Happy 1st Birthday AllAboutLean.com

AllAboutLean.com is one year old. Exactly twelve months ago I started this blog on September 1st with my first post, New Professor, New Blog. Since then I have published fifty-six posts. Time to have a look back. What were the most popular posts? How did visits to my blog develop? What is the outlook for the future? And what is there already in the pipeline that will appear soon on AllAboutLean.com?

Most Popular Posts

Since its beginning one year ago, AllAboutLean.com published one post every week every Sunday, for a total of fifty-six posts (during the first week I posted almost daily, since a blog with only one post looks so … empty).

I try to have all of my posts in excess of one thousand words, and they are all completely written by me rather than short repostings of what is found elsewhere with two sentences as a comment. I want to add to the knowledge on the web, not just repeat it! Many of these posts are original research, and most have been very well received. Some even made it to the top  of Google search results for selected keywords.

 To 10 Posts of All Time

Below are the top ten posts of AllAboutLean.com, based on  the number of page views. Most of them are posts that help you with your daily work on the shop floor, with focus on practicability and usability. I try to cut through the pure theory and tell you how it really is. Because on the shop floor you need something that works!

Other popular posts are related to training and education, how to teach yourself and others some fundamentals of lean. Some of the Top 10 below are actually split into two posts, since otherwise one post would have been too long.

1. The Difference Between Lean and Six Sigma: The term Six Sigma is widely used in industry, and often used synonymously with lean production. However, Six Sigma originally came from a quality control direction using a technique that does not work. Only later have they taken over the lean approach. They do have fancy degree titles, though! This post seems to also be my most shared post on LinkedIn at the moment .
2. Japanese Standard Pointing and Calling (Video): My first video on YouTube, based on lots of recordings during a trip to Japan. Great visualization of the Japanese Pointing and Calling technique to reduce errors.
3. How Many Kanban? – The Kanban Formula, Part 1 and How Many Kanbans? – The Kanban Formula, Part 2: A two-post series on how to calculate the number of kanban.  Getting the kanban right (or at least not too few) is important for your system to function. Yet the kanban calculation is not easy. These posts explain the theory of the kanban calculation.
4. Simple Kanban System for Office Supplies: Kanban can be mightily fancy, but they don’t have to. Especially if you are ordering low quantities of low-value items like office equipment, you need a system that is easy and foolproof.
5. Poka Yoke Training – Simple Mistake Proofing Game: Quick and easy game to teach mistake proofing (poka yoke) to people of all ages in a few minutes. And it has chocolate too! I often start my lean trainings with this game to get a positive mood. Few people are unhappy if they get chocolate! 🙂
6. Seven Gadgets for the Basic Lean Toolkit: Whenever I have a lean project on the shop floor, there are a few items that really helped me do my work. If you have never used a flashlight with a narrow focus, you cannot imagine how useful one is on the shop floor.
7. SMED – Creative Quick Changeover Exercises and Training: A list of four easy exercises and games to teach quick changeover methods. From cocktails to coffee, from firefighters to Formula 1, there is something for everybody.
8. Top Three Methods on How to Fudge Your OEE: The third most popular post on AllAboutLean.com. The OEE is a measure of machine performance, and I have seen far too many OEE’s that were unintentinally-or-not just plain wrong. Usually the error is in a way that tends to make the plant look better than it really is. Hence I wrote this rather sarcastic post on how to fudge your OEE – of course with the goal of helping you determine if you get fudged numbers rather than teaching you how to fudge them yourself.
9. Make Your Plant Tour a Success! and Lean Shop Floor Visit Checklist – Top 4 Things to Watch in the Factory: The second most popular post on AllAboutlean.com. When visiting a factory, the host does not always want you to see what really is going on. However, there are a few easy-to-use metrics to estimate the performance of the plant. These two posts are a guide and a checklist  on what to watch and observe to determine if the plant is performing well, or merely pretending to do so.
10. Finally, the absolute number one in popularity on AllAboutLean.com: Ten Rules When to Use a FIFO, When a Supermarket – Introduction and Ten Rules When to Use a FIFO, When to Use a Supermarket – The Rules: These two posts help you to decide if you should use a supermarket or a FiFo between processes. Few fixed rules exist, but there are a number of useful guidelines that I have summarized here for your convenience. Based on my original research (like many other of my posts), hence there is no other page on the web out there yet that tells you when to use a FiFo or a supermarket.

Top 5 Posts by Views per Day

Of course, this list favors posts that have been around for longer time. A post that appeared five weeks ago rarely has the number of page views of a post that appeared twelve months ago. Below are the Top 5 ranked by average page views per day. I have excluded posts from August (last month), as new posts always get more views on the front page. However, all of the Top Five by views per day are also included in the Top Ten of the total views above.

1. The Difference Between Lean and Six Sigma: See #9 above.
2. How Many Kanban? – The Kanban Formula, Part 1 and How Many Kanbans? – The Kanban Formula, Part 2: See #10 above.
3. Poka Yoke Training – Simple Mistake Proofing Game: See #6 above.
4. Ten Rules When to Use a FIFO, When a Supermarket – Introduction and Ten Rules When to Use a FIFO, When to Use a Supermarket – The Rules: No surprise, the #1 from above is here too.
5. SMED – Creative Quick Changeover Exercises and Training: See #4 above.

Some Observations

Some of my posts made it to the top of the Google page search. If you search for fifo supermarket on Google, my Ten Rules When to Use a FIFO, When a Supermarket – Introduction and Ten Rules When to Use a FIFO, When to Use a Supermarket – The Rules occupy the top spots (at the time of writing). Similarly, OEE fudging will return the Top Three Methods on how to Fudge Your OEE and my tag category OEE. With kanban formula I am only in the second spot with How Many Kanban? – The Kanban Formula, Part 1. In any case this is very promising for a rather new website. (Actual Google results may vary, depending on your location, language, and search history)

Also, Facebook likes, LinkedIn shares, Twitter Tweets, and so on are also increasing – although I enabled this option only a few months ago. So, if you like my posts, go ahead and like/share/Tweet, etc.

Some Statistics

The number of visitors and number of views per day is also increasing nicely. Below is the development of the page views (not counting bots and administrators) from October 2013 to August 2014. As you can see, there is a strong growth, and I am looking forward to reaching even more readers in the future. The graph shows the average number of page views per day and the exponential trend.

Of course,  we all know that an exponential trend must hold for forever. Hence I took the liberty of extrapolating this trend for the next 30 years based on one year of data.

Based on this highly realistic data (the numbers are very precise!), I can estimate that by 2019 my site will be bigger than Wikipedia (for all languages combined). By 2024 AllAboutLean.com will have eclipsed Facebook and Google. Finally, by around 2026, all hits on the Internet will be on my page and my page alone. At the latest by 2030, I will rule the world based on this exponential extrapolation!

Or maybe not. But the numbers are accurate!

Things to Come

Before I reach world domination, however, there is more work to do. The following items are in the pipeline and will appear on AllAboutLean.com during the next months.

• Another video is in the making. The 40-minute video is my “first lecture” on the history of manufacturing. The German version is already online on YouTube (Geschichte der Produktion). English subtitles and transcripts are in the works.
• A FiFo calculator related to estimating the size of a FiFo based on means and standard deviations. During my last holiday I spent an hour or so every now and then programming JavaScript. A friend of mine called me crazy for not hanging out on the beach with a cocktail during my holiday. He probably is right, but I love this stuff too much.
• A book project related to manufacturing is almost completed. After five years of hard work the draft is completed, and I am in the process of getting it published. Of course, I will keep you updated on AllAboutLean.com as soon as there is more news.

In any case, I hope that my work is helpful for you and you will continue reading AllAboutLean.com.

All the best,

Chris