Standing In The Circle

There are many Lean topics like waste elimination, 6S, visual management, value adding and non-value-adding activities, use of the A3 process and many other Lean tools. Many articles focused on the need to understand and eliminate or minimize waste or non-value-adding activities, to increase the available time to complete value-adding activities consequently increasing productivity

Value-adding activities are actions and resources which create the value the customer gets from the services we provide, the fabrications we build and items we install in the field. This means that Service Techs should be performing preventative maintenance activites, fabricators should be should be fitting and welding, and field crews should be installing equipment and supporting materials. Non-value-adding activities are anything that consumes resources and adds no value to the customer. Examples are things like material handling, excess motion by our team members, defects, over production, waiting, not utilizing team member talents, travel to and from work sites, excess inventory, team member motion and excess processing. These eight examples are actually the 8 Wastes that all Lean implementations strive to reduce. Keep in mind that we may be busy and working hard, but that does not necessarily mean that what we are doing is actually viewed as value-added.

Our Lean efforts need to help us satisfy customers by improving our safety, delivery, quality and price. As we eliminate waste, reduce costs and improve quality, we gain competitive advantages through the ability to respond faster and deliver better products and services to our customers.

There is a Lean practice that helps us see more opportunities for improving our processes by finding and eliminating the non-value-adding activities and waste. It’s the practice of "standing in the circle" to observe the work being done.

Standing in the circle means to go to the workplace and observe for yourself what actually happens. When it is necessary to get facts about what is really happening (as opposed to what the procedure says is supposed to happen) the person making the observation selects a position from which to observe the work that is being executed.

The circle signifies that they are observing to collect facts, not to find fault or to check that people are working. It needs to be understood by management and the employees that standing in the circle and observing is an act of continual improvement to find ways to help the business improve, and not a way to find fault with the team members that are doing the work.

So how can all of us use standing in the circle as a tool? It’s this easy: take some time to stop and look, REALLY LOOK, at what is happening around you. Look for non value adding activities or waste in the process and create a personal plan to minimize the waste you identify. Do that once during the first half of the day and again during the second half of the day. Observing two parts of the day allows you to see non-repetitive wastes.

This may seem a little extreme, but it works. I encourage everyone to take a few minutes to do this every day as part of your daily routine. The actions you take to minimize waste in your day will have a positive effect for you, the other team members involved in the activities, and your customers, by increasing the time we spend doing value-added activities.

Happy Leaning!