Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Take Before Pictures


In the excitement to quickly make improvements as soon as we hit the shop floor, slow down enough to take some "Before" pictures. Before pictures have a powerful impact to any lean improvement process yet many of us forget to take the time for some quick pictures before we start the improvement quest.

With the power of digital photography today, this step is easier than ever before. Just like in the home improvement magazines or even those popular make over shows ( personal appearance, rooms or total house redos), the power of seeing the before shot next to the after shot helps visually demonstrate the accomplishments. Sure, you can show numbers and graphs with plenty of data measuring the improvements of the lean efforts but pictures really tell the story.

Posting the before and after pictures on the shop floor promotes pride and a sense of accomplishment by the team. The same pictures are used to report to upper management the lean improvements made in the organization. Another great benefit is sharing these pictures with other departments or plants to spark their imaginations to make similar improvements. All it takes is a little time devoted to making "Before" pictures.

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