In the past, I’ve written about lean manufacturing concepts in the context of the film industry (and CIA) and in one’s home life. Lean (in my context) can be roughly defined as the effort to eliminate anything that doesn’t add value for the customer.

I recently had a surprise case of appendicitis, resulting in an appendectomy at a Kaiser Permenente hospital. I was admitted to the ER at about 0500. I was discharged the same day at about 2100. My surgery was performed by a surgical resident, under the close supervision of a scrubbed-in, experienced surgeon. It was the resident’s 100th or so appendectomy. It was about as close to routine as one could get.

Process:

Kaiser claims to be a ‘lean health services provider’, I’ve heard objections to the machine-like process of the Kaiser HMO. Machine or not, I find it to be a fairly comprehensive implementation of Lean/5s principles.

I understand how being the object of a lean hospital process could be unnerving to some people. Things move quickly. One is bar-coded, scanned, analyzed, scanned, medicated, scanned, measured, and prodded in an extremely efficient, clinical way. This gives rise to an inherent conflict: Is it respectful to treat people this way?

I think so. The medical staff was extremely communicative, but things did happen quickly, and according to strict procedure…Even if it was an unfamiliar process to me, it was driven entirely by the need to create a positive patient outcome (i.e, get me healthy).

The people who treated me always had a smile, time for some questions, sometimes a joke, and occasionally time for a brief moment of conversation. However, they didn’t dawdle or dwell, and kept their interactions brief.

Perhaps the root of the objection to the Kaiser process is that getting a person physically healthy quickly isn’t necessarily compatible with taking the time away from medicine to address their anxieties, fears, and mental state. That’s a tough contradiction to manage in a Lean process. Perhaps this is an area for Kaiser to improve, especially for those patients not versed in process and flow management…Those that can’t geek out at what’s happening around them.

Observations on 5s and Lean:

There were a few specific examples that popped out at me during my stay. Lean was defined above. 5s is an organizational methodology that is often implemented to support lean processes.

Poka Yoke (Mistake-Proofing)

My bracelet had a QR code (or similar 2D barcode) on it. Every pill or saline bag given to me, every piece of entered data about my health or physical state started with a scan of my bracelet. The computer recorded everything given to me, and would have alerted at prescription contradictions. The computer also prompted the RN to ask specific questions at specific times, regarding my pain levels, nausea, etc.

At every step, there were checks to ensure mistakes weren’t made. The RN, the ER doc, the resident, and the surgeon all double-checked my physical condition, my chart, and me. They all (I suppose as a matter of procedure) actually bothered to talk to me. Needlessly repetitive?  Well, getting prodded at McBurney’s Point that many times wasn’t fun, and answering the same questions several times was repetitive, but better that everyone actually verify my condition before surgery…

My journey from ER to OR was approved as soon as an OR slot opened up, but paused until everything was in order, including discussions with the bartender (anesthesiologist). My move out of the OR recovery room to a regular patient room didn’t happen until I met certain criteria…The process was set up not only to prevent mistakes, but make sure I was in the right place with the right equipment, were a problem to appear, or a mistake to be recognized.

Andon (White Boards for Visual Organization and Status)

Kaiser was big on white boards. There were several at every nurse’s station. There was one by every patient bed. The ER patient whiteboards had spaces for the patient’s name, attending doc, RN, charge nurse, and actions to be taken. The recovery room whiteboards had slots for the RNs by shift, CNAs by shift, the name I preferred, immediate issues, etc. It was a fast way to communicate important data. Notably, prognosis was kept off the white boards.

Muda (wasteful activity)

When in the ER, the doctor discussed several paths forward. I could undergo a CT scan, confirming the appendicitis condition. Or, given the presentation of classical symptoms, I could move straight to a laparoscopic appendectomy. The CT scan would have ensured that surgery was the correct path, but at the cost of a fairly heavy radiation dose. It would have covered the hospital’s proverbial arse, but at a long-term risk to me. They could have protected themselves, and externalized a longer-term cost on me.

Kaiser ultimately gave me the option of a CT scan, if I wanted it. But that they didn’t jump to a CYA mentality and immediately order the scan spoke well of their effort to root out waste in the process of getting me healthy.

I should note that some people have been Kaiser patents for over a half century, so the basis for certain process decisions and improvements come from an analysis of a remarkably huge datapool, and an expectation that many current patents will be Kaiser patents for well into this century. Kaiser doesn’t want to treat cancer caused by a needless CT scan 50 years from now.

Seiketsu (Standardization)

There was identical equipment in the wall manifold above each bed. Vacuum pump, O2, medical air, isolated outlets for sensitive equipment, code buttons, etc. There was an identical computer interface in each room…No searching for little things, or having to jump amongst rooms to find things. This is typical in hospitals, but is often not recognized.

Seiso (Cleanliness)

Important for a hospital…Waste receptacles were clearly marked. Sharps to the sharps bin, biological waste to the red bin, basic trash to the trash bin, linens/washables to the stainless cart…The room cleaning started as soon as I left, which brings us to:

Shitsuke (Sustain: The hard one)

The hardest part of a 5s or Lean scheme isn’t getting there, it’s maintaining it. Having the self-discipline to keep improving is important. Kaiser seems to be fairly good at this. Hopefully, they can sustain in.

Post Process:

There was no rush to shove me out of the hospital in fact, the RNs, CNAs, and surgical resident were very insistent that I meet certain criteria before I was allowed to even think about leaving. When the criteria were met, I was sent home with prescriptions in hand, and comprehensive discharge instructions. The RN discharging me went over the instructions, and expressed surprise at some additions. This was a good sign, it indicated that continual improvement was happening, and the instructions weren’t some 20 year old stale document.

I got a call a couple days later asking about my condition, with follow-up questions. They verified my appetite was normal, and my body was more or less functional, then the scheduled a post-op visit.

On my way out of the room, the RN suggested that I take the box of tissues to have in my car, because they had already been opened and would have to be thrown out otherwise. How’s that for minimizing waste?

So, this is a wonky post, inspired by my time in some of the largest factories in the world. They all claim to be ‘Lean’…And all are, to a certain extent. Instead of writing volumes of NDA violating prose about those experiences, I want to write about some specific lean concepts that seem to be second-tier.

There are many mixed feeling about lean manufacturing, it’s risks, it’s benefits, and the usefulness of the whole concept. I understand the criticism, especially when companies focus on inventory/tooling reduction while ignoring process improvements, or  while ignoring their employee’s input and call it ‘lean’.

There are, however, two pillars of the Lean process that I feel are indisputably important, and often neglected. The first is a general respect for people. People are not only human, but the source of innovation, improvement, and thus profit. Treat humans humanely, and reap the benefit…Companies that don’t are, in essence, investing in a capital asset and only using half of its capabilities. Humans aren’t just a pair of hands. They have brains too. Why not use them? After all, you are paying for them.

The second is concept Poka-Yoke, or ‘mistake proofing’. I will write a little bit about Poka Yoke, because writing about respect for people would require my not ranting.

A simple Google search shows the (anecdotal) neglect of some lean concepts:

• Search: “Lean” (“poka yoke” OR “Mistake Proofing” OR “mistake proof”) –414,000 results.
• Search: “Lean” (“respect for people” OR “respect people” OR “respect workers”) –130,000 results
• Search: “Lean” (“inventory reduction” OR “inventory management” OR “inventory cost”) –2,000,000 results
• Search: “Lean” “inventory” –16,000,000 results.

Inventory reduction is, perhaps, the logical outcome of other Lean concepts/efforts…Not really the best starting place, even though that is where the effort is, since inventory is so easy to measure. People are the starting place, and their tools are things like Poka Yoke.

On Etymology (A Digression)

First, the term ‘Poka Yoke’ is Japanese in origin. It roughly translates to ‘error avoidance’. The term originally was ‘Baka-Yoke’, or ‘fool-proofing’, but if you look back a few paragraphs, respect for people is important. To paraphrase Shiego Shingo: Since everyone makes mistakes, the only true fool is the one that doesn’t learn from mistakes. Hence: Mistake-proof, not fool proof. Not Baka-Yoke, because we all err.

Back to the Point

Poka Yoke might mean using the key (or key fob) to lock your car, instead of the interior lock, thereby ensuring your keys are in your hand, and not in the ignition when locking your car.

It means minimizing risk through process.

In the film industry, we often used high-wattage lighting, and there were basic processes to protect ones-self…Touching a high voltage Bates connector with the back of your hand, so if you are shocked, your contracting muscles close your fist on empty air, not on the un- or badly-grounded connector.

It means that the Bates connector was designed (decades ago), so it could only be attached in one orientation, preventing live and ground legs from being crossed.

It’s any process or mechanical implementation designed to prevent mistakes.

I saw it applied in the film industry, I see it applied in manufacturing, and one can generally see it everywhere. From plugs that can only go in one way to cars that won’t start unless they are in PARK…People called it all sorts of things, but it can be boiled down to a simple concept:

When possible, eliminate the possibility of mistakes.

 Poka Yoke at Home

The interesting thing is applying this concept to one’s home life. As mentioned with the key fobs, there are ways to improve even the simplest of daily routines.

Do you keep your coffee mug to the left of your laptop, even though you are right-handed? Prevent a spill, switch it up.

Do the garbage and recycling buckets in the kitchen look the same? Do they need to? Does this ever cause confusion?

Do shoes end up everywhere in the front hall? Huge factories lay tape down to define where pallets sit and people walk. Maybe a nice square of dark carpet would suggest a place for shoes to call home.

It’s the little stuff that makes a difference, but there is room for improvement everywhere.

My current job takes me to factories where ESD (electrostatic discharge) control is critical. One important control point is the human body. We all shuffled on carpet as a kid, then tried poking unsuspecting people to shock them. Well, I did, but I was strange.

Anyway, imagine that same shock going through your iPhone 4S Qualcomm MDM6610 baseband chip during assembly if a factory worker shuffles around a bit…Poof, you now have an iPod Touch. Or if that charge goes through an airplane’s avionics boards while a mechanic is repairing it…Or through the FPGA in a hospital EKG machine. Preventing a static charge from building in the body is important. To that end, I have to wear special conductive heel straps that connect my body to the floor electrically. These are annoying…

Enter Keen. They are a Portland hometown favorite, and they even started making some boots in the US, after using an overseas sourcing strategy for their entire existence. I needed to know that the shoes actually passed the correct ESD test, so I tried emailing, with no expectation of a response. An email to customer service was answered by the developer of the shoe, which kind of rocks. No boilerplate, but a real answer. From the guy/gal who actually designed the thing.

Ordered. Will share my own test results soon.

In an odd twist of events, I had a personal trip right before a work trip, and ended up combining the two. It resulted in the following (check-that-off-the-bucket-list) itinerary:

I had, by (mostly) accident, ended up having to fly around the world. The unfortunate thing is that I didn’t get to spend a huge amount of time outside airports I traveled through or the facilities I was working at. I will note that Turkish Airlines and EVA Airlines are quite nice, and reasonably priced. It turns out the flag carriers of small countries are a huge source of pride, and provide excellent service.

Since I transitioned from media/film/audio production to a job in manufacturing/engineering, I’ve noticed or been the cause of some neat re-purposing from the film industry to the manufacturing industry. The robustness demanded by the film industry has made certain specialized products very useful in manufacturing tooling.

Mogami W2901

I had a need for a high-strength, lightweight, cheap, and small high-flex-cycle cable. Sourcing something that meets a bunch of contradicting demands (strong and lightweight? flexible and durable? cheap at the same time?) makes for an interesting day at work. Luckily, I knew that an appropriate type of wire existed. I ended up with Mogami W2901:

177,000 flex cycles rated, Polypropylene filler thread for strength, 176 N breaking strength (about 40 pounds)…It was everything I wanted, at about $0.50/foot. It’s typically found in professional audio as a lavalier or microphone cable. If it’s good enough for daily use in a TV studio or on a rainy film set, it’s good enough for daily use in a manufacturing environment.

The Mafer Clamp

The day before my adventures in re-purposing lav cables, a sales rep comes in to demonstrate a product of theirs. What does he use to clamp it to the table, but a Mafer clamp. I chuckle:

The Matthews Studio Equipment Mafer Clamp

Next, the Manfrotto Magic Arm comes out. I laugh. Too bad the demonstrated product didn’t fit our needs.

Gaffer’s Tape

Not duct tape, not Duck tape, but a Gaffer’s tape. From temporary fixturing to guarding fingers while deburring, I use the stuff almost daily…Just as I would on set.

It’s neat to be able to use mainstays from one industry in another…At some point in the future, I will be able to talk a little about how film industry know-how benefits work with industrial vision systems.

It’s been a while since my last post. Life has been busy, but I can always find time to ramble about tools.

At work, I’m lucky enough to have access to high quality tools. Quality tools make me more efficient, and given the value of my time to my employer, paying for said tools is a no brainer.

As an example, the hex keys I use at work are Bondhus Goldguard ball-ends. They run double the cost of other, cheaper sets, but the rarely break, and I very rarely strip stainless screw heads. At $14 for a 9 piece metric set, they pay for themselves if I avoid stripping/breaking, then wasting time extracting a single screw. That’s a good deal. $14? That’s nothing for a tool I use every day. They would be a good deal at ten times that cost.

It’s all about value, cost is a secondary metric for tools.

Amusingly, Bondhus, the maker of the aforementioned hex set says this on their website:

Bondus doesn’t manufacture junk.

I guess that’s one short way of saying value is more important than cost. It’s an often-forgotten metric…a lens through which more purchase decisions should be made.

Machining Resingrave

When engraving printing blocks for relief printing, it is often laborious to cut out large, unused areas of blocks. Some artists have turned to Dremels (or equivalent) for expedience. This carries some risk, as a single slip can send the cutting tool skidding across a whole block, ruining it.

I wanted to help my better half out and clear some large areas of a block she was carving. She carves using a material called Resingrave. This material was developed by Richard Woodman as wood engraving medium intended to replace expensive and increasingly depleted end-grain hardwoods, traditionally used for woodblock printing. After corresponding with the helpful folks at McClain’s Printmaking Supplies, I had enough information to try machining the material.

Our goal was to mill away large unused areas of the block to save significant hand-carving time. The picture to the right shows the block in the vise, before we set the cut depth and started machining. There are parallels supporting the block in the vise. Note that the design outline  has already been hand-carved, and the rest will be hand-carved once the larger, unused areas are milled down.

Setup:

I used a 1/4″ two flute HHS endmill a geometry typically used to cut aluminum. HSS is probably preferable to carbide, as it will hold a better edge.

Note the compressed air

I used a Sharp LMV mill at my employer’s extensive machine shop (with permission, of course).

I machined the resingrave at a .055 inch depth, 1000 RPMs, feeding about 12 inches per minute (.006 inches per tooth). We took a .1″ cut with each pass, except for initial full-width cuts into sections of the block, as seen at right. This was a conservative and slower method, but there was no reason to rush. Those familiar with Bridgeports, clones, and many manual domestic mills will recognize that distance as a half turn of the crank, making the math easy on me.

Results:

The block turned out well, and made quite the mess of small, louse-like, clingy chips. The uniformity of these chips was important, as it indicated that my milling was fairly consistent. I took advantage of the X-axis power feed for the long cuts along the bottom of the block. One of the critical things was keeping the cutter and block free of chips. I used light compressed air, and occasionally brushed the cutter off.

Best of all, the artist was happy. The block suffered no damage, and hours of removing unused material was saved. Her take on the process is here. For those who want more machining details, read on.

More Numbers:

Taking my speeds and feeds, I could reverse the usual calculations and find the surface feet per minute.
You can try it here, or use the widget below:
Milling Speed and Feed Calculator

Calculating this out, my SFM is about 65…I assume the theoretical maximum SFM of the material is significantly higher, but I didn’t want to recklessly hog out something that was on it’s way to becoming a really cool piece of art.

There was no difference between climb milling and conventional milling. I took passes in both directions without worry. Given the softness of the material, the slow feed, the shallow cuts, and the relatively tiny end mill, I felt climb milling was safe.

The Final Result

Coming soon: An actual print pulled from the block. See it at Folio CIII.

Last year, I transitioned from freelancing to a full-time job. This involved some amount of job hunting, and thus some interaction with the worst web interface I have ever seen.

Taleo is a company that makes talent management and recruitment software. Their backend, I’m sure, is a cleanly written system to manage personnel/HR needs. I’m sure. Peachy, for anyone working in HR. It’s a good thing HR doesn’t have to struggle through the pile of s— their applicants do. The Taleo internet-facing interface is sad…Perhaps ‘make’ was too strong a word at the start of the paragraph. “Cobbles together like 3rd graders mixing farts” is more apt.

Months ago, I didn’t save screencaps of the worst interface offenses, but they are so plentiful that a mere minute yielded this simple issue:

Notice something wrong? Taleo serves jobs for Memphis when the criteria specified Vancouver, WA. Now, perhaps this company isn’t entering locations in the correct field when posting jobs. OK. Maybe HR just messed up. So why does the software have cities listed where the company doesn’t even have operations? I mean, Joseph, OR is a beautiful place with some cool bronze foundries, but the Fortune 100 IT company I grabbed that from isn’t going to be hiring there. Unless they have a secret division doing artistic bronze work.

Next, we get to the horrible javascript mess of Taleo. Click on a job on page 2+ of results, then select a job. When you click “Return to Previous Page”, you get sent back to page 1. Nice. Do I have to keep a sticky note of pages I’ve been through? Or maybe I could just open a bunch of job posts in new tabs as I go through the multiple pages of postings, right? Not so much. Every job is opened via a script, meaning tabs are effectively disabled.

I could spend hours ranting beyond the small sampling of above problems, which range from the sad search interface to the actual application process. The fundamental problem with Taleo is simple: The front end sucks, and given the application process, it saps qualities from an individual and transforms the individual into a set of quantities that give little indication of real potential.

How hard does Taleo want to make it to search jobs? Taleo was such a tremendous waste of time that companies using Taleo fell to the bottom of the pile. I would apply only if time permitted, because Taleo applications could take ten times longer than an emailed cover letter and resume.

Many companies are losing talented applicants to the rancid fart that is Taleo’s web-facing interface. The competition probably thanks you. I do, because Taleo served as a good way to judge the quality of management decisionmaking I would have to live with at a company.

/rant

I feel guilty. Kind of. Because of this:

Browsing Goodwill recently, I bought the above sewing machine for $20…They typically show up for ten times that price on eBay. I feel like I absconded with a treasure. At any rate, this Singer 401a (1956 vintage, made in South Carolina) is mine, and after a tune-up, it will be ready for another 50 years of use. The machine is in remarkably good condition, with a clean looking cam stack:

The underside even looked clean and lint-free, which is rare for a 1956 machine. It had been maintained well.

As tempting as it was, I wasn’t going to sew a single stitch without getting the machine looked over. See, the 401a is a special machine…The proverbial Bentley of sewing machines. That machine originally sold for hundreds of (1950s) dollars, or thousands of 2011 dollars. Price-wise, that puts the 401a on par with industrial machines from Juki or Brother. I daresay on par quality-wise as well, though without the power of the bifurcated head-motor arrangement, which allows for a multiple-horsepower motor.

Singer Sewing quality went significantly downhill in the 1970s, as they started building machines largely of plastic. In the 1980s, they started outsourcing. Singer didn’t design good machines and contract manufacturers didn’t maintain quality. With Singer, older is (much) better. New machines are disappointing and lack the rigidity or power to work well with many fabrics. Another legend destroyed for short-term profit.

I again digress. The 401a was one of the last slant needle aluminum-bodied Singer models, and has a very large metal cam stack enabling a variety of stitches. The slant-needle machines were special in that they allow much more visibility when sewing than a vertical needle machine. It is also a direct drive machine with no belts, and gorgeously cut beveled helical involute gears. Those expensive gears are why the machine purrs, instead of grinds. Take a look:

The timing, adjustment, greasing and oiling of this machine is something that I will leave to a professional, so I know it is well-tuned when I do minor maintenance myself in the future. In Portland, Rooster Roc Sewco (3427 NE 72nd Ave) came highly recommended, and when I visited last year, the owner was nice enough to chat with me about some industrial machines when I was contemplating tooling up for some freelance work. When I get this machine back, I will post pictures of the first project I use it on, probably a set of gaiters (patterns to be drafted in February).

As a last piece of trivia, the Singer 400 class (401, 402, 403) sewing machines use a double-contact bayonet base lightbulb in a short T7 formfactor. The recommended bulb is typically known as a 15T7DC. As incandescent bulbs are being phased out, stocking up might not be a bad idea. Just don’t pay over $5/bulb.

It is with much excitement and some (well, maybe a tiny bit) trepidation that I’m moving from freelancing to a full-time position. This is a completely self-indulgent couple paragraphs on the vagaries of the past couple years.

After freelancing in audio and video production (and tech support and web development, and etc.) for the past 7 years (amongst school), I’m looking forward to the break from the complexities of self-employment and the constant drive to expand one’s client list. The economy didn’t bode well for the latter, and the former became downright tiring. Between health insurance, equipment and other overhead, the numbers were looking OK, but not great.

A rough economy means taking clients one wouldn’t usually touch. That leads to fun (in a profoundly sarcastic way) situations like maintaining media production computers that doubled as the client’s surfing platform for his prurient interests, or trying to explain simple waveform edits to someone who is too insecure to accept help. My favorite though, was a client who told me he needed a wife, because his competitors all had wives who did the ‘other stuff’ (bookkeeping, shipping, etc.).

I also took on some wonderful jobs, including some work for large multi-continent traveling exhibits, and some touching documentary production work. As those projects see circulation and distribution, I will try and share.

Now, I’m at an engineering consulting firm with a world-class client list that yields a constant stream of fascinating work. What do I do? Well, I work in the company lab. I make stuff that makes stuff. I don’t know what the position will grow into, but I do know I will enjoy it.

So long, freelancing. I might be back someday far away, but thanks for all the stories.