One of the classes I’m taking currently is Operations
Management. Now going into this class, I knew it was about management, but I
thought it was more about how you interacted with and managed your workers.
It is not. It’s about learning how to manage your workflow
to efficiently produce whatever your product is.
We’re learning things
like how to order your processes efficiently and where to place stations to
minimize movement between stations. Now as I was looking at this information, I
thought of Lillian Gilbreth. She and her husband Frank Gilbreth were efficiency
experts. Lillian used her understanding of efficiency to redesign kitchens from
the large country kitchens that used to be common, to the modern efficiency kitchens
where you can reach everything from the middle of the room, therefore requiring
less time-consuming walking.
Turns out, there was a reason the information reminded me of
the Gilbreths. They were among the people named in the book who contributed to
the operations management systems we have today.
What this information does is brings the story of Frank and
Lillian Gilbreth, and their large brood of 12 children (six boys and six girls)
to the forefront of my thoughts. Since I’m thinking about them and their
efforts to reduce wasted motion, I’ve been noticing when myself and other
household members waste motion.
I realized I wasted motion going back and forth between my
bedroom and the kitchen when I needed food or had to do a chore. So, I started
eating in the kitchen (as opposed to my bedroom) and doing some chores before I
returned to my room. Then I realized I wasn’t remembering to take my morning
pills when I did return to my room. Since one of those must be taken in the
morning, and with food, I figured out my best option would be to take my
medication with me when I went to eat breakfast. Problem solved.
Then I noticed how family members efficiently use or waste
motion.
One way was watching how family members handled the chore of
washing dishes.
As a rule, we household members will gather, wash, and rinse
everything in steps. Doing each step before moving on to the next one. For the
most part, where we differ is in how we dry and put them away.
Royce will dry every piece, placing the dry ones on the
counter while he dries the next piece. Then, with the dishes gathered according
to where they belong, he puts them away. Mostly efficient, but there is some
wasted motion in how often he picks up each dish. Particularly to dry them and
then put them away.
Melinda and I do the same steps, right up to drying and
putting them away. We don’t place them on the counter between drying and
putting them away. Those things that belong in the cupboard above the counter
by the sink, we dry and place in the cupboard. Those that go across the room
(mainly the silverware and utensils) we dry as we step toward where they go,
putting them away as we finish drying. With the silverware and utensils, we
grab all of them at once to dry and put away, so we aren’t going back and
forth. This is the most efficient way because we aren’t wasting motion to pick
the dishes up one more time.
Now Jerry is a different issue.
He doesn’t always gather all the dishes before he starts
washing so he must make additional trips. He’s also prone to getting just some
of the dirty dishes in one area and going back for the rest. (For example,
taking only the plates off the table when there are also cups and silverware.)
He will get all the dishes washed before he rinses anything, but then he really
wastes motion.
Like Melinda and I, he dries all the things larger than
silverware and utensils and puts them away. But then he will pick up each piece
of silverware or utensil and then dry it, still standing at the sink, before
stepping over to the correct drawer and putting it away. Then repeats it until
they are all put away. Thus, repeatedly going across the room, with an already
dry item, wasting motion.
I’m noticing all this wasted motion and I’m realizing what
you are thinking about the most is what you will notice the most. It’s along
the same lines as to how we notice the things that are most familiar to us.
Such as twins noticing other sets of twins. Or noticing all the cars of the
same make, model, or color as yours. It’s not that there are more of them, just
that you notice them more often.
What do you notice?
Smile. Make the day a brighter day.
