Visualizing the Problem

Waste is a very insidious character. It sneaks up on you then takes every opportunity to camouflage its existence. If you cannot see a problem you can never fix it. Think of all of the produce that has rotted in the bottom drawer of your refrigerator. What about all of the extra money you have spent on new summer or winter clothes, only to find everything you thought lost neatly labeled and stored in the attic. A key offender in the battle against hidden waste is "putting things away". I am all for neatness and organization, but often to achieve a clean look we add cabinets, drawers, and boxes to help everything look tidy. Soon cleaning up involves shoving things into these like a ten year old asked to pick up his room. However cliched, out of sight, out of mind succinctly summarizes this phenomenon.

I often suggest that people remove the doors from all of their cabinets. In this way everything contained within is readily visible, be it sixteen cans of pears bought on sale two years ago or a tangle of electronics cords, 90% of which you no longer need. There is the added advantage that you have just eliminated a step to accessing anything contained within. Finally whether making a grocery list or searching for a 1/4-20 socket head cap screw everything is easily seen.

Visualization of problems can be applied in other areas as well. If you have ever looked down at the last square of toilet paper on a roll and reached for a new one only to find an empty cabinet, you will understand the benefits of this next suggestion. For critical items (yes TP qualifies) it is not difficult to set up a visual system that alerts you before a crisis that action is required. First of all you already have the door off of the bathroom cabinet now right? Now paint the area under the location of the last stored roll bright red and add a label recommending purchasing more. Sounds silly, but it works. I have a friend that set up a system for breakfast cereal. When he empties a box the rule is he tears the top from the box and places it in the drawer with the grocery list so it will not be overlooked during the next trip to the store. This practice is referred to as a kanban system. Kanban is Japanese for card. Japanese companies have used such card systems for years as a visual tool to manage inventories and production.

These are only two examples of how making problems visual can go a long way toward both solving them and preventing recurrence. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.