Hello friends. I am Anshuman Tiwari, and this is my podcast on Quality and Operational Excellence. I call it the The Operational Excellence Advantage and am hoping to bring you views on how we all can use operational excellence as a competitive advantage at work. Your feedback is essential and always welcome.
Today I want to share a key concept in Operational Excellence that is often missed out in the rush of getting things done and fighting a fire a day. I have often said that Operational Excellence is a balance of theory and practice. Most of us are consumed by the practice and do not take the time to stop and ask ourselves – what is the theory behind this? Is there a better theory I can use? What are others doing about this issue?
The concept I wanted to share today is called - Runners. Repeaters. Strangers. This is a not often used concept from Lean Thinking but should be used more. Before I explain the concept, I want to highlight that 'differentiation' is the key to this concept. If you are a fan of the concept of 'standardization,' then 'differentiation' may seem counter-intuitive to you.
So, what is the concept of Runners, Repeaters, Strangers about? In simple terms, it classifies all work done in three categories – runners are the most often repeated and standardized tasks, repeaters are less often repeated but fairly standard, and strangers are once in a while and with hardly any standardization. Let me explain. Next time you go to a fast-food chain, try to observe the ordering pattern. You can do this activity at any fast-moving place, but I think a fast-food counter is the most suitable place for this study and I suspect if you have kids, you are visiting such places often as well. Observe the ordering pattern, and you will notice that most people orders a very standard set – maybe fries, burger, and a soda (also called cola in some countries). The next and much smaller set of people will order something more complicated but not totally unusual. And a third set will have a very complex order – maybe something that the restaurant only makes once or twice a day. You get the point.
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