“A bad system will beat a good person every time.” – W. Edwards Deming Introduction In a supermarket, customer footfall is relatively low from Monday to Thursday. However, from Friday evening through Sunday, it increases significantly. As a result, staff are under-utilised on the first four days of the week and overworked on the remaining three. To manage this imbalance, stores typically offer weekday discounts, introduce express checkout counters
“The most dangerous kind of waste is the waste we do not recognise” – Shigeo Shingo Introduction In the metro, on a train, or during a flight, everyone seems to be busy watching something on social media. On average, we spend 2 to 4 hours every day in front of a screen. While 20–30% of this time may be spent on productive work, what about the rest? We already
“When speed overrides stability, and pressure overrides capacity, failure is not a risk, it’s a certainty.” – Taiichi Ohno Introduction In our childhood and later years, we all appeared for exams and achieved results. Most of us studied intensively and with anxiety in the last few days, weeks, or months and performed accordingly. A few, however, studied consistently, with plan, throughout the year and also achieved strong results, perhaps with
“Leaders don’t manage from conference rooms; they lead from the floor.” – Taiichi Ohno Introduction When Ram, Sita, and Lakshman were living in the forest during exile, Ravan kidnapped Sita. Lord Ram had two choices. The easy choice was to simply ask Lakshman to go and search for her. But instead, he chose a wiser path. First, he tried to understand who Ravan was and how powerful he was. After
Story: The Mountain Man In a small village in Bihar lived Dashrath Manjhi. A huge mountain blocked the village from schools, markets, and hospitals. One day, Dashrath’s wife fell seriously ill. The long route around the mountain delayed medical help. Sadly, she did not survive. In this painful plateau of life, where nothing changed, and everything felt stuck, Dashrath made a bold decision: “If the mountain is the problem… I