Comments for BMA Inc. - The Lean Accounting Leaders

Comment on Planes, Lanes, and Value Stream Flow. by WBotha

WBotha — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:23:15 +0000

Brian,

Having consulted to the industry, I may be able to offer some insight;

The core value stream the airlines focus upon is limited to the airplane. They all seek the elusive immediate turn-round. It is what costs them money and what delivers what they consider to be the service. Their VSM extends from arrival at the gate to arrival at the next gate. Therein lies the root cause; improper definition of the service.

You allude to a score, you get what you measure right? Guess what airlines measure on delivering the bags to the belt? Time from cargo door open to FIRST BAGS to the belt! So what do you think happens? The ground crews scramble to get the first dolly to the baggage area, they’ll even just send the one! That’s why you will see a spurt of bags appear on the belt, followed by the rest a lot later.

If they had to consider the service to be the actual delivery of the passenger to the CURB, rather than the gate, you may see an improvement in the flow through the terminal.

I have even heard passengers described as ‘self-sorting baggage.’

At the core of the passenger abuse at airports is the multitude of players; stores want you to spend more time browsing so you’ll make more impulse buys, authorities don’t care about speed, just their efficiency at ensuring your granny doesn’t smuggle too much eau-de-toilet onto the plane and the aircrews would love it if you went into a coma for the duration of the flight.

Maybe an air passengers union would be the answer?

Comment on Planes, Lanes, and Value Stream Flow. by BMaskell

BMaskell — Mon, 13 May 2013 13:08:17 +0000

Eric:
Excellent point. I had not thought about luggage as inventory. Great comment.
You are right. I do not travel light. I have just yesterday returned from a 9 day overseas trip. I take enough clothes for 9 days because getting laundry done is less predictable, plus I am moving from city to each every 2 or 3 days. Plus these days I have to carry a portable CPAP machine because my doctor thinks I have Sleep Apnea. Could I get that lot in a carry-on suitcase like I do on short US trips?? What is your advice?
Brian

Comment on Planes, Lanes, and Value Stream Flow. by Eric

Eric — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:49:27 +0000

The root cause of longer than desired “Get back Home” time is subtly suggested in this post. Inventory. You have too much inventory if you have to wait for your bag on the belt. The wait in Immigration sometimes masks the wait for your bag.
Early in my career traveling for work I realized that all that baggage slowed me down. Literally -running through ATL with your bags praying you make it to recheck your bag AND your flight isn’t fun.
But to your point in the post the value in this improvement is in that you have removed an excuse from the system. You can’t use the old “immigration was slow” excuse anymore. The spotlight is now firmly on the inventory issue.
While more seasoned practitioners know that you need to look at the whole, sometimes getting rid of the highly visible but less consequential problem actually helps the team. The distraction is removed and the focus on the root cause can begin. As the team reflects they’ll self-realize the value of root cause thinking. “I figured it out” is much better than “you told me so”.
With all that said, with carry-ons AND Global Entry I’ve managed to get through JFK in 10 minutes, LAX in less than 10, ATL takes longer only because getting to the rentals means gong through the airport.

Comment on Capacity Has Value – Part 2 by NKatko

NKatko — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:07:21 +0000

Stuart,
1. Nonproductive capacity is the average time the value stream spends on the 7 wastes per the current state value stream map
2. Productive capacity is the average time the value stream spends on value-added activities

Comment on Getting to the Root of the AP 3-Way Match by Dave Yaeger

Dave Yaeger — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:18:54 +0000

Receiving timely has always been the # 1 reason for delays in 3 way matching. So we challenged why we have to receive. We determined for inventory items we need to receive and some could move to ERS which is 2 way. For non-inventory, we eliminated the formal receiving process. Instead we image the invoice and send out two different emails to the requisitioner with the image link. 1. If invoice is below our $ treshold we will pay on terms unless you tell us not to. 2. If invoice is above $ threshold you must stamp OK to pay in imaging system. This process was approved many years ago from external auditors and has run smoothly ever since. Sales and Use taxes are also reasons for problems. We solved this by using Vertex with our ERP system.

Comment on LEAN DECSION MAKING: Part 1 – Making the Leap by Donna Samuel

Donna Samuel — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:40:46 +0000

I totally agree with the argument you make here. Convetional costing is the greatest inihibitor to improvement efforts. The only point I would make is to question the assertion that standard costing works OK in manufacturing companies. I agree that it was fine when the biggest costs were labour and capital. However, in most modern manufacturing companies, overhead represent such a huge proportion of overall costs that ill conceived product costs leads to misguided decision-making.

Comment on Getting to the Root of the AP 3-Way Match Our first “crowd sourced” solution – Part 2 by BMaskell

BMaskell — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:00:43 +0000

Arnold:
The trust issue is simplified if we hold very low inventory and pull in new material every day. Any significant theft would create a production shortage that would reveal the problem. Also if you use a visual system of replenishment, the person responsible for the items would quickly identify the shortage.

I know Johnny Cash stole a Cadillac “one piece at a time”. But he had to wait a very ling time for him car )
Brian

Comment on Getting to the Root of the AP 3-Way Match Our first “crowd sourced” solution – Part 2 by Arnold Howe

Arnold Howe — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:39:21 +0000

Ed, the supplier takes the risk and that is reflected in his price. There are costs and risks in this cost saving device, but I guess under the old system we ran out of stock and had to pay excess on transport charges etc etc.

Comment on Getting to the Root of the AP 3-Way Match Our first “crowd sourced” solution – Part 2 by CheeKin Tang

CheeKin Tang — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 15:02:29 +0000

I am a novice with backflush costing. So, I am wondering if my suggestion can eliminate the invoice from the supplier. If so, perhaps it is something that can be considered. What do you think? Doable?

I think in a high trust vendor-customer relationship, there may be a lot of opportunities for info sharing and working together to eliminate duplication of effort.

Comment on Getting to the Root of the AP 3-Way Match Our first “crowd sourced” solution – Part 2 by BMaskell

BMaskell — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:31:31 +0000

Tang:
Are you suggesting that they backflushing the materials needed to make the products through to the accounts payable so that the supplier gets paid based on what is used in production?
Brian