Sampling is Key to Oil Analysis Accuracy

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/29277/sampling-oil-analysis

Oil analysis is perhaps one of the best tools in your arsenal when it comes to determining the health of a machine. The data in the oil not only holds the key to the health of the lubricant but also to that of any wear modes existing in the machines. When you pair this with historical data, you are able to trend these results and better understand what is going on inside the equipment.

Many people regard drawing oil samples as an “as time allows” activity and fail to reap the benefits this technology has to offer. It should be taken seriously and be performed with the utmost care and diligence. It is not enough to simply fill a bottle with oil from the system; you must perform this task properly to accurately trend the data you receive back from the lab.

The first step to accurately track data from your oil samples is to identify the proper location for an oil sample. Samples should be taken from turbulent or “live” zones within the oil system. Pulling a sample from the drain valve is not an accurate representation of the condition of the machine. Wear particles, contaminants and water settle to the bottom of the sump, thus making this sample full of historical data and difficult to trend as you continue to sample from this location.

Oil Sampling Best Practices

Bull’s-eye Data

• Consistent use of documented “best practice” sampling method and “in application”
• Live zone sampling “on the run”
• Upstream of filters, downstream of machine components
• Flushed sampling valves and sampling devices, clean bottles
• Sampled at proper frequency
• Hours on oil recorded and other meaningful inspection and operating details
• Report make-up fluid volume added prior to sampling (if any)
• Samples forwarded immediately to lab

Drop-tube sampling is another method that should be avoided. This involves a vacuum sample pump, a length of tubing and the reservoir of the machine you are testing. With this method, it is challenging to get the tubing into a live zone of the oil and to repeat the exact same test location time after time. This also leads to poor trending of data and skews the accuracy of your sample.

Modifying your equipment to include sample ports is a must if you wish to accurately trend your oil analysis data. Installing a sample port or sample valve provides a location where you can consistently pull a representative sample of the oil in your systems. The sample valve should be located in a turbulent area of oil flow. This can be found after pumps or in elbows where the oil turns and begins to flow violently. You want to sample upstream of any filters to ensure that you aren’t losing any of the valuable data due to filtration.

Some systems may have only one sample port. For instance, if you have a gearbox, you should install a sample port with a stainless-steel tube extension so that the end of the tube (where the sample will be drawn from) is close to the gear teeth and at least 2 inches away from any of the walls of the gearcase. When you sample, you then will use the same port and draw oil from the same place every time. This leads to consistent and trendable data. It also makes spotting any abnormalities in the oil very easy.

71%	of machinerylubrication.com visitors report equipment at their plant has been modified to include oil sample ports or valves

Many systems should have several sample ports. This is where the discussion of primary and secondary sample ports begins. A primary port is a location in the system downstream of the working components where you can get a good representation of the system as a whole with one sample. As you draw samples from this location and trend the results, there may come a time when you begin to see an increase in wear debris. This is where secondary sampling ports come into play. Secondary ports allow you to track where the increased wear is coming from in the system. Generally, secondary ports should be installed after individual components to allow for monitoring of their health.

For example, if you are sampling the return line of a hydraulic system and see an increase in wear debris, you would want to track where that debris is coming from within the system. In a typical hydraulic system, you would need to have a secondary port after the pump and after any cylinders or hydraulic motors in the system. This would allow you to find where the increase in wear is originating.



Using proper sampling techniques is just as important as the sample valves. You must flush your sampling hardware to limit the data disturbance by environmental contamination. Typically, flushing 10 times the dead space of the sample equipment will suffice and ensure that you are getting a good sample. For very dirty environments, keeping the sample bottle in a sealed bag while you draw a sample will help minimize data disturbance by outside sources.

In addition, take a look at the oil sample bottles you are using. Bottle cleanliness makes a difference in the oil’s particle count. If your particle counts are high, consider purchasing sample bottles that are certified “clean” or “super clean” to make certain that the disturbance is not in the bottle. For systems in which the oil samples are extremely critical, perhaps use glass bottles that are certified “ultra clean.”

Oil analysis data has a wealth of benefits for those who utilize it properly. By ensuring that you are sampling properly, this data is more easily trendable and the results can be more easily understood. Of course, tracking historical results is a must for any good oil analysis program. Keep striving for world-class standards and always keep an eye out for what your oil is trying to tell you.

.

Machinery Lubrication (2/2013)

About the Author

Wes Cash

Wes Cash is a senior technical consultant with Noria Corporation, focusing on machinery lubrication and maintenance in support of Noria's Lubrication Program Development (LPD). He holds a ... Read More

Workforce Retention: How to Keep your Best Employees

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29141/workforce-retention-employees

The first two steps in becoming a talent-management organization involve attracting and hiring right-fit/best-fit talent. After this has been achieved, the next question becomes, "How do you keep them?" After all, if you are going to spend the time and money to put a process in place for recruiting and hiring the best of the best, it is self-defeating to drop the ball after the employee comes on board.

Jac Fitz-enz, author of the book "The ROI of Human Capital: Measuring the Economic Value of Employee Performance," had this to say about corporate culture: "The more I study organizational profitability, the more I am convinced of the power of culture."

Fitz-enz cites a study published in Fortune magazine that reported on the 100 most admired companies in the world. The study found that corporate culture was a key factor in differentiating top-performing companies from average companies. Bruce Pfau of the Hay Group, who led the study, said, "The single-best predictor of overall excellence was a company’s ability to attract, motivate and retain talent."

CEOs, in referring to this study, said that corporate culture was their most important lever in enhancing this key capability.

According to Bain and Company in an article published in Harvard Management Update, 91 percent of the 1,200 senior executives at global companies surveyed agreed that “culture is as important as strategy for business success.”

The foundation for employee retention is a strong orientation program that conveys the culture of the organization and ensures that new employees understand their role in delivering on that culture. It clearly communicates expectations of employees’ behaviors and actions while on the job, and provides the tools that enable the employees to deliver on those behaviors and expectations. Most companies have an orientation of some kind, but I am not referring to eight hours in a room reading from the policies and procedures manual.

So, what are the elements of an effective orientation program, taking into consideration the specific needs of the organization, its corporate culture, and the employee and customer demographics of the region? Very broadly, they are:

1. Introduction: A warm welcome sets the tone. Every person should be greeted and welcomed personally by the facilitator of the program. Whenever possible, a personal welcome by a company executive makes a lasting, positive impression.

For example, one organization we have recently assisted with the redesign of their orientation program now has the CEO make an appearance at the beginning of each program. She takes about two minutes to introduce herself and tell the group how excited she is to have them on board. The goal is for her to make her welcome as a personal appearance, but for those times when she is not available, they have created a video that is shown at the very beginning of the orientation program. The response from the groups so far has been very exciting. In evaluations at the end of the program, the No. 1 comment is that having the CEO welcome them makes them feel special and valued.

2. History: Give the new employees a sense of where the company has been. Only by understanding where the company has been and how it began can the new employee comprehend how it arrived at its current position in the marketplace. The history should include stories about the mistakes, struggles and successes of the company that give the employees a sense of the real people and founders who are the core of the current culture.

3. Present: Talk candidly about where the company is today, including who you are, how you operate, and how customers interact and do business with you. This is also a good time to talk about current milestones and successes, as well as the processes, policies, procedures and philosophies that have made the company successful.

4. Future: Clearly and passionately articulate the vision for the future and the employees’ role in making that vision a reality. If possible, give information regarding exciting projects on the drawing board and the benefit of joining the company at this time.

5. Tools/Resources: This should include but is not limited to:

• Policy and procedural manuals
• Contact lists
• Employee handbook
• Insurance information
• Other collateral deemed necessary
• Service theme
• Service standards

The service theme represents the purpose or promise statement. It supports the brand promise, identifies a common goal and supersedes all tasks.

Because service is an integral part of the long-term success of an organization, a supporting structure must be in place. We call these service standards or values. They define service, ensure consistency in the delivery of service, and enable employees to make decisions and judgments as well as prioritize actions.

Service standards give employees the tools needed to deliver on the service theme. They are prioritized and ranked by order of importance, and defined clearly for the new employees, who must be told how to use them to make good decisions in the field.

Typically, companies utilize three to five service standards. For instance, a bank determined that its service standards were security, accuracy, professional courtesy and responsiveness. Security was first because the bank learned through surveys that its customers considered courtesy and responsiveness secondary to the security of their money and the accuracy of transactions.

Teaching the service theme and service standards to new employees in orientation is one way of ensuring that everyone understands what is expected of them and has the tools to consistently deliver on the common goal(s) of the organization.

6. Fun: A great orientation program builds in fun through activities and interaction. For example, when I was a traditions (orientation) instructor at Walt Disney World, we interacted with the new cast members (employees) with a quick and simple activity. Each table was asked to name as many Disney characters as possible in one minute. This may seem frivolous and a little silly, but the activity actually has meaningful purpose, including:

• It fosters teamwork, which is a big part of Disney's culture.
• The animated characters from Disney’s world-famous films are not only part of the company’s culture, but guests often ask cast members questions about the characters.
• It engages the participants and increases the energy level.

One of our clients incorporates an activity they call “Show What You Know” at the end of each major segment of the program. They are presenting it like a game show, and the participants get small rewards for answering questions related to the module they just heard. Again, this small activity has a multi-purpose goal: It keeps the energy level high, and it ensures that the participants are retaining information.

One of the questions we are frequently asked is, "How many hours per day should we devote to orientation?" Most of our clients find that an effective orientation is comprised of a seven- to eight-hour day to address the topics we have discussed above, plus a second day of three to four hours to convey policies, procedures, review insurance, etc. However, each organization is different with varying needs. Only you can determine what will work for you.

The key is to remember that your orientation program lays the foundation for your expectations of new employees and provides them with the tools and resources to deliver service that is in alignment with your culture and values.

About the Author

Debbie Zmorenski

Deborah K. Zmorenski, MBA, is the co-owner and senior partner of Leader’s Strategic Advantage Inc., an Orlando, Fla.-based consulting firm. During her 34-year career with the Walt Disney ... Read More

Executing a Continuous Improvement Plan

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29137/continuous-improvement-plan

Every plan for continuous improvement should follow a path based on performance metrics for quality, cost, delivery and safety. For each of these groups, you should have well-defined targets such as to improve by 10 percent, reduce by 12 percent, increase by 9 percent, etc. For each metric, you should have a corresponding objective.

Additionally, you should have communicated the plan and the reasons why you are going after certain items on the plan. It is now time to execute. Each of the items on your plan may need some additional analysis to see exactly what is involved in the improvement of those items.

Are you going to have a team leader by initiative? Are you going to employ value-stream management? Are there natural families for you to follow? Is your continuous improvement effort themed in one area (quality, cost, delivery, safety, morale and/or innovation)?

As you go through the next levels, you are moving from strategic questions to more tactical questions. At the high level, you may want to improve delivery performance by 11 percent. However, before you can attack delivery performance, you need to do some analysis of what goes into the delivery performance. This may include questions about volume, customer mix, new products, standard vs. special systems, days of the week, geography, etc.

My recommendation is that you employ lean and Six Sigma to these next steps so that you are able to effectively sort out which is which. Please be careful that you don’t just do what you have always done. In other words, if your organization is slanted toward Six Sigma, don’t make everything a define-measure-analyze-improve-control (DMAIC) project. On the other hand, if your organization is more of a lean organization, don’t call everything a kaizen either.

As you are laying out the next steps of your executable plan, you must first decide which approach to use. Not everything is a kaizen; not everything is a project. Selecting the right tool will ensure you the highest impact at the lowest cost in terms of time required.

For purposes of simple definitions, consider the following:

• Kaizen — This is a very rapid approach to continuous improvement. The scope should be such that while you have a problem statement identified, you do not yet have the solutions. Be careful that you are not trying to “boil the ocean” in a week. You are willing to empower a team to execute the improvement process. There are specific and measureable goals and objectives for the problem statement. During a kaizen week, there should be a miniature plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle within the week. You also have a resource who is well-versed and capable of leading a kaizen for you.
• Project — This is a more long-term approach that may allow for items to be scoped on a larger scale. These may include projects that are bigger than a kaizen. In some cases, projects may be made up of several kaizens. There are specific and measureable goals that you are after. You are willing and able to empower a team to pursue the effort. You have a resource available who is capable of managing a project and has enough continuous improvement experience to bring the expertise to the project.
• Do-It — These are items in which you know what needs to be done, but the resources just haven’t yet been allocated to the effort. For example, in looking at the plan, replacing the spindle bearing on a piece of equipment shows up as a reason you can’t perform. Replacing the spindle becomes a “do-it.” Now, just “do it!”

At the end of each of these activities, don’t forget to update your posting(s) and communicate the activities to others. You also need to chart and track the results to make sure that your efforts are yielding the results you seek.

Remember, what you want is a culture of continuous improvement. Along the way, you will reap a great deal of benefits in terms of performance improvements and tactical performance. The end game is always the culture. Never lose sight of that fact.

5 Tips for Greater Workplace Efficiency

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29129/greater-workplace-efficiency

We all know the old saying that time is money. It’s true, especially in the world of manufacturing. The more time you waste, the more it costs to make your products and the less profit your business has to take home. Likewise, the better you get at working efficiently, the better your profits will be.

What does this mean for your business? What can you do to improve the efficiency level of your processes? To help answer these questions, here are five tips for greater workplace efficiency.

1. Thoroughly Train Employees

Educated employees are more efficient employees. A lot of manufacturing inefficiencies come down to the same root problem: lack of understanding. Everyone in your company needs to know your products, from the assembly line to the boardroom. That’s why you need to take the time to thoroughly train all employees with hands-on education that ensures they are completing tasks as efficiently as possible.

2. Find Ways to Reduce Downtime

Every minute that your employees are standing around with nothing to do is a minute lost for productivity. Finding ways to minimize downtime is key to making the most of your resources. Here are a few ideas for getting started:

• Track Everything: Without proper planning and documentation, making decisions about efficiency will be tricky. Arm yourself with knowledge by tracking how much time is spent on each task and how much time is being wasted. Then, when you attempt to address those issues, track changes to see if downtime is reduced.
• Prioritize: List all the job tasks happening on the production line and analyze them to see what they’re actually accomplishing. Which repetitive tasks are addressing problems and which are addressing symptoms of bigger problems? Work to prioritize tasks in order of importance and communicate this to your staff so they know what to work on when task B is done, etc.

3. Automate Where Possible

Many parts of your business can be automated without sacrificing quality — like accounts payable, for example. If you use an e-commerce or inventory-control solution, you minimize the amount of man-hours going into the project. This goes for other areas of your company as well. Look around and see what processes could be automated to save time and money.

4. Minimize Hands-on Customer Service

Customer service matters in any industry, but you can still save your company the highly involved, highly costly procedures of sticking to all manual responses. Find ways to promote customer self-service, possibly through an online secure portal where simple questions can be answered without call-ins. Also, make product order status available online so clients can stay updated without needing to pull your staff away from their work.

5. Empower Managers

Delegate some of the efficiency improvement to your managers by giving them the tools they need to make real change. Make it so that when they find inefficiency or waste, they are able to do something about it without needing to go through extensive red tape. This speeds up the efficiency process and gets your managers involved in improving company operations, which benefits their work experience as well.

Do you think your manufacturing processes could benefit from these tips? Try them for yourself and see if your overall efficiency doesn't increase as a result.

About the Author

Chris Bekermeier is vice president of sales and marketing for PacMoore in Hammond, Ind. PacMoore is a contract manufacturer focused on processing dry ingredients for the food and pharmaceutical industries, with capabilities including blending, spray drying, repackaging, sifting and consumer packaging.

2 Keys for Organizational Effectiveness

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:

http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29133/organizational-effectiveness-keys

Great leaders are able to critically assess an organization's structure and culture, and are willing to make changes where needed in order to position the company for success. However, organizational effectiveness is about more than structure.
There are two secrets within the element of organizational effectiveness that are critical to the success of any company:

1. Maintaining a lean and efficient internal organizational structure.
2. Ensuring that your organization has policies and processes in place to hold leaders accountable for their behaviors as well as results.

"Maintaining a lean and efficient organization" means that leaders must regularly assess the current structure of the company to determine its ability to contribute to the success of the organization. A heavily layered organization is oppressive, inhibits communication, hinders the sharing of ideas and interferes with the ability to take care of customers and employees.

Eventually, employees and customers will get discouraged and give up. The end result can be high employee turnover and customer defection.

Ensuring that your organization is not top heavy and that it is as lean as possible facilitates strong relationships with employees and communication in all directions at all levels. It also makes it easier for customers to express their ideas, wants and needs.

Look around your organization and ask yourself these questions:

• Is employee turnover high?
• Are employees doing only enough to get by or stay out of trouble?
• Are your employees apathetic?
• Are customers defecting at a rate higher than the average for your industry?
• Do you get more complaints than compliments on service?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, this may be a warning sign or symptom of an organizational structure that makes it difficult or even impossible for employees to share their ideas or communicate daily operational needs.

Here are two tactics for assessing the leanness of your organizational structure:

1. Evaluate the job description of each manager in your organization. Is there duplication of responsibilities that may cause confusion and interference with effective processes or delay growth and forward progress?
2. Conduct a business process review to identify overlap and inefficiencies within policies, processes and procedures.

The second element of organizational structure is leadership accountability — ensuring you have clearly articulated expectations and have processes in place for holding leaders accountable not only for business performance but also for behaviors.

Many organizations today realize that “Type A” managers — leaders who are controlling, autocratic and manage by intimidation — are ineffective and damaging to the organization. In most companies, these types of managers are no longer tolerated. Within your organizational structure, you must not only consider the physical structure but also the types of managers or leaders that have power and authority over employees and processes.

For example, if you have a leader who is delivering on business performance but behaves inappropriately, that person has to change or go. These are tough decisions to make. However, you cannot afford to tolerate such people or their behaviors for very long. They may be contributing successfully to the bottom line for the time being, but ultimately these leaders will create chaos and failure within your organizational structure, eroding profits through employee turnover and customer defection. In addition, the employees who will leave are the productive ones that you cannot afford to lose.

Generally, leaders fall into one of four categories:

1. The person who is neither delivering on business results nor exhibiting appropriate behavior. There is no question that these leaders must be asked to leave the company.
2. The leader who delivers great business results but does not model the right behavior. This leader is contributing to the bottom line but is not treating employees well. Often called “results-oriented leaders,” they are leaving dead bodies in their wake. Yet it is traditional in business that these people are rewarded and promoted for bringing bottom-line results to the organization without thought for the long-term consequences of their actions.
3. The third type of leader has strong relationship skills but does not demonstrate business savvy. These leaders are liked and respected by their employees. Employees readily follow them blindly and happily down whichever path the leader chooses. The good news is that with some training these leaders usually can learn the business skills necessary to be successful. In other words, the leaders with strong relationship skills are most likely to develop into ideal leaders if they can learn competent business skills.
4. The fourth leadership type is the ideal leader. These are the people who are getting business results for your organization, demonstrating the organization’s values and behaviors, and building great relationships with the employees and customers. They have learned to balance the leadership characteristics of building relationships with holding people accountable. They take disciplinary action when necessary, reward and recognize when it is appropriate, bring money to the bottom line, and give great service to customers. If this type of leader sounds like a miracle worker, it is for good reason. Mastering this scope of relationship and business skills is very difficult. It is no surprise that these people are a small percentage of leaders in any organization. When you find them, you must do everything in your power to keep them.

Within your organizational structure, you must have processes and tools in place to help you identify which types of leaders are running your organization. Once you have identified where your leaders fit, it is up to you to have processes in place that will clearly state expectations for business results and behavior. You must then provide the tools, training, knowledge and skills that will allow each leader to realize his or her full potential. Once you have done these things, you must hold these people accountable for their performance and behavior.

If they cannot deliver on both goals, then you may have to make a decision about allowing them to remain in a leadership position or possibly move them to a different role in the organization. It may even be necessary to ask them to leave the organization. Although this may cause short-term strain, it will allow you to promote from within or hire from outside the organization an ideal leader who will contribute to the long-term success of the organization.

About the Author

Debbie Zmorenski

Deborah K. Zmorenski, MBA, is the co-owner and senior partner of Leader’s Strategic Advantage Inc., an Orlando, Fla.-based consulting firm. During her 34-year career with the Walt Disney ... Read More

Why Leaders Must Have Vision

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29109/leaders-have-vision

Great leaders have vision. There are very few natural visionary leaders in the corporate world. I have been lucky to have worked with two during my 34-year career with Walt Disney World. The good news is that this is a skill that can be learned. It is probably the most powerful tool in a leader’s toolbox. So what is a vision? How does it work, and how is it different from a vision statement?

Let's begin by defining a vision statement and a vision. A vision statement is a statement of words describing where and what an organization wants to be in the future. It usually remains unchanged for many years. There is nothing wrong with vision statements. They have their place in the organizational structure. However, vision statements do not necessarily translate into action. Without action, an organization has a nicely framed statement on the wall but no forward motion.

In contrast, vision can be defined as a picture in the leader's imagination that motivates people to action when communicated compellingly, passionately and clearly.

To be a visionary, a leader need have nothing more than a clear vision of the future. The difficult task is communicating that vision with clarity and passion in order to motivate and inspire people to take action. A visionary leader who clearly and passionately communicates his or her vision can motivate employees to act with passion and purpose, thereby ensuring that everyone is working toward a common goal. The end result is that everyone contributes to the organization's forward momentum.

"In order to take the organization to the highest possible level, leaders must engage their people with a compelling and tangible vision," said Warren Bennis, professor of business administration at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

What follows is a practice exercise that you can use to develop and hone your visionary communication skills:

Step 1: Think of one challenge within your department, division or organization.

Step 2: Imagine the big picture. Visualize the incredible future success that you will realize from the new and improved situation, as well as the benefits to the organization and to the employees. This is your chance to be a true visionary. No dream is too big or too fantastic. This is the "pie in the sky" result you are seeing.

Step 3: Determine how you will communicate your vision. What words and phrases will you use? In what environment will you choose to communicate your vision – in a staff meeting, one on one, with supervisors and managers? How will you communicate the benefits to the staff and to the organization? Write down your ideas on paper.

Step 4: Practice communicating what you have written. Make sure it sounds sincere. Practice out loud to yourself and to others. If you don't believe it, no one else will believe it either.
If you use this exercise frequently, you will find that expressing your vision in a compelling and clear manner will soon feel very natural.

When you are ready to communicate your vision to your employees, give them only the vision of success. Great leaders use vision as a tool to inspire and motivate, not to dictate. Do not give your employees the steps for achieving the vision, but let them determine the methods and tactics for achieving the goal. Great leaders know how to give the gift of vision and then step away.

About the Author

Debbie Zmorenski

Deborah K. Zmorenski, MBA, is the co-owner and senior partner of Leader’s Strategic Advantage Inc., an Orlando, Fla.-based consulting firm. During her 34-year career with the Walt Disney ... Read More

Eliminate Waste with Lean Business Model

Article extract from ReliablePlant newsletter:
http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/29119/lean-business-model

The United States has created levels of wealth well beyond any other civilization in history, yet much further potential is sitting right under our noses. This potential lies in lean thinking; that is, the lean business model. Applying the lean business model across the board would lead to immense productivity improvements and create an environment of deflation (a deflationary economy) and very significant wealth creation. This situation would replicate the near-zero inflationary period the United States benefited from during its first 135 years.

From a historic view, inflation was and remained very small throughout the first century of our country’s existence — even up until around 1910. During this same time, income increased substantially as the country industrialized from both an agricultural and manufacturing standpoint. Much of this was driven during the Industrial Revolution, which significantly increased manufacturing output but also greatly improved agriculture output and efficiencies due to better distribution networks and the ongoing mechanization of the agricultural industry.

During this part of our country’s history, we benefited from what I call quasi-deflation; that is, though prices did not necessarily decrease, they increased at a dramatically low level over the course of many years (in fact, decades), while income that Americans earned increased substantially.

Although deflation is typically viewed in trepidation, in the past it has been— and can be in our future — a truly beneficial function. It may be viewed as price stability, enhanced buying power and value-adding.

Deflation can be defined in two ways: as a decrease in the overall price of goods and services, or as a decrease in the money supply and credit. While the second definition is considered classical economics, this discussion will use the first definition.

Applying lean is about removing waste from the system. By removing waste, work-in-process decreases, productivity increases, lead times decrease, quality improves, and on and on.

To summarize, lean reduces the cost of any product or service by eliminating waste in the development, production and distribution of these products or services. In other words, it reduces cost (notwithstanding the cultural impact and change that must go hand in hand with the cost-improvement aspect). So with all things being equal, if costs of all products and services decrease via the lean business model, that would, in turn, drive prices down over time as well.

Many products and services actually follow this model from a deflationary standpoint. For example, electronics are in a constant state of price decrease while their performance, features and quality are improving. Think of the price of iPads, HD TVs, cell phones and the like. The prices on these products can drop on a monthly or weekly basis. Obviously, improved technology is what drives price reduction in this case, combined with free-market competition. But couldn’t any product have the same pattern if lean was applied? Maybe it would not be as drastic of a price reduction or over such a short timeframe, but there is no reason why eliminating waste (costs) over time in a competitive free market could not have the same effect.

As mentioned above, our country’s history has shown that it can and has happened. Anyone who has been involved with a deep implementation of a lean business model understands the magnitude of waste that infects all business — be it manufacturing, service, government, design or distribution. For as much as we, as a nation, have yet to create, we near equally have yet to improve.