Safety and conditions
- Is anything unsafe here right now? Guarding, housekeeping, access, PPE, a near miss nobody has reported.
- Does the area match its 5S standard? Drift shows where the standard is not owned.
- Is the standard work for this task visible and current? If the operator cannot point to it, it is not a standard.
Quality
- How do you know this output is good? The answer shows whether checks are built in or assumed.
- What was the last defect here, and what happened to it? Tests whether problems are contained or solved.
- Where does rework happen on this line? Rework is the hidden factory; people know exactly where it is.
Delivery
- Are we on plan this hour, and if not, why? An hour-by-hour board makes this a fact, not an opinion.
- Where did the time go? Waiting for parts, information, a decision, a machine.
- What stopped the line last shift? Repeats point at chronic causes.
Cost
- Where do you wait, search, walk or carry? The eight wastes, asked in plain language.
- What workaround do you use most? Every workaround is a standard that does not work.
- Which tool, part or document is hardest to find? Searching is the easiest waste to remove.
People
- What gets in your way? Then silence. The most important question on the list.
- What would you change if you could? Ideas live here; the suggestion box is where they go to die.
- Is anyone doing a task they are not signed off for? Checks the skills matrix against the shift.
How to use the answers
Write them down at the place, not from memory later. Each problem gets an owner and a date on the team's tier board, items the team cannot resolve are escalated to the next tier with context, and the next walk checks what changed. One question asked every day beats fifteen asked once.