Lean Terms - 3Ds (Dirty, Dangerous, Difficult)

[SteelMaiden]

Peacewong, you are certainly encouraged to further this discussion you started without a powerpoint presentation. Actually, IMHO, I'd prefer to read your take without the powerpoint. I can't open them anyway, so waiting to see it is a waste of time for me.

 

[Wes Bucey]

So, with Stijloor's suggestion, I did a little digging and discovered the "3D's" to be the equivalent of what I have heard as slang in various parts of the world for 60 years!
Some of the slang terms:

• coolie work
• stoop labor
• scut work
• grunt work
• strong back, weak mind work
• McD job

Essentially (unintended play on words), this kind of work is essential or necessary to all infrastructures, but it is generally the lowest "value added" work process in the entire supply chain. Craftsmen and white collar workers make jokes about ditch diggers and well diggers, but the truth is those same craftsmen and white collar workers would be jobless if the grunt work did not provide them with the basic materials to perform their "skilled" tasks.

Wrong-headed Lean advocates think organizations are well rid of the 3Ds (to use the terminology of the OP) by offloading those tasks to some outsource organization, often in a developing nation.

Precisely because those same wrong-headed Lean advocates championed outsourcing without adequate evaluation (FMEA) and control, we now see instances where blame rockets around the world for melamine and lead and other contamination of food, toys, cosmetics, etc.

There is no conflict in my mind between identifying certain tasks and processes as "3D" and proper application of LEAN principles in an organization or even an entire society. The key is in "proper" application of Lean or the curious amalgam of Six Sigma and Lean championed by Neutron Jack Welch at GE. "Proper" in such instances means spending time and effort to perform an extensive FMEA BEFORE implementing such outsourcing, exploring the possibilities and ramifications of process failure anywhere throughout the supply chain and creating adequate safeguards against occurrence of a nonconformance disrupting the supply chain.

 

[wmarhel]

Wes,

I "googled" around and found this. 3-D is used in various contexts. Interesting. I don't believe it's "consultant speak."

Stijloor.

Yes, I'm agreeing with Stijloor. I checked a few sources and couldn't find this in any of the writings from people like: Hirano, Imai, Shingo, Ohno, Monden, Nakajima, Sekine, etc.

Definitely something that a consultant made. Not that it is bad if it helps the customer understand and implement, but it sure isn't anything revolutionary. One only read about 5S (and the real purpose behind 5S which is visual management) or refer to books on Total Productive Maintenance such as those written by Nakajima and Shirose.

Wayne

 

[peacewong]

Hello everybody. These terms come from Japanese the feudal country based on East Aisa. Frankly, Japanese culture came from Chinese Tang period Culture urn as we all know. So you maybe misunderstand 3D the east culture if you do not learn and/or study the east Aisa culture particular the Chinese Culture such as Confucianism. In fact, the real decription of 3D in Chinese is "脏","乱","差". I don't know what to call in Japanese after they translated into Japanese.
What's the meaning of 3D?
You can see them when you go to the Gemba(Japanese, means work floor or work shop). It belongs to Gemba Kaizen properly. Then expands to all work sites such as office, office,etc.
Well, I explain what 3D stand for. To be continued.

 

[harry]

....... In fact, the real decription of 3D in Chinese is "脏","乱","差". I don't know what to call in Japanese after they translated into Japanese.

For the benefit of the majority that do not know Chinese Language.

"脏" - pronounced as 'zang' - means dirty
"乱" - pronounced as 'luan' - means messy
"差" - pronounced as 'cha' - means bad or poor quality

 

[Manoj Mathur]

Thanks Harry.

Still I am waiting more explanation and ppt files from peacewong.

 

[trainee]

Sounds really interesting.
Any of the seven wastes can lead to one or more of these D's.

 

[peacewong]

Sounds really interesting.
Any of the seven wastes can lead to one or more of these D's.

Yes, you're right. The root cause of seven wastes is the result of the bad 5S.

Later on, I'll give out the explanation of 3Ds.

 

[wmarhel]

Yes, you're right. The root cause of seven wastes is the result of the bad 5S.

The root cause of the seven wastes is due to poor processes and bad management.

Wayne

 

[trainee]

Don't want to stir up a discussion here, but if you have a disorganized place you have waste, if you don't have anything sorted around your work space, you are creating waste, if you don't standardize the task and everybody does the activity however they prefer, you are going to create waste eventually, and I can keep going on with the list...
And bad processes are bad processes because of the lack of 5s vision when they are being designed.
Everytime we work in a continuous improvement project and we are designing work spaces, it is crucial for us to use 5S. That's the way you assure waste will be controlled...You design a space that will hold just the amount you need, closer to where you need it, just to hold the object you need, easy to reach, and easy to keep tidy and clean.
I don't like to see management, processes and techniques as bullets points. A good designed process will have lean concepts, 5s techniques, constraint management theories, and any other thing that may work and help it to be better. Process is no longer just a series of steps to make something anymore...it deals with a little bit more.