The B.I.G. Blog

In between the layers of tortilla, there’s more than just black beans, cheese, chicken, and guac ($0.50 extra!) on your Chipotle burrito. That simple burrito also holds the culmination of years of research and practice into Standard Work, manufacturing techniques, and assembly line management.

“We don’t reject for ugly.” The look on the line operator’s face when our associate told him this quickly went from stunned to a hearty laugh and shared understanding.  Talking it through with the line operator, our associate explained how the customer was more interested in the integrity of the device and not the appearance, so the assembly in question was actually an acceptable part.  This collaborative approach to coaching led the line operator to recognize the need to alter his inspection criteria, and he easily made the changes. Just as a small computer case fan can be worth millions of dollars to an organization, this seemingly minor change resulted in a significant increase in this organization’s productivity.

When is a small computer case fan worth millions of dollars? When the lack of one is the bottleneck, limiting the factory’s ability to meet customer demand. This is exactly the problem one of our associates was facing when working with a major medical device manufacturer. The management team was at a total loss to understand how to keep up, with the bottleneck seeming to move whenever they thought it was resolved. They were focusing on the symptoms and not so much the actual cause, bailing water out of the boat without plugging the leak.