Comments on: Cell Layout by Committee

By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 12:26:13 +0000

OK, that was the fuller part of the story that I was expecting or hoping to hear. I absolutely agree that a team without training or lean principles isn’t necessarily a good idea. Poking and nudging… that’s a good description of the process I use… making sure those principles that you talk about are followed, but giving the team leeway and ownership of the exact layout and work flow themselves.

By: Lawrence Loucka

Lawrence Loucka — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 01:26:53 +0000

Mark, it's early yet in the design process. The team got way out in front of themselves. So I poke and nudge - What about this or that? Since this is one of many cells to come what I'm helping with is sharing the process I've used successfully elsewhere. A cell isn't just a bunch of collocated activities. A design team without training or experience is bound to run into trouble. How about establishing a few key principles:

Minimize storage, distances, material handling, strain, clutter
Maximize communication, visibility, smooth flow, flexibility
Optimize the block layout around strategic priorities

By: Carmen Brickner

Carmen Brickner — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 00:37:57 +0000

I have a feeling the entire story isn’t here, just enough to get us talking. However, I do believe the best place to input into a process to ensure success is to coach or ‘sensei’ when teams are developing criteria, principles and constraints. It does help ensure a better direction from the start. It would be great to develop a series of questions based on your experiences that might have helped them….almost doing a classic ’5 Why’ on the sensei process to determine the root cause of poor designs. Would like to be in on that!

By: Mark Graban

Mark Graban — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:45:38 +0000

So, what did you do, as “sensei”? Just watch and let them do a bad layout?? So you could feel smug about it and blog about it? Or did you coach them in the direction of a better layout?