Progress by SUBTRACTION

Building great manufacturing processes is the primary focus of this newsletter.

The question I am trying to shed light on is “what’s the easiest and surest way to build trustworthy and robust manufacturing processes?”

There are two ways to build great processes:

Approach #1

Do more great work. This can be thought of as progress via addition.

Approach #2

Do less bad work. This can be thought of as progress via subtraction.

Although this may seem obvious and trivial, it is far from it.

Great work, or addition, is glamorous and attractive, but not easy or simple. Avoiding mistakes, or doing less bad work, is inherently easier.

Doing less bad work (aka avoiding mistakes) is the underpinning of Lean Manufacturing, which Japanese companies used to move past their US counterparts in television manufacturing in the 1970s.

Let’s think about how we can apply the concept of subtraction to the 3 steps in building great manufacturing processes. Some subtraction ideas for each step follow.

Step 1

Create MANUFACTURABLE and scalable research concepts.

• Do not “wing it”. Have written SOPs for all of your processes, even at an early stage.

• Do not use raw materials that are too esoteric or expensive. Ensure the raw materials are largely consistent with high-volume manufacturing.

• Do not wait to get manufacturing inputs. Get them early when it is easiest (and cheapest) to make processes/product changes.

Step 2

Minimize time from first prototype to full-scale manufacturing.

• Do not rely on one (or a few) great parts. Be sure you can consistently make key samples of interest at will, and that you have not supplied a customer a “lucky” sample they love but you cannot make again.

• Do not assume manufacturing will be easy or smooth. Look at manufacturability ruthlessly, early, and repeatedly.

• Do not assume the incoming materials will work consistently over the long term (years). Understand the impact of incoming material variations before committing to high-volume production.

Step 3

Engineer robust & trouble-free production processes.

• Do not “throw things over the wall” and assume that the process will be fixed when it is in production. Aggressively identify and fix all important chronic unresolved problems.

• Do not add unwarranted complexity to the process. Additions should serve a true process need and introduce minimum additional complexity.

• Do not ignore the operators’ observations and learnings and suggestions. Incorporation of these items is a key aspect of Lean Manufacturing.

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My main learning from this is how often this theme of subtraction (aka avoiding mistakes) comes up in these newsletters. This topic is completely consistent with the topic of non-stupidity I discussed in the “Genius NOT Needed” newsletter (10/24/18), and in other newsletters. This is a deceivingly simple concept, but it is extremely powerful. Seasoned process builders consistently employ this mindset because of its leverage and impact.

The excellent article by James Clear “To Make Big Gains, Avoid Tiny Losses” provoked the line of thinking discussed in this newsletter, and I gratefully acknowledge that. That article can be found at: https://jamesclear.com/subtraction.

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YOUR CHALLENGE THIS WEEK

Please think about the concept of progress via subtraction, and how it might relate to your current process building efforts…

• Do any of the items in the lists above resonate with you? Why? Is some follow-up required?

• Do you have your own internal examples of progress via subtraction? What are they? Can they be incorporated into a best practices document or applied to a current project of interest?

What is your experience with progress via subtraction? What insights and experiences have you had? Please give us a call to compare notes and to see how we can help.

If you email me I’ll get back to you promptly, thanks.

All the Best,

Marty

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