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.
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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.