Lean is Transformation
Lean is a change in the organization's social system rather than simply the application of a few tools and techniques.
Lean is Transformation
Lean is a totally different system from traditional manufacturing. It is a change in the organization's social system rather than simply the application of a few tools and techniques. Think of Lean as a journey rather than an event or project. This can't be done 'over lunch'.
Bringing your company or plant to Lean practice takes both vision and persistence. You've got to have a lot of discipline and never give up in your efforts to eliminate waste.
Transformation of your company's social system will take extraordinary leadership as well as vision. Don't underestimate the importance of this to success. It's the one consistent factor that separates Lean winners from losers. I've just completed a project where I interviewed 50 companies on their Lean efforts. It's rare to find extraordinary leadership and vision operating at the same time. It was a standout feature in only one of the companies I surveyed. The rest are still looking for this kind of executive level championship in their Lean efforts.
What can you do if the corporate CEO isn't on board yet? Start where you are (for example, Plant Manager) and Transform as much as you can within the span of your responsibility. As you implement Lean, build support from your corporate boss but don't wait for him or her, make it happen where you work. It doesn't matter if your plant site is small, medium or large. Apply Lean dock-to-door or door-to-door using your Value Stream Map.
Your success will build stake with senior management and open the door for their sponsorship. Lean Transformation at the plant level is the fundamental building block. From there you can move your Lean Implementation both upstream and downstream: internally and through the supply chain. Your senior executives will take notice when you produce results - I've seen it happen again and again. In large corporations with multiple plant sites, the plan is often to implement Lean first in one plant, where the need is greatest, and then move on to the others methodically. This approach works well.
Defining Your Company's Social System
I know the term 'social system' sounds scary or a bit like pop psychology but it's neither. 'Social system' simply means the whole organization, all the pieces that make it a system. It's easier to call it 'social' system so that your meaning doesn't get confused with the information technology system that we're so used to. 'IT' is actually a sub-system of the 'social system' or the company as a whole.
Other sub-systems can include: Human Resources (staffing, training, compensation and rewards), the supervisory functions (senior management to lead hands), communication, productivity measurement, finance, and organizational culture. All of these subsystems have to work towards the same Lean goal - customer satisfaction. "Eyes for waste" is a phrase that means everyone is working together to acquire Lean knowledge and learn where to look for waste.
Reducing the Fear of Change
The idea of change is often more frightening than change itself. The wonderful thing about Lean is its solid track record. Lean implementation is very doable, others have gone through it and succeeded. It's going on now, at various stages, in organizations across North America and worldwide.
If you look carefully at examples of what others have done, you can really help eliminate the fear. Benchmarking your efforts to the timetables of those who have gone before is a helpful way to make sure you are on track. Three years is a minimum threshold for Lean transformation - when you've committed to it for that length of time, the practice of Lean will have become ingrained in the organization. The positive results of your efforts will be sustainable for the long-term.
The other issue, of course, is what your competition is doing. If they go Lean and you don't, what does that mean? Lower market share and lower profits inevitably follow. Business is not for the faint of heart. Although Lean is a multi-year commitment, there is always low hanging fruit for committed leaders. Results begin almost at once. Don't follow your competitors; lead them!
Performance by Design
If you want to achieve superior performance, you'll have to redesign your organization to be Lean. You have to transform the traditional waste producing systems and processes. Lean results don't happen just by appointing someone coordinator or by sending people to Lean events. From time to time, you have to redesign your enterprise, both its quality and manufacturing systems - they need to become part of a systemic Lean design.
I like the phrase 'performance by design'. It means you are actively thinking and planning your Lean implementation not reducing it to a series of disconnected events and projects. There has to be a commitment to change the organization. You can't just learn Lean and talk about it. You actually have to do it.
Lean is a very hands-on methodology. You won't get the benefits unless you employ the capabilities of your people to redesign your organization. Those Value Stream Maps are the guide. As I said earlier, it's about cutting waste and non-value added activities from your processes as a complete system, dock-to-door or door-to-door. You need to actively design and implement your performance improvements at every level.
Lean Works for Any Type of Organization, Big or Small
Sometimes people ask me if Lean can work for smaller organizations. They read about the successes at major corporations and wonder if it can apply to SME's (small to medium sized enterprises). The answer is YES, absolutely!
It's important to remember that even large corporations start small. I was at Kodak 34 years, the last 10 of which we were working on Lean. We started very small and just kept going. In fact, in the early 90's it started at the work center level (12 people). We redesigned material flow, reduced inventory and did Kaizens in the machine room.
Based on this success, in the mid 90's, we scaled up to the department level (200 people). We had dramatic results and published them widely throughout the organization. By the late 90's we had learned about the Value Stream approach and began implementing it at the enterprise (plant) level. This brought even more significant results and we began to see real organizational transformation. Those results got a lot of senior corporate attention and that led to a big commitment to Lean.
Today I work with many smaller companies as well as the big ones. There are many advantages in a smaller company. The CEO is right there; he or she can easily see what's happening. One of my current assignments is at an injection molding company with 40-60 employees. They're taking on Lean at the plant level, door-to-door. I'm also dealing with a company right now that has 120 employees. These organizations want to be competitive, to grow and they know that Lean is the right way to do it.
Key Reasons for Success When Companies Implement Lean
In my experience there are four big reasons that companies succeed in going Lean:
» Urgency around change: Organizations go Lean because they know it has to be done. There's either been a crisis or a stunning new opportunity has come up. Sometimes it's the competition that's taking market share away. Whatever the cause, an urgent stimulus helps create the focus and commitment needed to successfully implement Lean.
» Extraordinary leadership: I said this earlier in the article but it bears repeating. Successful Lean organizations have a leader who has a clear vision of the future. He or she knows how to sponsor change, build a coalition of support in the organization and participate actively in the process.
» Understanding Lean as systemic change: Unless you're changing things at the system level, you will be doomed to incremental and unsustainable gains. You have to think of Lean as more than a collection of tools and techniques - it's a way of thinking, a journey that is never really finished. If you just pick up a tool here or there, or copy blindly what someone else has done, your Lean efforts will be wasted.
» Constancy of purpose: This is an Edwards Deming phrase that can apply directly to Lean implementation. Success in Lean requires persistence. You have to stick to it, not jump in and out of one initiative or another. You can't give up; you have to be in it for the long haul. Otherwise you'll miss out on the real gains that you should be achieving.
Key Pitfalls to Avoid in Implementing Lean
» Doing training for training's sake: Avoid jumping to training because it's available and you have the budget to do it now. Avoid sprinkling it throughout the organization indiscriminately. Lean training should only take place just in time for a planned step - it should be used on the job immediately.
» Be careful about delegation: Remember that active senior leadership is critical. Avoid delegating Lean to someone because he or she is available. Lean leaders have to be passionate advocates who know both the plant and Lean intimately.
» Don't let terminology be a barrier: Some companies report shop floor grumbles about certain Lean terms, especially those adopted from the Japanese language. It doesn't seem intuitive to understand. And yet that very language is important to learn. It's quite specific and hard to translate with similar brevity. Yes, muda is waste, but management gemba (walking around) is easier than its translation. Heijunka is actually simpler to use than explaining the details of production leveling - once you learn what's meant. Using these foreign terms also helps reinforce the fact that you are creating a different reality. Meaning is critical - some people think 5S is about cleaning but it's really about workplace organization - there's a world of difference.
» Don't think of Lean as a band-aid: Historically, in manufacturing, we've been used to thinking of process problems as something requiring corrective action. In Lean we have to learn to talk about and take active counter-measures. We have to fix the root cause not the symptoms.
The Importance of Training
In order to become Lean, you have to get on a learning curve, the faster the better. Good training enables you to learn how to implement the Lean system one step at a time.
You need a training plan and it has to be sequential. Each training module has to be just-in-time, right at the moment when it's to be used on the job. The training plan has to be serial and logical. One event must build on the previous events and so on through the progression.
It's very important that the training be hands on, in the plant or in the workspace and not in a classroom or training facility. It has to happen right where you're going to apply it. The training must lead directly to specific changes that you're going to make. It's not just theory. The changes will and should be concrete and very measurable.
Why Lean Advisors?
I met Larry Coté at an Ottawa manufacturer's meeting. He's out there making continuous contacts, flying the flag and promoting the benefits of Lean.
He's been assembling a really good group of experienced people to train companies on Lean. They're seasoned professionals with real world Lean experience. They've been there and they're extremely knowledgeable resources.
I like the hands-on approach to training at Lean Advisors and Larry's approach to standardizing the training materials. It's a very collegial environment, not hierarchical, which makes you feel and work better.
There are no national boundaries for commerce. I see Lean Advisors positioning itself for rapid expansion of its customer base and I'm happy to be a part of that.
The Importance of Lean
Someone asked me the other day if I really believed that Lean is the way to become competitive. My response is that I don't even know a number two choice. Lean is the only way to get competitive and stay there. Without it you'll just keep losing market share through the debilitating cycle of cost reduction and downsize. In effect, companies using non-Lean approaches are cutting away what got them to a good position in the first place.
Tough economic times are like fighting a life-threatening illness. You can deny it, you can get angry, but it really boils down to what you're going to do about it. You need to go for it and recover. Lean really does make companies more competitive - we have the empirical data to back that up. Winners are all going to be Lean in the future - can you afford not to be one of them?