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10 Lessons for Implementing Lean!
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Jim Womack and Dan
Jones, in the forward to Learning to See and in their book Lean Thinking, have
succinctly defined a formula to start the lean transformation. This methodology
is effective and proven.
- Find a change agent (how about you?)
- Find a sensei – a teacher whose learning you can borrow
- Seize (or create) a crisis to motivate action across your firm
- Map the entire value stream for all your product families
- Pick something important and get started removing waste quickly
Why is it then that fewer than 20% of companies who embark on the lean journey
succeed at their efforts and can truly be said to be “Lean Thinkers” five years
later?
The reason is simple. A great start does not make a great finish. To finish well,
a company needs to transform their culture. Paying attention to these 10 lessons
will maximize your opportunity to finish well.
1. Motivated Management: Without demand from top management, lean efforts
will fail
It isn’t enough for the management team to support the lean initiative; they must
demand success and demonstrate repeatedly that there will be no tolerance for
lackluster performance. This motivation must come from the top, because in most
cases middle managers do not have the influence to change the culture.
A Case from my files: A few months after commencement of a lean deployment
at a plant which provides products for the home parcel delivery industry, it was
becoming obvious that the lean effort was already stagnating. We had done
everything per the formula laid out by Womack and Jones, but still progress was
faltering. The normal excuses were rampant; our business is too complex,
engineering isn’t supporting the effort, poor suppliers, terrible maintenance,
and so on.
In a weekly review with the CEO, I told him of my concerns and of our lackluster
performance. Fortunately, he is a man of action. During the following day’s work
session with the facility’s management team, everything changed. The meeting
began in typical fashion, but then the CEO turned to the plant manager, pointed
at him with both hands and said “The success or failure of this project is your
responsibility, and if it fails, you will be gone from this company.” Pointing to
the support staff in the meeting with us, he continued “If any of these people
fails to support you, let me know, and they’ll be gone”. He didn’t have to say it
twice, everyone understood.
Without motivated management, lean efforts will fail. Too often the commitment is
half-hearted and everyone knows that there will be no real consequences. The
demand maker need not be the CEO or President. If you are the plant manager, you
can be the demand maker for your facility.
2. Expert Guidance: Find someone who has been through lean deployments
before
Most of the lean concepts aren’t difficult to grasp. We can easily understand
that waste is the enemy we need to seek and destroy. Even the more advanced tools
like value stream mapping, replenishment systems and load leveling systems, and
process family analysis can be taught quickly and comprehended by most associates
and managers. The roadblocks to lean are cultural, not intellectual or
technical.
For example, during a plant floor intervention at a major manufacturer, a
production supervisor was challenged on why he had not yet accomplished the
changes to one of his work cells as promised. After the normal excuses were
exhausted, we finally arrived at the truth. “Brian”, he said, “I want to make
sure I get it exactly right. I don’t want to have to change anything again, so
I’m taking it slow.” Suddenly, it was obvious that he wanted to do his best, but
his thinking after working for this firm for 23 years had been affected by the
culture that mistakes weren’t tolerated.
Without experience in lean efforts, his logic could be hard to discount. However,
with many such workshops behind me, I quickly responded “Greg, even if you make
it great, we’re going to change it. Stop worrying about making it perfect, just
make it better.”
When someone has been working in an area for a long time, it can be difficult to
for them to accept the obvious solutions that the lean methodologies reveal.
3. Full Time Lean: Form a lean implementation team to build a lean culture
and you will see immediate results and long term improvements
While lean concepts are not complex, the work is not easy. A well conducted lean
workshop can take hours to prepare. Developing the schedules, planning the
training, procuring the resources and materials takes time. Find someone within
your organization to send to lean conferences or training sessions. If there
isn’t anyone who can be trained, then hire someone who already has the
experience. There must be someone unencumbered by the day to day fires of running
the shop to focus on lean.
The chances of success are seriously jeopardized when the lean manager starts
doubling as the safety coordinator, the environmental specialist, or the
manufacturing engineering manager. The direct responsibilities of these positions
will take preference over the lean initiatives, and lean workshops will cease, or
at least cease to be effective. It is better to share a lean coordinator with
sister facilities than to split the duties of the lean manager.
4. Just-In-Time Training: Incrementally change the culture of the
organization
Training for lean need not be a burden. It’s true that there are new concepts
that need to be taught and new tools that need to be adapted by associates. But
lean manufacturing disciplines are more cultural than technical, so training
needs to be delivered in short bursts immediately followed by a workshop.
Don’t teach about 5S in a classroom; show operators how to do 5S in the workcell.
If they have questions, answer them on the spot. The event becomes the training,
the learning means. When its time to do a paper kaizen event, explain the
fundamentals, then do the event. The principle is the same – teach by doing,
learn by practicing.
Initial training in lean principles can be easily taught in less than four hours.
Subsequent training on specific tools and techniques can be conducted in short
sessions of 30 minutes to one hour each. Training in this fashion will minimize
the investment, while increasing the likelihood of success. It’s hard to forget
something you learned 15 minutes ago – it’s hard to practice something you
learned two months ago and haven’t used since.
This Just-In-Time training doesn’t replace the need to bring awareness of the
lean effort to the entire organization. It is still critical to success to get
everyone tuned into the upcoming efforts and the reasons why the lean journey is
being taken.
5. Move decision making to the production floor: Management can’t make all
the decisions
The amount of change seen today in the management ranks of most midsized
companies is extraordinary. Even within my clientele, there are examples where
operations directors have had eight or more bosses over the past five or six
years. This management turnover has left the balance of knowledge within
companies strongly tilted towards the workers.
The production lines are staffed with skilled workers with years or even decades
of experience working in our culture and on the products we sell. Indeed, after
talking with these production workers, it is normal to discover they have a
deeper and broader understanding of the issues than the current management team.
To disenfranchise these experts by leaving them out of the decision making
process is counterproductive.
However, they are likely to be disillusioned because of chaotic management. They
are frustrated and burned out because each new management team brings new changes
and demands. They know that if they just wait out the current crop of managers,
whatever “fixes” are put in place today will be reversed tomorrow.
This distrust must be addressed during the lean deployment. A manager must take
the time to listen and truly discuss the issues with employees. Only then will
gains be quickly made, trust built and relationships formed. Yes, there still
will be conflict, and occasions that individual employees will find it difficult
or impossible to accept the changes coming from the lean deployment. But the
changes will be smoother and more sustainable.
Don’t demand perfection. Remember that lean is the pursuit of perfection, not
achieving it. Even when you “know” the right way to change a process or implement
a new system, allow those who have the experience to “fix” your solutions – who
knows, they might even make it work.
6. Don’t wait too long to establish a Total Productive Maintenance
system
Lean manufacturing is designed to eliminate waste. Three of these wastes are the
waste of excessive inventory, the waste of overproduction, and the waste of
waiting. Much effort is expended to identify solutions, determine a course of
action, and then make changes to eliminate these wastes.
But there are reasons why the wastes exist. In nearly every case, the wastes are
a “band-aid” for serious, unresolved issues. Equipment that is poorly maintained
cannot be relied upon for the just-in-time delivery of parts. Production planners
and managers compensate by overproducing or by building inventory.
Without justified confidence that the equipment will run properly, the efforts of
the teams will be short-lived. Otherwise when machines break down and production
lines or work cells stop, the wastes of over-production and excess inventory that
were so painstakingly eliminated will return. The associates won’t soon forget
this failure, and the next time a lean deployment is attempted, comments like
“that 5S thing”, or “Just-In-Time doesn’t work here” will echo in the plant.
You need to start now. Total Productive Maintenance implementation is a big
effort, and will undoubtedly be one of the hardest elements of your lean
deployment. Here are some hints for a quick start:
- Clearly identify each piece of equipment
- Document the historical performance of the equipment
- Observe the equipment while operating; you can learn by watching and listening
- Identify any chronic failures or problems with each piece of equipment
- Obtain full information about problem equipment
- Establish realistic budgets to return the equipment to reliability
- Don’t just go through the motions – take this very seriously
7. Get rid of the “Concrete Heads”; especially those in
management
People feel threatened by the changes brought about by lean. As waste and
bureaucracy are eliminated, some will find that little of what they have been
doing is adding value. The anxiety they feel is normal and expected. Supervisors
may spend much of their day expediting parts and deciding which flare up to
extinguish first. If this is how they define their job, they are sure to feel
some distress; maybe to the point of withholding information they may believe
makes them invaluable.
To counteract this, it is critical that people are shown how the concept of work
needs to change. The advantages of sharing knowledge and responsibilities with
the production operators should be constantly reinforced. Most people will adjust
to the new expectations within a few weeks and adapt their work habits.
But in every lean deployment, there will be a few who refuse to adopt the lean
principles. Here’s how to recognize them:
a. They stand back, usually with their arms crossed, saying almost nothing. They
usually don’t take notes, and seldom ask questions.
b. They don’t offer suggestions, only criticisms. They remind the group subtly of
past programs that have failed.
c. They constantly look for problems, not solutions. They won’t add to an idea,
only subtract from the energy of the team.
Once identified, concrete heads need to be confronted. They need to understand
the seriousness and permanence of the lean changes. Make sure they understand
that their obstinacies are viewed as their desire to cease employment at your
firm, but give them a chance to consider their options. If this doesn’t work,
they have to go.
A Case from my files: Several years ago, while serving as the Vice
President of Operations for ASC Incorporated, Dave, the production superintendent
at our newest facility took issue with our lean manufacturing program. In short
he was a concrete head. After several weeks and growing frustration on the part
of the Plant Manager, I had the opportunity to meet with Dave during one of my
routine visits to the plant. As we toured the facility discussing what was
happening at the plant, we eventually reached the key point. “Brian”, he said, “I
just don’t think this lean stuff is the way to go here. It will never work.”
Stopping for a moment, I looked him in the eye and simply said “That’s not your
choice. It’s mine. Your choice is whether YOU are going to implement lean here,
or force me to find someone who will.” Dave decided on the spot that he wanted to
be a lean practitioner, and he remained one of the best superintendents we had
until he moved on.
8. Establish a Lean Deployment Team (Steering Committee)
The deployment of a lean initiative at any company is a significant and stressful
process. It is not a simple matter, it is not short-term or just a production
thing; it is complex and cross functional. Everyone within the company, from the
executive team to the workers on floor will be affected.
In order to be successful at executing the transformation of the company and its
culture, it is necessary to have good oversight. Typically, the oversight team is
composed of managers and executives of the various functions, and is designated
as the Lean Steering Committee, although my preference is “Lean Deployment
Team”.
The Lean Deployment Team provides the primary mechanism for the management of the
lean effort, and they are to ensure that lean techniques and values are displayed
and supported in each functional department. For example;
Purchasing develops supply relationships so that long lead times
can be reduced, quality enhanced, and value enhancements can be realized. They
are to play the key role in deploying target pricing methodologies in the
development process.
Engineering ensures that customer requirements are clearly
identified. Engineers must work closely with production personnel to guarantee
products and components are designed for easy manufacturing and assembly,
including specific efforts to reduce part proliferation.
Operations have the responsibility to lead the lean implementation
effort by improving quality, productivity and throughput so that issues are more
easily identified. They need to provide the vision of where the company needs to
go.
Quality is required to provide leadership on problem solving
efforts; including identifying specific customer concerns to focus on and provide
real time feedback on the effort to improve the quality performance of the
facility.
Finally, in order to be effective, the team must have the authority to make tough
decisions. If they are second guessed or ignored by the executive team, they will
struggle in their efforts.
9. Follow Up: Lean only begins when the project is “complete”
Continuous improvement workshops (Kaizen or Kaizen blitz) are the most often
practiced methodology for the implementation of lean manufacturing. But don’t
make the mistake of thinking that the events, value mapping exercises, or paper
kaizens ensure that you will successful in your lean deployment. Lean success
comes from how we think about our business and how we act when improvement
opportunities are confronted.
Many kaizen workshops conclude with action items undone. Maybe a machine was
discovered to have maintenance issues, or tools for completing the job are
inadequate. If these issues are not promptly resolved, the message you send will
be that nothing has really changed. They need to see that the lean philosophy has
changed operational practices.
Remember these 4 follow-up rules, and your lean deployment will improve;
1. Success depends upon ongoing, two way communications with the operators
2. Operators are the customers of the lean projects
3. Follow up on action items immediately following projects is how culture change
is effected
4. Follow up builds confidence towards the lean deployment
10. Shift the activity to the production floor: Now!
While a great start does not make a great finish, you must start in order to
finish. So apply these lessons and follow the Womack and Jones formula.
- Find a change agent (how about you?)
- Find a sensei – a teacher whose learning you can borrow
- Seize (or create) a crisis to motivate action across your firm
- Map the entire value stream for all your product families
- Pick something important and get started removing waste quickly
Move to the production floor today and see how quickly something can be improved.
Remember that lean disciplines aren't an extra burden on production,
manufacturing or engineering, but are instead tools to assist them in
accomplishing goals.
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