New Year's Lean Resolutions??

Do you have any "lean resolutions" for the new year, either personally or for your company?

Click "comments" to add yours or read what others have to say.

Happy New Year!

Clearly Communicated Standards a Must

Greetings from Vancouver, British Columbia. I am fortunate enough to be attending the IIHF World Junior Hockey tournament where tonight Canada takes on the US, in what could be the best game of the tournament.

Recognizing that there are already a plethora of analogies out there that draw on examples from sports, I can’t resist using the officiating at the tournament to illustrate the importance of having clearly communicated and universally understood standards.

There are 10 countries represented in this tournament, and the referees are also drawn from international ranks. As with all sports, there are a set of rules, and penalties that are assessed when these rules are broken. In the case of this tournament, the governing body that sets the rules is the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Unfortunately officiating has become a growing concern in this tournament. Canada’s last game Vs. Norway was not the first to have a steady stream of players heading to the penalty box. In that game there were a total of 16 penalties assessed to Team Canada, and almost an equal number to the Norwegians. The flow of the game was so bad, that it created what may have been the longest game ever in tournament history and it did not deliver the value expected by the fans.

The problem is not that penalties are being assessed, but rather that the teams, coaches and fans do not understand the calls. The penalties called do not match the common base of experience. Penalties are being called on plays that do not match what players, coaches and fans experience from playing in and watching games outside of the tournament. Furthermore, the penalties often do not match the labels that are used to describe them. For example, a ‘Boarding’ penalty was assessed for a play that happened in the middle of the rink, just about as far away from the ‘boards’ as was possible.

IIHF officials are meeting with referees between periods and following the games in order to review calls. This is being done both for the benefit of this tournament, but also to serve as a basis for the referees who after this tournament will be officiating games at the Olympics.

I think this is an important step to achieve consistency between games in the tournament, but I don’t think it goes far enough. It is obvious that the IIHF is attempting to make changes to how the rules are applied. Given this change, the teams should also have an opportunity to be present during these reviews so they can learn and have an understanding of what is and what is not considered a penalty. In fact, if this is the basis for the standard that will be used at the Olympics, countries should also have an opportunity to have participation in these discussions from their Olympic team ranks.

The job of a referee is certainly not an easy one. Hockey is a dynamic, fast moving sport with a lot of action. It’s difficult to see everything and make all the right calls. The referee also has several customers (or enemies depending on your viewpoint) who count on them to ensure that everyone is playing by the same rules – players, coaches, fans and governing bodies.

What this tournament has helped make clear to me is that the true value of a standard is in the common understanding and consistent application of that standard by everyone affected. Without this base, the standard does not truly exist.

Bob McKenzie, a commentator from TSN (ESPN’s Canadian cousin) also has some comments about the officiating. You can check those out at http://www.tsn.ca/columnists/bob_mckenzie.asp.

Happy New Year!

(Mark here --> A similar piece I did on baseball umpiring is linked here)

Young don't see promise of auto industry

Detroit Free Press article

I think the headline here should really read "Young don't see promise of auto industry in Michigan." I read very different articles about how people are flocking to the plants in the south, how people are moving to places like Mississippi for auto jobs.

The difference? Big 3 ("don't see promise") vs. Toyota/Nissan/Hyundai (lots of promise, apparently). If the Big 3 could get more competitive, this wouldn't be such an issue.

A Toyota plant in Michigan (it's possible, read here) would be the best thing to happen to my home state.

For the record, I'm part of the census count mentioned in the article, single (at the time) 20-somethings leaving the state (and the auto industry) for greener pastures.

Here is the link to the entire week-long Free Press series of articles.

Manufacturing TV Show: How it's made

How it's made

I just discovered another TV show that shows the basics of how different products are manufactured, the Discovery Channel's "How It's Made." It joins the Travel Channel's Made in America in this category of show.

USPS Christmas Card Delivery Defects

Happy Holidays everyone. One of my Christmas cards that I sent out was returned by the Post Office, the envelope and card had pretty much been ripped in half.

The back of the envelope reads, partly, "The U.S. Postal Service handles over 202 billion pieces of mail each year. While we make a concerted effort to process, without damage, each piece of mail, an occasional mishap does occur."

It certainly does! Even if the post office is at a 6-sigma quality level (which I doubt), that comes to about 1 million damaged/destroyed pieces of mail each year.

I hope the Postal Service takes a "lean" approach, where each piece of damaged mail is an opportunity for root cause problem solving and the elimination of future defects through process improvement and poka yoke (error proofing).

If a machine jams and mail is getting ripped, the workers should do more than just un-jam the machine and get things running again. They should ask "why" the jam happened and follow the Toyota "5 Whys" approach to fix the real root cause. This way a "zero defects" lean mentality can work to try to prevent every mailing mishap. This is a different mindset than saying "well, we're six sigma and world class, we only damaged 900,000 pieces of mail this year.

The USPS says, "We are constantly working to improve our processing methods so that these incidents will be eliminated."

The final thing that bothers me, not that it breaks my wallet, is that the USPS doesn't send you a stamp to replace the 37 cents that you spent on the mail that they damaged! Now, to do that, would really make me feel like a "valued customer."

As Japan's Elderly Ranks Swell, Toyota Sees New Path to Growth

Free version of article

Wednesday's Wall St. Journal front page had quite a contrast. Next to an article about how GM is struggling, there was a glowing profile about how Toyota is using their technology to develop new innovative products for the aging population.

"Toyota has a long tradition of applying core technology to diverse fields, dating back to 1937 when founder Sakichi Toyoda spun the car-making business out of his loom manufacturing operation. Ever since, Toyota engineers have tried to be equally resourceful, translating their expertise to areas ranging from communications to bioengineering."

It's an interesting reminder, I think, to the general public that doesn't study Toyota that the company didn't start as a car company. It's quite a different history than General Motors. Also, thinking back to this year, Toyota sure gets treated more positively in the business press. It's not completely undeserved, considering Toyota's business success and growth, now being poised to overtake GM for #1 in global auto production. GM's problems can't be blamed on bad PR, nor could they be fixed by positive PR.

It just goes to show what kind of research and forward-looking projects that Toyota is able to work on, given their success and profits. GM is stuck looking in the "woe is me" rear view mirror, their better times being in the past.

NY Times, USA Today, and NPR Report on Toyota

1 -- 'Slow and steady' drives Toyota's growth - (USA Today)
2 -- Toyota Closes In on G.M. (NY Times, requires free registration)
3 -- Toyota Powers Ahead at Kentucky Plant (NPR)

This is probably my final post until next week, Happy Holidays to everyone.

Two articles above talk about the potential for Toyota to become the #1 automaker in the world in 2006, between their planned production increases and GM's planned production cuts.

This is old news if you've been a regular reader on this blog, as I posted a link to this last month. I won't gloat about the slow cycle time of the "mainstream media."

The NY Times article dumps on GM, via a familiar name:

"G.M. is not the company it used to be, and it's not going to be what it was ever again," said Jeffrey K. Liker, a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan and the author of "The Toyota Way," the best-selling book that examined the Japanese company's management principles.

Toyota people seemed sensitive to how their rise to #1 is portrayed, not wanting to gloat or claim victory.

At the news conference in Nagoya, held to announce the company's plans for 2006, Toyota's president, Katsuaki Watanabe, repeatedly played down talk of a race to the top.

"Whether Toyota is going to become No. 1 in the world or not is not something that I know," Mr. Watanabe said. "I am not conscious if Toyota is going to become No. 1 in the world or not."

Another friend of this blog said:

Toyota's growth plan, however, speaks louder than its caution, said James P. Womack, an author and expert on manufacturing efficiency. "I think they think they're at an unavoidable point," Mr. Womack said Tuesday. With G.M. traveling in reverse, "it's less awkward to get over in the left lane and just pass," he added.

The USA Today article takes a deeper look into the traits that contribute to Toyota's success, including:

• Paranoia. "Toyota is the biggest worrier on the planet," Womack says.
• No layoffs. Toyota doesn't promise lifetime employment, but it has managed to avoid layoffs because of its growth.
• Long-term focus. Instead of a fixation on quarterly profit, Toyota is known for looking out years, even decades, in product development and master planning.

The article brings up a recently familiar theme about whether or not Toyota can keep quality levels the same and keep their Toyota Production System consistent.

Can the company keep pace? Some see a strain already. "Their system is stretched," says David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

European chief Shinichi Sasaki was quoted in the Financial Times last month as warning that new factories outside Japan with quickly hired new workers smack at the culture of "built-in quality." Sasaki, the group's former head of quality, noted that rivals are challenging Toyota's high J.D. Power ratings.

Another quote that really hits home:

To Detroit in the 1980s, gripped by fears of Japan Inc. and enthralled with the notion of automated assembly lines, the answer to quality appeared to be factory robots. Toyota, however, has looked to the human factor.

The National Public Radio piece (you can listen or read it) discusses how Toyota is resisting unionization efforts, but pays employees very very well. Some raise issues about how Toyota treats workers, do they work them too hard or treat them badly when injured.

Gary Chaison, who teaches industrial relations at Clark University in Masachussetts, says Toyota and its peers also try to treat workers well, take their opinions into account and give them a stake in the plant's success.

Despite the wages, some Toyota workers say they need a union. They complain the company drives them so hard that people get injured, and when they can't work anymore, Toyota pays them off to leave.

Not All Japanese Have The Right Idea Like Toyota

Evolving Excellence Blog: : I Don't Speak Japanese

Another provocative post from Bill Waddell and the Evolving Excellence blog. I'd like to amplify his point that Japanese management guru Kenichi Ohmae was off base in his comments:

"Indians are not good at manufacturing. Even if they do what we tell them to do, they always need to understand why they are doing it that way. They are more inquisitive than the Chinese."

Waddell commented: When asked if that isn't a good thing, he said that being inquisitive is good for management, but it is a problem on the shop floor. Apparently, the people in the factory need to shut up and do what they're told. I guess he thinks the Japanese boss is so obviously right all the time that having workers ask questions is a major distraction.

I don't think it's a matter of "Japanese" arrogance, as Bill is implying, as much as it is general management arrogance. Ohmae was with McKinsey, the famous management consulting firm, for a long time and probably has a bias that comes from being a "guru" and "expert." Ohmae is not like Toyota executives, in his attitudes, or his background. If he were a Toyota executive, he would have come up through the ranks and would undoubtedly have a better respect for people on the shop floor.

In a lean setting, you need your people to be inquisitive and to take initiative. That's why I cringe when I read about China having the advantage of "subservient" workers. That might seem like a huge benefit to many arrogant executives who think they know best, whether they are Japanese, American, German, or whatever. Subservient workers does not equal lean! If you're outsourcing to China for that reason, you're not going to be any further down the lean path than you would be not listening to your workers in Indiana or some American factory.

I'd challenge everyone to "go lean" and get the most out of your American workers rather than "going cheap" and "going subservient."

Lean Healthcare: Thedacare

According to this article, ThedaCare has been modeling the Toyota Production System to implement lean for the last 2 years. There is some explanation of what ThedaCare terms 'Rapid Improvement Events' where a cross functional team of people collaborate on finding ways to cut out waste (reducing wasted movement was the example given). The same team develops a process, puts it into action and monitors results.

What is most striking to me about this article however, is the extent to which ThedaCare seems to have embraced the higher level elements of a lean mind set. Granted this is only one article, but a couple of important points stand out that indicate they are doing much more than implementing a few basic lean tools:

The customer is clearly the focus - Dr. John Toussaint, ThedaCare's CEO is quoted, "…helped us save $12 million, but more importantly it has allowed us the ability to improve what we offer our customers." There are further comments in the article that refer to helping employees provide higher quality care.

ThedaCare is a learning organization – the whole point of the article was that ThedaCare invited a group of visitors to see how they have made lean work for them. (The US Army was listed as one of the organizations who sent representatives). They also have a Chief Learning Officer who is quoted in the article.

They have a greater sense of purpose (greater than making money) and a long-term philosophy. The last quote from Toussaint in the article clearly supports this. "We have a huge problem with health costs in this country. We need to do something."

It's encouraging to see an example that is so much more than a couple key process improvements mixed in with some 'buzz words' and statements of short term cost savings.

UK Lean Development Program

I came across this funding announcement for The North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) to support its work with regional companies in North-eastern UK. The cash will support 14 handpicked engineers to be trained in lean manufacturing under the Dissemination of Best Practice project.

NEPA was established in 2001 to take forward the North East Region's manufacturing strategy, in particular through improving productivity and competitiveness.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/ogt/ogt103.html

http://www.nepa-info.co.uk/welcome.htm

The first wave of 16 engineers have just finished their 3 years in the program, received certifications and have returned to their sponsoring companies. During their time in the program, engineers go into participating companies and help drive improvement through implementing lean. Once finished with the program, they take everything they have learned back to their own organizations.

What a great way to develop skills and experience in lean while at the same time participating in improvements that help to support the health of manufacturing across an entire region. Anyone know of any such programs on this side of the pond?

"Siren Song": Enjoy Increased Confidence and Satisfaction with Wonderware

by Mark Edmondson

This post may be shameless about poking fun at a real software product, but I couldn’t resist:

Make better business decisions faster

Achieve increased profitability

Drive operational improvements

Substantially decrease total cost of ownership

Standardize best practices

Confidently meet delivery dates

Correct product quality variations

Enjoy increased income with consistently satisfied customers

Take a proactive approach to production and performance management

Align your business objectives and manufacturing operations

With Wonderware… the total automation and information software solution.

These are actual excerpts from a full page ad for “Wonderware” in the December issue of "Managing Automation" magazine. The html version: http://www.wonderware.com/ad/ppm/

Is it just me, or does Wonderware sound like something that Victoria's Secret would stock?

Earlier "Siren Song" Posts

Lean Healthcare: Keys to Safer Hospitals

Keys to Safer Hospitals - Health For Life - MSNBC.com

Blog reader Mike R. Lopez, from Albuquerque, NM found this and sent it my way for posting. Thanks!

Dr. Donald Berwick, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, wrote a story about "six basic measures that could save 100,000 lives a year if 2,000 hospitals adopted them." The six basic measures illustrate the power of an often underused and misapplied Lean tool, "Standardization" (with Mike's comments in blue).

1. Eliminate respirator pneumonia by elevating the head of the hospital bed and frequently cleaning the patient's mouth.

2. Prevent IV catheter infections by was done when hospitals "made it easy for doctors and nurses to wash their hands between patients, adopted simple procedures for changing bandages around the catheters and made absolutely sure that no catheter remained in a vein even one hour longer than needed." (Here is an example of flow, too.) [Mark here -- it's also an example of "make it easy for people to do the right thing", which I think is a good lean concept]

3. Stop surgical site infections by giving only the right drugs at the right time, washing hands, and cutting hair instead of shaving. (Sounds like a pull system.)

4. Respond rapidly to early-warning signs. (Using nurses and visitors as the Andon cord, immediate doctor response has cut Australian hospital death rates 20%.)

5. Make heart attach care absolutely reliable. A South Carolina hospital cut heart attack death rates 10% when they standardized the administration of drugs to all heart attack patients.

6. Stop medication errors. Every transfer of the patient includes a medication check to make sure that the right medicines are with the right person.

Lean Healthcare: Protecting Yourself in the Hospital

USATODAY.com - Your health

You have to scroll down to see this on USA Today's site, so here's the whole article with my commentary. The idea of taking a water gun into your hospital room with you seems funny, if not crazy! I wonder how your nurses would view that?

Hospital 'survival kit' will get you noticed

Physician and author Bernie Siegel endorsed the idea that patients and their families need to watch out for their safety in hospitals (Sept. 19 column). "I tell people to take a 'Siegel kit' to the hospital and teach them survival behavior. The kit contains a noisemaker, magic marker and water gun.

"The noisemaker is used to avoid (an) hour of uninterrupted silence after pressing the call button. ...

[This is a type of "andon" signal that screams out that you need assistance?]

The magic marker is used to write 'cut here, and not this one, stupid' on your body pre-operatively.

[This is some nice, simple, easy, cheap, and effective error proofing!]

The water gun is used to drench those who do not respect your needs or privacy when your door is closed for meditation or family time."

[I can't draw a lean parallel here!]

A registered nurse in New Orleans, Erin Griffin, pointed out that family members can't always be with patients in the hospital: "I agree that when possible you should stay with your loved one 24/7, but this is rarely possible in the ER, pre-op or recovery area, or in the ICU. The reasons vary but mainly are related to space and that families tend to disrupt or hamper the functioning of the health care area."

Griffin adds that, in her experience, hospital errors often are a result of understaffing: "When the patient-to-nurse ratio is high (one nurse to too many patients), mistakes ultimately happen."

[As with manufacturing quality, most healthcare quality errors are systemic in nature.]

More information on this topic is available from the National Patient Safety Foundation at www.npsf.org.

A Manufacturing Apprentice

:: LFM-SDM NEWS :::

Congratulations to Randal Pinkett, the recent winner of "reality show," The Apprentice. Randal was a year ahead of me as a student at the MIT Leaders for Manufacturing Program. Although he hasn't been working directly in manufacturing, he's the owner of a consulting firm, and his leadership characteristics shined brightly on the show. I'm sure the Trump Organization will greatly benefit from having a strong leader with a process and operations education and focus.

Again, congratulations to Randal!

Adopting the Customer-Driven Mentality

Enterprise - NewsFactor Network

Here is a nice little article on the adaptation of lean principles and the Toyota Production System to service sectors, such as call centers. The article has a nice summary of pull vs. push, but also briefly touches on the cultural aspects of lean, the idea of moving away from a command-and-control environment to one where individual front line workers are "smartened up" (as opposed to dumbed down) to help drive improvements and to reduce waste.

Project Kaizen » Compilation

Project Kaizen » Day 1: The Case for Project Kaizen

Hal Macomber, the organizer of the "Project Kaizen" group blogging activity has a website with all of the compiled postings, at the easy-to-remember www.projectkaizen.com. Check it out.

GM Jobs bank programs -- 12,000 paid not to work

Detroit News - 10/17/05

UPDATE 2/9/06: Why the sudden interest in this article?? Email me.

This isn't new news, nor is it a new program, the GM "jobs bank". When I worked at GM, 1995-96, as a new college graduate, it was a weird awakening to the working world that GM would pay people to not work. They really wasted the potential of those folks by just letting them sit around. It can't feel good to come to work and not be needed. It's better than not collecting a paycheck I guess, but not by much.

The reason I link to this was a pretty hard-hitting editorial in today's Wall St. Journal (link here, subscription required).

I also bring this up in the context of the lean people who say you must promise to not lay off employees as a result of lean efforts. In a way, the GM jobs bank program was of a similar vein, but it promised not to displace workers because of the robots and automation that were expected to lead to Roger Smith's "lights out factory" boondoggle. The WSJ points out, rightfully, that GM needed to have a growth strategy to make use of the Jobs Bank workers and that, without that, the program is a collossal waste and an embarrassment to GM.

If you're going to work on lean, yes, it's better to promise "no layoffs", otherwise you'll quickly drain away any motivation your workers have to make suggestions and drive improvements. But, make sure you're ready to bring on more business and to grow, to make use of employees who will inevitably be freed up due to lean improvements.

Some quotes from the WSJ editorial:

Mr. Wagoner, meanwhile, is joining Ford Motor CEO William Ford in mounting a campaign to ask Washington for taxpayer help, starting with a passionate op-ed on these pages last week. But since Mr. Wagoner is asking for help, it's only fair that taxpayers get to ask some questions in return about the GM business practices that so concern the bond raters.

A good place to start is with its "jobs bank," which is the company's euphemism for a post-employment limbo in which GM pays laid off members of the United Auto Workers not to work. If you want to know why GM's costs are too high for the number of cars it sells, here's one explanation.

....

GM has a host of problems, from the attractiveness of its product lines to the health-care costs it pays for its one million retirees. But a major one is size: It is a smaller company than it was or expected to be when it made the promises it's now trying to keep both to retirees and current workers. GM has some of the most productive industrial workers in the world, but it has too many of them for the number of cars it can sell today.

The jobs bank is both cause and symptom of that problem. We don't wish hardship on those workers, but the company's future now rests on its ability to make its payroll match its production. If the jobs bank -- and the self-deception it represents -- cannot be fixed, that millstone will continue to drag down what was once one of America's great companies.

20,000 Visitors!

It's been a busy month on the blog. After reaching 10,000 visitors at the end of October, we hit 20,000 this past week. Thanks to all who have visited and contributed!

Mark

American Auto Makers - Not Lean Enough

I'm a bit late with this post, but I wanted to make sure to get this article link out nonetheless. Womack wrote a column published in the Washington Post Sunday December 11 in direct response to the speech that was delivered by Bill Ford at the National Press Club on November 22. Ford's statement that his company "can compete with Toyota, but we can't compete with Japan" was the focus of Womack's commentary.

Detroit's Dilemma: Toyota's 'lean production' system leaves American auto makers in the dust

In his discussion, Womack dismantles Ford's position by pointing to the increasing North American capacity and investment being made by Toyota. These investments come complete with the competitive wages and benefits to UAW counterparts in the Big 3. He also illustrates very well the fact that Japan is still largely an industrial failure, noting the decline of most Japanese automotive firms which have either fallen into foreign hands (Nissan & Mazda) or dramatically lost market share (Mitsubishi & Isuzu). More recent firms to loose competitive advantage have been in the electronics industry where Japanese companies are being beaten by Korean, Taiwanese & Chinese rivals. All this despite government subsidization of health care, pensions and technology development cited by Bill Ford as competitive advantages for the competition.

Womack then comes to the conclusion we would all expect – leading Japanese car companies are making more money than US competitors because their lean design, production and purchasing system is creating vehicles that demand higher prices in the market. The average $2500 / vehicle revenue difference for comparable models in Womack's view, lies at the heart of Detroit's problems, more so than the production cost issue.

There's really nothing new hear for anyone who has followed the Auto industry over the last few years. Bottom line is Toyota's lean system is better, and while they have put effort towards learning and becoming lean, US manufacturers have not done enough. This column is a good read. It serves as a great summary of industry in North America over the last century, and it gives an alternative perspective to many 'myths' (or excuses) that continue to prevail.

Bad Visual Controls Example: Software

I know this picture is a bit hard to see, but here's one for you software folks out there.

See the icons on the top of the screen? The developers got cute and put in little icons to represent common functions. The problem is, people couldn't figure out the icons, so someone took a label maker and put words on the monitor. The grouping of test tubes, of course that means "Patients". The cute chart means "Calibrate", of course.

I'd say this isn't very "lean" software, if I can use that term. I'd say icons and elements on a screen should follow the rule of Visual Controls in a lean setting: the visual controls should be clear and obvious to an outsider. That means using abbreviations or symbols that the average person can understand.

Review of New Norman Bodek Book

Kaikaku (Norm's blog)

Check out Norman's blog for a review of his upcoming book, “Rebirth of American Industry." I should be getting a copy soon and will post a review (although my backlog of lean books is growing).

I haven't posted a full review, but "The Toyota Way Fieldbook" is excellent. Someone asked me when I was going to post a full review and I will still try to do that.

Chrysler Expanding Plant, Team Concept

STLtoday - Business - Story:

Good for Tom LaSorda and Chrysler (with an assist from the UAW going along with this core tenet of TPS):

"Chrysler will move to a team concept, where employees work in groups and perform multiple jobs. United Auto Workers members have been wary of this idea, a key part of the Toyota production system, because workers feel it weakens job security and erodes a job-classification system that traditionally assigns the best jobs to people with the most seniority."

Your Mission as Change Agent

By Mark Edmondson

As a lean professional, here are two facts you already know about you and your company:

1. Over 95% of your body mass consists of water.

2. Over 95% of your company's activities consist of waste.

Yet, you’ve probably also learned to be careful when telling your CEO or COO that most of their business activities are waste. The more enlightened executives may accept your diagnosis as an opportunity, but be prepared for the more common reaction: disbelief, denial, and defensiveness.

So how do you present your diagnosis of pervasive waste to senior leadership?

You can try reason and logic. Explain that pervasive waste in business is a fact, just like pervasive water in their body is a fact. It's really nothing to get upset about. Tell them to be smart and regard it as good news, not an admission of poor performance. After all, pervasive waste offers tremendous opportunity for a breakthrough improvement.

You can appeal to their short-term financial challenges. Walk them through the numbers: For example, let's say you have a value stream with a 5% profit margin. And let's say that you reduce the waste in this value stream from 95% to 65%. What's the result? From a financial perspective, it's a breakthrough. You just decreased costs 30%, and increased profits by a factor of 6 or 7.

As a professional, you know that breakthroughs like this are often a rote challenge from a technical perspective. It's just not that difficult for a top shelf lean professional to identify and help reduce waste to a level of 65%.

But your real challenge is not technical – it’s organizational. And it’s not rational – it’s emotional. You must gently help leadership recognize and accept the blind spots they may be facing about their own success.

This may not be easy. When your CFO has been struggling to improve profits by 2% through traditional margin squeezing, it can be dicey for you to confidently declare that you can increase profits by a factor of 7x in a few months. Possible reactions can range from laughter to furled eyebrows to crossed arms. Disbelief, denial, defensiveness.

Now a brief commercial word about outside change agents: That’s why some of our best clients are those who already have lean-savvy professionals on staff. They realize that sometimes it just takes an organizational outsider to reassure leadership about what’s possible. They know that a seasoned change-agent who has experience handling emotional and organizational issues can hasten progress – and results.

We’re back. So your mission as a lean professional is to fulfill the role of enterprise change agent. Technical competency is given. You must evolve from being a technical resource on the production floor and fill a much bigger role. Your company needs you to skillfully guide leadership quickly past their emotional blind spots. Your company needs you to challenge leadership when their goals are not set high enough. Your company needs you to understand each step in the change process – complete with anticipated technical and people challenges. And your company needs you to execute effectively and rapidly.

That’s your mission as your company’s lean change agent. Are you in?

Accelerating the Pace of Learning

Just-Auto.com reported today that next year Toyota will open a Global Production Centre in the UK to train European workers. There is already a centre in Japan that opened 2 years ago, and another is scheduled to open next year in the US.

Shinichi Sasaki, CEO of Toyota Motor Europe was referenced as admitting Toyota's fast growth has led to rapid recruitment and has hurt it's 'built-in quality' culture. Sasaki insists that quality must be "built in" to the process, not "inspected out." This means that all parts of the process - manufacturing, but also design, r&d, purchasing and human resources - must assure quality.

Of course this is all nothing new to anyone who has ever studied the Toyota Production System and the culture it has produced. What is new is this approach to training at a rapid rate. How quickly will new workers be able to truly absorb the culture? Are there enough masters to go around to be mentors and examples? Will the culture be diluted?

I have no doubt Toyota will approach this new training format with a continuous improvement mindset and that over time it will deliver exactly what is expected. The big question for me is when? And will it be quick enough to support their current pace of expansion?

Please Hold

By Mark Edmondson

Seth Godin's (author of Purple Cow and All Marketers are Liars) blog often has pearls of lean wisdom - even though he's a marketing guy. Check out his recent post, "Please Hold", wondering why companies spend so much energy and money getting prospects to call, only to place them on hold.

Like processes in other parts of the enterprise, processes in sales and marketing are often broken too.

Carnival of Lean Leadership #4

Evolving Excellence: Carnival of Lean Leadership #4

Every few weeks, the Evolving Excellence blog does a great compilation of lean blog links and articles. This time it includes a comprehensive list of last week's "Project Kaizen" postings.

The Government to Regulate 'Lean' Labels?

WSJ.com - FDA Weighs Plan To Let More Foods Wear 'Lean' Labels

This article might not be about what you think, if you just read the headline.... it's related to food and the FDA.

The FDA's proposed label change would allow the "lean" label on products that contain less than eight grams (0.28 ounce) of total fat, up to 3.5 grams of saturated fat and less than 80 milligrams (0.0028 ounce) of cholesterol per serving. The public has until Feb. 8 to comment in writing on the proposal.

In a way, it's a shame that any manufacturing company or any executive can slap a "lean" label on a factory or an entire firm, especially when many of these companies are far from lean. I'm not proposing government regulation or a phone-book sized list of requirements for being "lean". Part of the problem is agreeing on a defintion of lean, but then also how do you measure the "softer" side of lean, such as respect for people?

A Frustrated Lean Guy, You Have to Read This

My friend and his former company have to remain anonymous, but I really laughed (although this isn't ha-ha funny, I really empathize with him) when I saw his updated profile on one of the online networking sites.

It describes his former "job title" as: "147,100th Employee" at a large healthcare company (he formerly was in much smaller entrepeneurial environments).

His job description, in all his brutal honesty, reads:

"[Company X} is a huge, bureaucratic, politically hostile, slow dinosaur. The casualty of those attributes is often the customer. So, below is my attempt at improving the customer experience:

We identified root causes of inbound calls and stratified, by volume (8 million calls), the calls and the internal failures that caused them. We eliminated several root causes upstream in the value chain. We use control charts to monitor the impact of improvements and, so far, post-intervention, we observe a statistical shift in the mean of 8.4% reduction in inbound call volume; this amounts to ~2.4MM in cost savings and fewer irritated customers.

Yes, a very short stint. I've learned that I do not do well in companies that are navel-gazing & not customer obsessed."

Wow, the poor guy. I'm glad for him that he got out of there. It's a lesson learned in how a company can SAY they want to do lean and it all sounds good. Then, you get in the door and find out it's not as advertised, with poor lean leadership and a recipe for frustration.

My friend points out that his boss had ZERO lean or sigma background, he was a "Malcolm Baldridge" guy. I can understand the frustration. At a prior company, my LeanSigma VP was a finance guy who was doing his rise-to-the-top rotation through Six Sigma. It's very frustrating when your "leadership" doesn't speak the same lean language that you do, as a hardcore lean guy.

Anyway, I raise my glass to all of those who are frustrated lean guys in a frustrating leaderless environment. Hang in there. You're not alone.

First the V-Pill; Now it's the V-Chain

Article Link

By Mark Edmondson

Do you experience lumpy product demand?

Do you suffer from “outsourced manufacturing and third-party logistics across a multi-enterprise network”?

Has “demand management, transaction processing, and order fulfillment using paper-based systems led to excessive amounts of leg work expended on expediting”?

Well you can Forgetaboutit!

Just install V-Chain, and you’ll miraculously reap new profits!

What is V-Chain you ask?

“V-Chain™, operates within heterogeneous IT environments and across multiple business partners to execute shared supply chain processes. The Web-native system combines connectivity, execution, planning, and metrics to create a single backbone in support of structured collaboration, something even the best ERP system can't do on its own.

I couldn’t have said it more clearly myself. I couldn't have even made this up myself.

(Mark Graban here) --> sounds like another "siren song" of manufacturing software!

Bad Visual Controls Example: Drug Store