.

Also, don’t spend all your time “documenting processes” – a ten page dissertation of how to do something is too long – no one will read it nor follow it nor write it. Get the instructions down to a few bullet points. If it cannot be explained in several simple sentences then the process needs to be fixed before any documentation.

Remember that you’ll meet resistance to change.