Saturday, July 04, 2009

Why is everything all lined up?

I walked past a work station last week and noticed something different. 
 
The base of the station had been rotated 45 degrees from the orientation it has had as long as I've worked here. 
 
"What's the story on the table shift?" I asked one of our associates.
 
She grinned and told me the story.  Bottom line was one of her colleagues had correctly and creatively observed that in the current work flow, rotating the table created more room.  "It really works like a top," she exclaimed, "much less congestion as we move material in and out."
 
Which got me thinking. 
 
We like things lined up.  Everything at right angles.  Evened off.  Matching. 
 
Usually, that's a good place to start.
 
But, once you see the vision of the value in a steady stream of small improvements (as this work team has), knocking something out of line makes even more sense.
 
Keep learning.
 
 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Why are cubicles rectangular and arranged in a grid? With fewer employees in most offices, efficient use of floor space is irrelevant. Once I wrote on the office white board, "How can you think outside the box when you're sitting inside a box?"