8. Mistakes to avoid

8.1 Don't focus on indicators alone

When monitoring an indicator, it is essential to ask whether it is relevant. This must be done by looking at the system as a whole, as it can happen that improving an indicator on a process can deteriorate the system's overall performance.

For example, if you drastically reduce inventories, especially WIP, you'll improve the inventory value indicator. But if the production processes themselves are not stable (which can be assessed with process behavior graphs), the drop in buffer stock levels may result in an overall drop in productivity...

So we need to ask ourselves what the "meaning" of our measurement is, and how it might interact with other processes in the system.

Keep...