Why are Lean Transformations so difficult to implement and sustain? With all the training, books, workshops, podcasts, on site consulting available the outcome in most cases is failure, the expected outcomes are not realized. Whether the transformations never get off the ground or they just fizzle away over time the failure rate is high, more than 90%. Just think of the time and resources going into transformations that end up wasted. In fact, most companies, if we are honest with ourselves, have what I call a graveyard of Lean initiatives that have failed.
Why is that? Well, we need to think about transformations a little differently, and to be honest my thinking has changed after listening to and reflecting on the work Ryan Tierney has done and reported in his book, ’Lean Made Simple’.
Before we delve into this further there are a couple of truths in manufacturing, we should refresh ourselves:
- Who determines the value of the items we manufacture? Ultimately the customer determines the value by the price they are willing to pay. Unless we are dealing with a monopoly situation, the customer can accept the price, walk away, or negotiate.
- Who creates the value? The factory floor, where materials come together with labor to create value customers are willing to pay.
- The cost of creating value beyond labor and material is considered a waste. These wastes were identified and documented by Shigeo Shingo of the Toyota Motor Works, what we today call the 7 or 8 Deadly Wastes. (Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, Defects, Underutilization of people). Waste can make up over 90% of the time and resources used in creating value. And of course, the customer does not want to pay for it.
- While other positions or departments such as HR, Marketing, Engineering, Managers, or Accounting do not directly create value, these functions are important within the organization supporting the creation of value.
Getting back to Ryan Tierney’s work he suggests that it is not about training people in the traditional sense with presentations, reading books, etc., (while helpful in understanding Lean concepts, processes, and tools), it has not moved t he dial in most companies. What he is asking is: How are you going to Develop your People? How are we developing people to see and reduce waste getting in the way of creating value for the customer? This is a fundamentally different question and approach than teaching lean thinking or manufacturing. And I believe he’s right!
Ryan suggests 12 steps that need to take place to develop a Lean culture, and in his experience, this has made a dramatic sustainable difference. We will not cover all 12 of these in this article, However of these are five I like to start with to begin Developing Your People:
- The Daily Huddle
- Make scheduled time for improvements.
- Create Standard Work
Keep it simple, start with the daily huddle. Create a standard approach to the huddle and become good at it. Begin to create and document Standard Work, (SOP’s), and eliminate Tribal Knowledge. Do not take on too much at a time but keep moving forward. I would then add two more steps to develop people:
- Create a Model Line, Center of Excellence
- Develop a robust 5S process, focused on continuous improvement
While it is important to learn and understand the principle, basic tools and systems of implementing Lean Daily Management on the shop floor, including but not limited to, policy deployment, the daily huddle, leader standard work, visual controls, use of dashboards, daily Kaizen, problem solving skills, focused Gemba Walks, among others, by developing people as discussed above your sustained transformation will be on the road to success.
So, let us look at each of these critical elements for developing your people:
The Daily Huddle : This is the most important meeting taking place in your manufacturing or service operation. Why? If you think about the daily huddle team is made up of the people creating value, who must execute every day to produce and ship quality products to your customers on time. During this short but important meeting the team is focused on not only getting the work out but also making daily improvements driving out the waste getting in the way of the work. Consider the diagram below:
The daily huddle, this stand up meeting held every day at the same time, is the epi-center of critical information coming into the team and information leaving the shop floor to other support organizations critical to the success of the manufacturing system. What needs to to be produced today, how the team performed the day prior, what got in the way of the work, what improvements will the team focus on today, what did the focused Gemba walks tell the team, were there any safety or quality issues, or were the problems made visible for root cause anlysis? The daily huddle then is the primary activity for developing your people to work and evelove in a lean shop floor manufacting system.
Making time For Improvement Work : Most sustainable improvement work takes place on the shop floor, through observation and people’s intuition, (also refered to as Kaizen). Yes every once in a while a large improvement is made through improved technology, or more efficient plant layouts, etc., however over time it’s the small improvements that remove the waste and non value added activities getting in the way of the work impacting productivity, safety, quality, and on time delivery. We look to our people on the shop floor to drive improvement but do we give them the time to do it? By giving the team scheduled time every day or at least 3-4 days a week to work on specific improvements, linked to the company’s goals and objectives will significant sustainable improvements be made. Yes we are giving up a little production time, however the improvements made will more than make up the lost time with improved productivity, quality and on time to produce. And don’t forget to celebrate the improvements! Giving your people time to make improvements will develop them into lean thinkers, problem solvers, and doer’s.
Creating Standard Work : The number one enemy of continuous improvement is tribal knowledge. If what we do in any aspect of manufacturing whether on the shop floor or in support functions is not documented and respected there is risk in creating waste whether its poor quality, defects, overprocessing, excess inventory, etc., (see the 8 deadly wastes as defined by the Toyota Motor Company). Standard work, whether we call them SOP’s, Standardized Work, Policy and Procedures, etc. need to be documented and become the basis for improvement. While Standards are expected to be nonnegotiable and followed, they are also the baseline for the next improvement, improvements we can measure. Once validated, the standard can be updated for all to follow and respect. Documented standard work creates an environment of discipline and continuous improvement. A critical aspect of developing your people
Work place Organization, (5S):
Factories are like living organisms. Healthy organisms move, change, and adapt in a flexible relationship within their environment. The same is true with shop floor operations. Internal and external customer needs are always changing, new technologies are continually being developed, and new products are coming to the market. Meanwhile sales competition increases every year as the competition strives to manufacture more efficiently at a lower cost.
Through implementation of the five pillars of 5S, (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain), the fundamental starting point in the development of improvement activities on the shop floor will the organization be better positioned to continually improve and prosper. The shop floor will realize improved safety, increased productivity, increased machine uptime, reduced set up time, and reduction in the 8 deadly wastes, etc. (5S for Operators, Productivity Press)
Creating a Model Line: There is a saying on the Lean Community: ‘It’s better to go narrow and deep verses wide and shallow’. Trying to roll out and sustain lean tools and systems, (standard work, 5S, Kanban TPM, etc.), across the entire organization more often than not fails. Why, because of the significant investment of time and resources to not only establish the systems and tools but to sustain and improve them. It becomes overwhelming and not embedded in how employees think. The model line is implemented in a specific manufacturing cell, department, etc. where Lean practices can be introduced, experimented with in a controlled manner, and sustained. The Model Line becomes the training ground for Lean Thinking, (James Womack). In short it allows for the development of a complete daily shop floor management system that is sustained, continually improved on, and can be slowly rolled out to other parts of the organization
So Here’s My Challenge to you …Just Get Started and Start Developing your people. Start with the Daily Huddle. Focus on getting the team together, getting the team engaged, getting the work out on time, and taking care of the Customer. Use the huddle to make problems visible and create countermeasures / corrective actions. Then move on to creating standard work and driving daily improvement, (Kaizen work). Make sure you schedule time for Improvement. Without this commitment it will be difficult to get the team engaged. Keep at it, do not back off and you will begin to see the transformation you have been striving for, start to reveal itself. And of course, use your Model Line as the laboratory for creating your Shop Floor Lean Management System.
IMEC is here to help develop your people, and create a sustainable lean shop floor management system focused on the customer and continuous improvement.
