Can Control Points add Value in Lean

Can you really add value or are you just creating another tool to fill out some more paperwork? On the Business901 podcast. Jamie Flinchbaugh the co-author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Lean: Lessons from the Road answered this and a few more questions such as:

What is a control point?
What is control point standardization?
How does standard work apply in an environment as dynamic as managing?
How does the automation and systems environment change the idea of control points and managing your environment?
How should this change? What should drive changes?

When we decided to discuss this subject, I have to admit there were a few reservations on my part. I considered a control point very much like a tollgate in Six Sigma. There are similarities but I received another learning experience from one of the leading lean thought leaders.

Jamie Flinchbaugh is co-founder and partner of the Lean Learning Center, and bring successful and varied experiences of lean transformation as both a practitioner and facilitator. Under the leadership of Jamie and the Center’s senior managers, the Lean Learning Center has become one of the most recognized and premier lean providers in the world. The Lean Learning Center’s clients include Harley-Davidson, Land O Lakes, Intel, Simmons Foods, ZF and Guidant including their Industry Week’s Best Plant winner among many other world-class companies. The JamieFlinchbaugh.com blog is a frequent stop of mine and many other lean practitioners.