Still waiting on my new DSL provider...

Will post again soon.

Dan Lafever
Kaizneer

Funny Video Friday - 9/18/08

The Comedy of Michael Jr.

Cars and Airport security...


A brother jogging...


Jesus little brother...


Have a great weekend!

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

What has funny videos got to do with Kaizen?

What has funny videos got to do with Kaizen? Well, they improve by making you laugh and lighten up a little. It's just my way of trying to improve your day and make it better!

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Quick and Easy Kaizen #9 - Free antibiotics

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.

#9 Free antibiotics

I guess I am the last one to know but Wal-Mart, Meijer, Publix, and other store pharmacies are giving free antibiotics(see store for details). Yesterday, I had to go to the doctor and he gave me a script for an antibiotic. Meijer then filled my script and I paid nothing for a 14 day supply. This saved me some money and was only about a two mile trip from the doctor's office.

I guess doctors really can hand out antibiotics like candy! If they would only waive my co-pay...

Before: Pay for Antibiotics

After: Get them for free!

Benefit: Free. I'm just about out of my flex spending account money med expense money for the and this was great!

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Update - New Internet provider

Today's Kaizen means switching to a new internet DSL provider saving me $15/month over the old one. However, it may be a few days between service and to get through the change. Postings may be infrequest for a few days...I'll be in touch.

Keep on improving.

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Funny Video Friday - 9/12/08

The rise and fall of a german engineer...no translation necessary.

Discovering his calling early on...



His over achieving science fair project...




Building his first bullet train coaster...


All grown up and still messing with cars...


His final tragic creation that ended his career...


Auf Wiedersehen and have a great weekend!

Dan Lafever
Kiazeneer

Quick and Easy Kaizen #8 - Recharging station

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.

#8 Recharging station


Don't you hate it when your cell phone goes dead? Well, because of our re-charging station, I have never run our of battery life yet on my phone. This is a very simple kaizen that took about 5 minutes to set up and complete.

I used an existing power strip and installed it in to recharge anyone's phone in my family that wanted to use it.



The process is that in the evening, the phones(and our digital camera) get put in the home position to recharge. They charge until I turn it off the strip for the night. In the morning, I turn it on when I'm up and all devices get a full charge without everything being on all night and creating a phantom load and wasting electricity.

This improvement has helped improve our phone availability and reduce phone outages due to battery failures.

Cost: Nothing-already owned power strip.
Time to install-about three minutes

Before: Cell phones wouldn't get recharged regularly, fail due to battery not charged properly.
After: Cell phones charged daily, improve availability.

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

The Great Household Purge update 9/09/08

We are about 8 weeks into the great household purge. I am amazed at the impressive amount of junk that we have accumulated over the years. Or should I say, the amount of junk that we have accumulated over the years is oppressive because we are just getting started in this lengthy and time consuming process. However, we are seeing many initial positive results that keep us motivated and focused on continuing this process. Just as a recap, here are some stats on what has been recovered from the purge:

• $1520 cash recovered from selling unused stuff
• $71 in cash and unused gift cards found during purging.
• Over 800 hundred items donated to charity
• At least 100 square feet of storage space recovered.

This week's ah-ha moment came when I found several pieces of old scrap metal including a heavy plate of bronze, several pieces of brass, copper, and other metals that had been left by the previous owner of the house. These should bring some cash at the scrap dealer which will improve the overall funds recovered. In a way, I look at this as our "salary" that we are earning as we do this job.

Also, I am starting to think about the things I own in a different way. The question now is not "how much do I have" but instead "how much do I really need?". It's an interesting question that I will explore in future entries. But for today, I am enjoying the sweet success of decluttering and enjoying a more simple life.

Dan Lafever

Kaizeneer

Muda Monday - finding financial wastes

In today's entry, I am turning my eyes to household monetary waste and scouring my bank checking account and see what financial muda occured in July 2008. Many of the seven wastes cost money so I thought I would see the what money is wasted directly. Just like other precious resources, I want to understand and reduce the cash that is spent needlessly. Here's what I found after examining my bank account:

1) PRITCHETT ORTHO $100.00

This charge for orthodontic services for one of my kids should have come from a Flex spending debit card account instead of our bank checking account.

2) Financial Management Software: Monthly Service Fee
$9.95

Neither my wife or I authorized this charge or know what it is.


3) LIBRARY books $26.50

Overdue library books. Ouch.

So, in total there was $136.50 wasted in July. That's enough money to fill my honda up with gas 3 times! Now, I follow Mr. Ohno's tenet and work to eliminate these wastes in August. So, here's my improvements to reduce or zero out these losses for each identified financial waste.

1) This was a simple matter of using a personal debit card vs. the flexible spending debit card when taking my child to the orthodontist. So, I had a conversation to remind my whole family to use this card for trips to the doctor, dentist, or orthodontist. Fortunately, I can recover the $100 but I will spend 20 minutes collecting, copying, filling out, and faxing the proper paperwork and waiting for up to two weeks for reimbursement. In addition, I called the orthodontist office to put a note on the account to remind is to pay with the flex spending account card when we come in.

2) We called the bank and had the charges disputed and added back to our account.

3) Our family is working on a bette system to return books. We are going to sign up for reminder emails for my wife's library account so she gets email reminders of when the books are due at the library.

Waste happens. These days, you have to watch carefully what is wasted and optimize your finances to be a great steward of your finances. It's easy to want more but it's surprising how content one can be when you get the most out of what you already have.

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Funny Video Friday - 9/5/08

Cats!

The classic EDS commercial...Cat vs. Man.



Cat vs. Bird Take #1



Cat vs. Bird Take #2



Cat vs. Fish



Have a great weekend!

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Quick and Easy Kaizen #7 - Dad tax

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.




#7 Dad Tax



You pay taxes to uncle Sam, why not Dad? This is a little excercise that I do to teach my kids to be self-sufficient and learn to be do it yourselfers. Here's an example of how it works:



"Daddy, would you do(whatever) this for me?" (this assumes that my child didn't want to do a certain task that they were capable of)



"Sure, but there will be a dad tax(basically, if I do the work, you have to pay dad or find a way to do it yourself). If I do this, you have to pay me for my tax."



After a few times, the kids caught on. Just like adult world, you can do it yourself or pay someone else to do it.



"That's OK dad, I can do it."



This may seem unfair but it teaches children about the real world and the choices they make. Do it myself and save or pay someone else to do it. Sometimes you have to hire work out because you are not capable to do it which is OK but you should plan on that expense. The point of this is to get them to think.



As I watch my oldest daughter at college, I can see the benefits of her financial choices. She handles her money wisely(I was pleasently surprised at her bank balance) and she impressed us at well by decorating her apartment bedroom on her own. Instead of spending a fortune at Target or BB&B, she and a friend decorated and cleverly crafted her room for less than $5. The coolest part of all for me was the lamp she repainted and created recycling and improving the lamp shade. She did a wonderful job and she has a style all her own. She opted to empower herself to create a one of a kind room instead of paying someone for that service. She has learned well from the dad tax. Too bad she has to still pay uncle Sam tax.



What have you improved today?



Dan Lafever

Kaizeneer

Quick and Easy Kaizen #6 - Starting the car

Happy Labor day! Let's find some kaizens to reduce our labors...

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.

#6 Starting the car.

This one comes from my daughter, a 3rd generation Purdue Boilermaker I might add, about starting the car. I highly recommend that teens pay for their own gas because it makes them take ownership and motivates them to conserve and be more efficient.

Before: Started the car, adjusted the seat, check the mirror, look at the cell phone for messages, turn on the AC/Heater, fiddle around with the various items, then go.

After: Adjust the seat, check the mirror, look at the cell phone for messages, turn on the AC/Heater, fiddle around with the various items, then start the car and go.

Cost: nothing

Benefit: Reduce gas use and car idle time. Potential for a great deal of saving depending on how much she used the phone before leaving the driveway!

I am proud of her for this improvement and every little bit helps. My goal is to install this "empowered" thinking into my family's mindset instead of "entitlement" mindset that is so prevalent. We are determined to drive out waste and be more efficient rather than complain about the high cost of things. It's a much more positive and rewarding way to meet the challenge head on.

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer

Jehovah-Old Testament Kaizeneer

The concept of continuous improvement is found in the Bible illustrating that Kaizen is a very old technique indeed. Let’s first look at a passage in the Old Testament addressing the “little by little” method. This one is from the book of Exodus, written sometime in the second millennium B.C. by Moses as God addresses the people:

“I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

The simple kaizen strategy employed by Jehovah to prepare the people for the Promised Land is very interesting:

• God will use the hornet to drive enemies out before the Israelites come in. A “hornet air force” as part of the conquest plan would primarily drive out people, animals, and livestock while leaving the infrastructure of homes, wells, fields, roads, cities, and other things intact. This falls in line with God’s promise to provide his people with “wells you did not dig, homes you didn’t build”, etc.
• The slow but steady taking of the land prevented it from becoming too desolate and from quickly being overrun with wild animals. Changes in war made too quickly can have “desolating” effects on the environment as witnessed in the first gulf war with the infamous fires of Kuwait set by Sadaam’s troops. In addition, it could be argued that the current insurgency in Iraq was a kind of a “wild animal” effect when change happened too rapidly and a power vacuum occurred and political instability could not be contained effectively.
• Lastly, the little by little strategy was important because the nation of Israel could only absorb societal and cultural change at a certain rate. From a population standpoint, time was needed to produce enough people to fill the new land. In addition, the people had been uprooted, dwelled in the desert for decades, and then set out to become a colonizing force in a geographical region different from where they came. In a nutshell, they made the transitions from a slave culture to a nomadic culture to a settled agrarian culture in less than two generations. The little by little pace was needed to give the nation of Israel enough time to change and avoid internal upheaval.

Jehovah knew what he was doing with his people by using kaizen. Little by little changes also can “short circuit” human resistance by executing small steps that are easier to accomplish over a long time. Hopefully, we can all learn from Jehovah, the original kaizeneer on how to use the “little by little” method.

What have you improved today?

Dan Lafever
Kaizeneer