Why Toyota Knows Perfection Is Impossible: A NUMMI Lesson

By
Mark Graban
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NUMMI Tour Tale #4: The Pull Gift Shop

While the NUMMI plant would score very highly on almost any measure of visual management, you could still see on a tour that it wasn't 100% perfect in its 5S compliance.

In passing, one might notice items that appeared to be out of place, or shadow boards where a tool outline was visible without the tool present — which, of course, could simply mean the item was being used elsewhere at the moment. The plant was not messy by any means, but it also wasn't the idealized picture of “perfection” that some people might expect to see.

Our host told a story about how the plant had, at one point, “gotten away from” doing regular standard work audits and had to re-implement that discipline (at the urging of a GM leader, they said).

In discussing this backsliding, the NUMMI team members were quite open about it. They readily acknowledged that sustaining standard work requires ongoing attention and that they were always striving to get better.

There's a good lesson here. While it's important to set goals of perfection, it's very difficult to be 100% there at all times. Being open about problems — and sincere in the desire to improve — without becoming defensive may be one of the most important practices of all. That, too, is a lesson from NUMMI.

NUMMI Tour Tales #6: “You Get What You Inspect”

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Mark Graban
Mark Graban
https://www.markgraban.com
Mark Graban is an internationally-recognized consultant, author, and professional speaker, and podcaster with experience in healthcare, manufacturing, and startups. Mark's latest book is The Mistakes That Make Us: Cultivating a Culture of Learning and Innovation, a recipient of the Shingo Publication Award. He is also the author of Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More, Lean Hospitals and Healthcare Kaizen, and the anthology Practicing Lean, previous Shingo recipients. Mark is also a Senior Advisor to the technology company KaiNexus.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I thank you for your post and thoughts, they are working on me already. I am constantly striving to be the best at anything and everything to such extremes that I never get to finish any project that I start. I am not perfect I am a humang bean. Good day to you sir.

  2. Thanks for this post.

    Did you see what happens at the end of the line? Do they have a single driver doing one-piece-flow driving a car to a parking area (and running back) every minute or so? =)

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