Brainstorming
Brainstorming gives a team leader a structured method for generating several dozen possible solutions to a shop-floor problem in under an hour, then keeping only three or four that are feasible.
This course is intended for team leaders, methods technicians, continuous improvement facilitators and maintenance or quality managers who need to bring a group together to find solutions to a problem with no obvious answer: a machine that breaks down with no identified cause, a packaging station that cannot keep up with takt, recurring delivery delays.
By the end, you will know how to phrase a question that calls for ideas rather than a "yes/no", assemble a group of 6 to 8 people from different departments, uphold the four rules during the idea-generation phase, then sort, critique and reduce a list of 40 ideas to 3 or 4 options ready to be tested. Each step is based on a shop-floor case with figures and flags the most common mistake at that stage.
What you will be able to do
- Phrase an open brainstorming question, framed by cost and lead-time limits, based on a shop-floor problem.
- Assemble a diverse group of 6 to 8 people and prepare the session (room, materials, duration, role of the facilitator and the note-taker).
- Facilitate the idea-generation phase by applying Osborn's four rules: no criticism, quantity before quality, bold ideas welcome, build on others' ideas.
- Identify and correct the three mechanisms that cause a session to fail: speaking blockage, fear of judgement and free-riding.
- Sort, group and critique the ideas to keep only 3 or 4 feasible options, each with an owner and a test date.
The path
- Asking a question that calls for ideas 4 min
- Choosing the participants and preparing the room 4 min
- Facilitating the idea production phase 5 min
- Beating the three mechanisms that drain a session 4 min
- Sort, critique, keep three options 5 min
Prerequisites
No prior Lean tool is required. You need a real, unresolved shop-floor problem and the ability to bring 6 to 8 people together for 45 to 60 minutes.
The closing quiz
The topic ends with a 7-question quiz, and a certificate is issued on success.