Lean, Mean Business Machine

Lean, mean business machine, from New Zealand:

But it is wasted effort that is the main focus, Mr Shook says. The lean philosophy is about first making waste visible, then acting on every level in a company, from large to small, to eliminate it.

This point is often overlooked - making waste visible is critical.

via Lean in New Zealand

What Innovation Means to Tesco

What innovation means to Tesco by Sir Terry Leahy (Chief Executive of Tesco):

Innovators are all around us; innovation is after all just another word for an idea and we can all have those. Businesses must learn to harness the creativity of their workforce and encourage staff to come forward with ideas. It's not always easy as some good ideas will fail but companies have to be comfortable with that if they are to avoid stifling innovation.

Indian Deming Prize Winner Expanding

Lucas TVS on Global and Local Expansion Mode

A delegation of top officials from leading Japanese industries — mostly comprising Toyota group and its suppliers — had also visited the Lucas TVS' Chennai plant. The delegation is part of the central Japan Quality Control Association, an organisation promoting quality control in cooperation of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).

The purpose of the visit was to introduce the delegation to the best practices amongst the member companies and also outside Japan. In 2004, Lucas TVS had won the prestigious Deming medal...

According to Balaji the Japanese delegation led by Tadashi Onishi, JTEKT Corporation, said that quality is not a magic solution but a systematic practice, and quality should not be measured by the absence of defect. A company should reach a condition where it innovates in quality. Further, all the stakeholders-employees, suppliers and others- should be involved in quality control. "The delegation also told us that quality systems should be at all levels of management and not only at the shop floor level," Balaji said.

Related posts:

• Toyota Chief Comments on India, Thai Cos.
  
• 2005 Deming Prize
  
• 2004 Deming Prize Awardees
  
• Deming on Management
  

No More Lean Excuses

No More Lean Excuses by Dan Jones

I have recently been getting a striking reaction from many senior management audiences. They all agree that products have got vastly better over recent years, but they equally agree that the process of ordering and buying them and getting them serviced has got worse!

This is a theme in Jones and Womack's recent book: Lean Solutions.

Recently I bought a new digital camera, Canon A700. Part of the reason I bought it was I had heard they actually provided customer service - you could call them and they answered and helped (plus they have long practiced good management improvement concepts, in general).

Well I received my camera and I could not open the battery compartment: which was quite frustrating. I tried following the instructions but I couldn't get it to open. So I tried calling Canon and I got a person on the phone within 30 seconds (there was system to direct me to the right person but it was as speaking the answer to a couple questions).

Within a couple minutes the service person (based in Virginia and a Canon employee as I understand it) had picked up a Canon A700 and explained how to open the door. I happen to think the instructions, and design, could be much better but maybe I just couldn't see it.

Anyway I know of two companies that provide this level of phone support: Canon and Crutchfield. I am sure there are others. I am much more likely to buy from them if I have a choice.

I also very much like dealing with Amazon but they provide no after purchase service (which is why I had to call Canon - which worked very well). But for finding products and getting them shipped to me, I have been a satisfied customer for years.

Fear Remains a Toyota Motivator

Fear Remains a Toyota Motivator by Harry Stoffer, Automotive News.

First the don't let the title fool you, this is not an indication Toyota is going against Deming's obligation of management to "Drive out fear and build trust so that everyone can work effectively". Deming was talking about driving out the fear management creates for employees intentionally (forced ranking...) and un-intentionally (creating a climate where people are more fearful of pointing out problems than just ignoring them...). See: Deming and Toyota.

This article is talking about Toyota's never ending quest to do better. At least in North America we seem biased toward putting that quest for doing better negatively. Rather than being drawn to improve it is most often stated as being scared that if we don't we will have to pay for failing to improve. Thus the reference to fear.

The article is worth reading:

"We are kind of paranoid," says Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America Inc. "You're going along, and things are going quite well, and you're always thinking: 'What could go wrong?'"
...
He calculates that Toyota spends about 1.3 percent of revenue on warranty claims. That's less than half the rate of General Motors and Ford Motor Co., he says.

Barkai cites Toyota's ability to use data to identify and fix problems quickly. That feature is rooted in the Toyota Production System.

"Once they make a decision, the entire organization realigns itself around the decision," Barkai says.

Jeffrey Liker, an engineering professor at the University of Michigan, has studied Toyota for 20 years. He says the discipline Toyota imposes on its growing number of suppliers helps the company maintain its quality record.

Liker says there was evidence four or five years ago that Toyota quality was starting to slip. The company made a priority of finding and eliminating those problems, he says.

via Toyota and Quality Trends

Flow

"Flow" and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi by David Farmer:

How does it feel to be in "the flow"?

1. Completely involved, focused, concentrating - with this either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training
2. Sense of ecstasy - of being outside everyday reality
3. Great inner clarity - knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going
4. Knowing the activity is doable - that the skills are adequate, and neither anxious or bored
5. Sense of serenity - no worries about self, feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of ego - afterwards feeling of transcending ego in ways not thought possible
6. Timeliness - thoroughly focused on present, don't notice time passing
7. Intrinsic motivation - whatever produces "flow" becomes its own reward

Books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:

• Good Business Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning, 2004.
• Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,1991. People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. The author, a pioneer in this astonishing field of study, clearly explains the principles of "flow" and shows how it can be introduced into every level of life. (audio tape)
• Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, 1997. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders to poets and artists, the author uses his famous "flow" theory to explain the creative process. Csikszentmihalyi's objective is to offer readers an understanding of what leads to creative moments so that they can use that knowledge to enrich their own lives.

Cells and High Volumes

Cells and High Volumes: Forget What You Think You Know by Gary S. Vasilash:

True cellular manufacturing depends on the cooperation and orchestration of all employees. The reason for this is simple: The objective to get rid of waste means that all of the people involved in the process must work in a synchronized manner. One-piece flow doesn't allow for build-ups of inventory between processes, so people must do each step in the required manner (a manner, it should be noted, that isn't static, but open to improvement).

Organizational Learning

Why Your Organization Isn't Learning All It Should by Anita Tucker, Amy Edmondson, and Steven Spear

Our analysis of qualitative data suggests that the problem-solving behavior of front-line workers may reduce an organization's ability to detect underlying causes of recurring problems and thus take corrective action.

While problems must be solved to reduce the impact on the current customer the organization must also prevent future customers from the poor result.

The data suggested that these small front-line problems collectively frustrate both the customer and the worker, and hinder the worker's ability to perform effectively, but when taken out of context and viewed individually, appear trivial. Thus, system aberrations that are often dismissed in the literature as being "simple to solve" often persist because of a cycle of inactivity.

Related posts:

• How Toyota Turns Workers Into Problem Solvers
• Transforming Aggression into Creative Problem Solving
• Conclusion of Jim Womack Interview

Kaizen Priorities

Kaizen Priorities by Mike Wroblewski:

Priority 1: Kaizen your bottleneck station first - If you don't know what is your bottleneck station, find it. There are many ways to find your bottleneck: all the inventory is piled in front of it, people downstream are waiting on it, it has the most overtime, it's a top maintenance priority, etc.

Another excellent post from Got Boondoggle.

Getting Lean Right

Getting Lean "Right": 10 Factors to Understand Before Embarking on Your Lean Transformation by Jamie Flinchbaugh:

So how is it that such a low percentage of companies that know about lean can turn it into a success? It's not because they haven't heard about continuous flow, or they don't know how to do the 5S's, or they've never seen a kaizen workshop. It is because the leadership, cultural, organizational and implementation challenges are bigger than most people anticipate.

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead

Toyota in China: Full Speed Ahead, Business Week. Yoshimi Inaba, who's driving the Japanese auto maker's expansion in the Middle Kingdom, discusses the Chinese market and his goals there. Toyota's market share is just 3.5% in China, compared to 13% in the U.S. and more than 40% at home in Japan.

We're a minor player in the China market, with a 3.5% share, but we're one of the few manufacturers where demand exceeds supply. Even though we see big potential for growth, we will make sure we're not in a position of overcapacity. That will be a very key element. And as long as you retain the quality, treat dealers as partners, and avoid oversupply, the results will come. The race for the Chinese market is just around the first corner.

Consumer Idealized Design

Consumer Idealized Design: Involving Consumers in The Product Development Process

Interactive Design vs. Reactive "Focus"

A consumer design session is characterized by at least three features which
distinguish it from a focus group.

(1) It requires innovation and interaction from participants.

(2) It is task-oriented, competitive and consensus-generating.

(3) It requires the articulation and design of the group's notion of the ideal
in a designated product or service category.

This concept is based on the idea of Russell Ackoff - articles by Russell Ackoff.

NUMMI Plant Model

via lean blog, NUMMI plant a model for ailing car industry by Tim Simmers:

The historic NUMMI joint venture - the first of its kind on U.S. soil between a Japanese and an American carmaker - is something of an industry gem. Its secret to success, besides the common sense of building small cars and trucks that are in demand, has been its good labor relations and adoption of Toyota's "lean manufacturing" techniques. Referred to as the "Toyota Production System (TPS)," it is steeped in Japanese business lore and terms that stress and lay out a road map for quality, efficiency and production advances.

NUMMI tour information. NUMMI - Production System:

A key factor in the production system is treating team members with trust and respect. They are expected to help solve problems and make decisions that affect them or their group. They are also held accountable for their work.

Related posts:

• Why Fix the Escalator?
• Lean at NUMMI
• The Power of Why

The Skinny on Lean

The Skinny on Lean by Peter Bradley

The pursuit of perfection and obsessive attention to detail that characterize Toyota's lean model are reflected in Menlo Worldwide's 278,000-square-foot Brownstown facility, known as the Great Lakes Lean Logistics Center (GLLLC). Look around, and you'll notice process maps on the wall of a room off the main warehouse. You'll see taped outlines on the floor and walls to indicate the precise location of every cart, every tool, every barrel—often with photos showing what goes where. While leading a tour of the facility, Meaghan Diem, a Menlo Worldwide logistics manager, nudges a barrel back between its taped lines. "Some people think this is organization overkill," she says, "but it makes it almost impossible not to make it right."

Though it encourages employees to offer ideas on an impromptu basis, Menlo Worldwide also solicits suggestions through a more formal process: its continuous improvement program. On a regular basis, the company assembles kaizen teams—teams formed to root out waste and inefficiency. Rivera reports that employees at every level participate in these teams, which may also include an engineer and a customer. The teams spend three to five days collecting data, identifying targets—called SMART targets—and preparing an implementation plan. Consistent with the Toyota protocol, their plan must fit on a single sheet of A3 paper. (That's an international standard for paper about 11.7 by 16.5 inches, or more precisely, 297 by 420 millimeters.)
...
The lean program's results speak for themselves. Menlo Worldwide reports that warehouse productivity improved 32 percent between January and November last year, measured by gains in lines per hour. Defects, measured as the error rate, dropped by a whopping 44 percent. The on-time percentage for shipments was north of 99 percent in every one of those months, hitting 100 percent in eight of 11 months.

What is Lean Six Sigma?

What is Lean Six Sigma? slides from a presentation (adobe acrobat format) at MAQIN (Madison Area Quality Improvement Network). FYI, I manage MAQIN's web site and author blog - John Hunter.

I rarely link to slide presentations, but when the slides seem interesting enough I do link to them occasionally, as in this case. Still since slides are designed to act as supporting material to a presentation they leave much out. The following links provide articles with much more detail on this topic, via the Curious Cat Management Improvement Library:

• Six Sigma articles
• Lean Management articles

Executives Participating in Kaizen Events

The Masco Mapmakers by Bill Waddell

Guys from Brasscraft or Morgantown Plastics might go to a Delta faucet plant for the event - and note that these are executives, not factory level folks - that spend the week working on the kaizens. Of course, the Grand Kaizens are not the only ones. Individual plants hold their own kaizens by the hundreds. The primary purpose of the Grand Kaizen is to spread the lean message throughout the company. They learned that having the top people work hands-on in a kaizen was a lot more effective than sitting them down in a big room and subjecting them to a Power Point description of lean.

Getting executives to participate is a great way to have them learn a new way of thinking.

Masco Companies Learn Lean Manufacturing and Improvement Methods

Lean thinking articles