Thursday, August 21, 2008

Quick and Easy Kaizens-#1 Wallet home position

Quick and Easy Kaizen is an improvement that you can easily do for yourself that improves a process by improving quality, saving time, and so forth. The book, The Idea Generator, by Norm Bodek addresses quick and easy Kaizen and I have been practicing this technique at work for some time. Using the ideas from Norm's book, I have added improvements at home and here are some that have made my life better but didn't require that much time and effort to implement.

#1 Home position for wallet, pager, and keys.


Before: For years, my wallet has grown legs and was constantly moving around the house and I could never find it before leaving. I had the same problem with my pager and car keys and this led to blame shifting, aggravation, and great frustration.


After: My dad, a woodworker, created a rack to store my wallet, keys, and pager. This became my home position for those items and made it much easier to keep these organized:

































The effect: Wow. Much reduced stress and less time wasted looking for things. This change was simple but it has been one of the best things I have done in the last year.


Time to complete(hanging it up): 3 minutes

This is a really cool rack that my dad made and the wood is all from trees that grow on his farm. It's a family heirloom. I don't know how much time he put into it but it's a beautiful piece.

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

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