If you have ever taken Kaizen training, or any of the many derivative series, you will have heard of the "3 MU's" or Muda, Mura, and Muri (waste, irregularity, and strain). The reduction of the 3 MU's is key to the success of a Kaizen-based quality improvement process. But you already know that from the MSQA program, right? What you may not have seen was the HFE aspects of the 3 MU's.

Dr. Bill has just come back from the big Kaizen event training that Masaaki Imai taught and is really psyched up about reducing the 3 MU's -- but he apparently dozed a bit and is having trouble remembering the difference between stress and strain. But more importantly, he does not seem to understand the connection between the 3 MU's and human factors. So, he has asked you to do a 2-part briefing for top management on "What is stress and strain?" -and- "Why are they important in human factors engineering?" He said you would have 5 minutes -- 7 minutes tops. What will you tell the brass?