One crazy idea can make a difference

My kaizen for Waterman's Farm extra pumpkin inventory has now become a charity event in its second year.  Great to see how a crazy idea can help sick children and orphaned pets. Originally, I noticed the farm has a lot of pumpkin inventory waste and they just plowed them under after Halloween. I approached them about an event to smash pumpkins and gave my 17 year old son a party where we obliterated the orange orbs, played baseball with green tomatoes, and had a very fun time. Instead of plowing the excess pumpkins under as a total waste, we used them for a smashing good time. Waterman's took the idea and has now made it an annual charity event to raise money. Cool.



What farm have you improved today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Church kaizen

I have become known at church for kaizen activity so I wanted to share a couple of things I have done. The little by little principle is in the Bible found in Proverbs 13:11 in regards to saving money. Oddly enough, my first church kaizen has to do with giving. As a past volunteer contribution counter, people fold their checks to keep their gift confidential which is fine but unfolding these adds no value and just wastes time. My kaizen has been to not fold my check but to place it in the offering basket face down. This keeps my gift secret as well as reducing motion waste especially when unfolding double folded checks!  I am starting to see a few checks now unfolded and face down since I have evangelized this idea so I am spreading the word.

What have you improved in church today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

2012 Resolutions

1)To post more in 2012
2)More pictures to see
3)More kaizen work to help others

Happy New Year

Quick and Easy Kaizen lessons at the food bank.

Last night many of our church members went to volunteer at the Gleaners Food bank in Indianapolis.  In the space of about two hours, we assembled 640 boxes of food and I learned some good lessons.  My job was to "stock" 5 lines of food items for volunteers assembling the standard box of food on the line.  As I was supplying the boxes of corn flakes, I noticed the teenage girl removing the corn flakes packages from the large box had a hard time getting the first one out.  This was due to the tight packing of the cereal packages in the large box.  She would sometimes take what seemed to be a long time to remove the first corn flakes box in a busy fast moving assembly line.

My quick and easy kaizen was that when I opened the big box of corn flakes to supply her, I pulled one package out and set it on top.  This then made it easy for her since she didn't waste time struggling to pull the first one out and quicker to get two in at a time.  Just a little change like that made it easier and faster.

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever

Ice Storm Kaizen

September Q&E Kaizen - 9/8/2010 - social proofing personal checks

Quick and Easy Kaizens - ideas to reduce waste, save money, eliminate problems, and improve quality of life in small ways.

Before:  I would write a personal check to someone for payment and they would sometimes hold on to it for weeks or months before cashing it.   Even writing "please cash immediately" would not compel folks to quickly cash it.  It seemed that folks would cash checks at inopportune times bringing the balance of our checking account precariously low.

After: In the memo section of the check, I write,"95% of our checks are cashed in 7 days".  This message has a social proof that all but 5% of people cash our check in a week so the bearer of the check feels the pressure to conform to the group.  One of my most frequent "check holders" that I have to pay for my son's lessons cashed my check withing 6 days after using this new message.  Try it out!

Benefits:

• Better cash management in checking account
• Reduced check float time

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever, Kaizeneer

September Q&E Kaizen - 9/2/2010 - wait for the yellow light

Quick and Easy Kaizens - ideas to reduce waste, save money, eliminate problems, and improve quality of life in small ways.

Before: I would fill up at a local gas station and then when leaving I'd have to wait and idle my engine at the street for the light to change.  The closet exit from the gas station is onto a very busy street with a stoplight so sometimes I'd wait 3-4 minutes for enough cars to line up to change the traffic signal.

After: I'd pull into the gas station and position my car to fill up so I could see the stoplight from where my vehicle was sitting.  Since the car was off anyway, once I topped off the tank I sit and wait until I see the yellow light for the street.  At the yellow, I start my car and pull up to the intersection which is now a green light for me and go without sitting idle. 

Benefits:

• Reduce gas waste from sitting idle at red light
• Reduced brake wear from braking the engine
• Smoother exit from gas station

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever, Kaizener