Lean is trendy today.
Lean Manufacturing, Lean Management. Lean Thinking. Lean Office, Lean Start-Up, Lean Six Sigma, Lean Agile… Everyone is LEAN (or claims to be, more or less).
If so, why is our national sport firefighting (funnily enough, we call this agile)?
Why are our processes still untouched for many years? The office staff is more important than the warehouse department, and piles of work in progress are sitting between every step of production?
Oh yeah – we did the ‘cleaning’! – 5S or something like that. We also have some KPI boards on the walls, but only management knows why and what is on them.
I have seen a few different definitions of Lean. As for my understanding – Lean is a “do better every day” mindset. A common sense, standardised thinking. I am not a world-class expert or an oracle, and you might disagree with my worldview. The one thing that I know for sure is - what Lean is not!
FALSE NO 1: LEAN = WASTE ELIMINATION
So many books, consultants, training courses, and managers emphasise and repeat like a mantra: You want to be LEAN – You need to FIND THE WASTE and REMOVE IT.
Starting your Lean journey with waste reduction will put you on the fast track to utterly misinterpret the "Lean concept," and you will likely concentrate on the symptoms rather than the underlying issues.
Why?
Because Waste is a SYMPTOM (!), something is not right, not its cause!
It is an undesirable effect within a process, not an end in itself.
Lean derives from Toyota Production System. It’s a fact.
Let’s have a quick glance at Toyota’s House (TPS House)...
...nothing about waste reduction.
5 Principles of Lean by Womack & Jones? - nothing here either.
If it is not a Waste, then what is it? What is the essence of actual Lean?
Other than the previous article (link here), one of the answers could be hidden in the 4P model introduced by Jeff Liker in his book “Toyota Way” (2004). The 4P stands for:
1. Philosophy/Purpose - What/Why am I doing?
2. Process - How am I doing?
3. People & Partners - With Whom?
4. Problem-Solving - What will I do when problems occur?
PHILOSOPHY / PURPOSE
It is all about WHO you are and wants to be as a business, WHERE you want to be in the future, and HOW you want to get there (True North Concept).
“Customer First thinking, making the highest quality product, at the lowest cost, with the shortest lead time, in the safest manner, all while respecting people.”
Toyota True North
PROCESS
Our lives are centred around processes. Everything we do is a process - we put in some input, after which a sequence of steps happens to create the desired outcome.
Your job is to define the processes within your business and standardise them, so your people know what they need to do. Without the standards, you cannot recognise abnormalities.
"Without a standard, team member cannot make a judgement what is normal, abnormal, or Muda (Waste) while working, and it will be depending on his way"
TPS Textbook (Grade 4) published by TPS Certificate Institution from Japan, p36
PEOPLE & PARTNERS
People are the most critical asset in your organisation. They will determine the success or failure of your business, and those precise people must be the heart and soul of any real lean system. Without their understanding, engagement and involvement, you will not achieve much. Your job as a leader is to develop their thinking every day. Your people are KEY to success. This also refers to your partners and suppliers - treat them as an extension of your business.
"We don't just build cars, we build people."
Toyota
PROBLEM
All your abnormalities are visible when you know the correct process. Without documented standards, you cannot recognise any deviation that leaves you guessing and symptom-fighting. So once you see your abnormalities, you can apply problem-solving techniques like PDCA, A3 or 8D.
As you see above, there is no mention of any Waste Reduction, AGAIN..
Do not get me wrong, eliminating waste is a part of Lean, but it is not an essence/centre of it (as most people think!). Any waste is terrible (but not equally important), and we should try to remove it. At the same time, we must protect value-added activities as well.
OK - so far, we have established that our famous Waste Reduction is not at the top of our priorities. So what is Lean really about? – It is the VALUE FLOW.
What is the Flow?
Flow is all about how work progresses through a system from the first to the last step. Figuratively, the flow is when we travel down the empty motorway at full speed. As soon as we hit traffic jams, traffic lights, etc., it is not "a flow".
Your primary task should be to DEFINE AND IMPROVE THE FLOW of the processes, enhancing the value for the customer.
“All we are doing is looking at the timeline from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that timeline…”
T. Ohno
Observation of the flow will quickly highlight where you should focus your efforts and, what is more important (and very often ignored) will tell you where you should NOT invest your time!
Of course, If you start your lean transformation from a waste reduction program, you will probably improve some local KPIs and give an impression of process improvement. However, if your pursuit of waste reduction does not improve the value flow or generate more money – your waste elimination is a waste! (more about it in the future article about TOC).
FALSE NO 2: LEAN = LEAN TOOLBOX (5S, Kanban, etc)
Many Lean transformations within businesses are often driven by the belief that the actual Lean is about implementing all the tools from the ‘Lean Toolbox’. All the efforts are focused on copying 1:1 all the tools into the organisation, where more = better. With this approach, you are in the elevator to spectacular failure because no single production environment is the same! Since your problems are probably not “standard problems”, there is rarely a “standard tool” which fits your company. Of course, similar to waste reduction, if you implement lean solutions, you have a chance to see improvement within local KPIs. Still, if the implemented tools are not connected to the bigger strategy of improving the value flow, most probably, all your efforts, potential, time, and money will be wasted (not to mention the morale drop of your team).
You want to be lean? - design the PROCESS with the correct FLOW, which generates desirable results!
Lean is not about fancy methods. Nor fancy tools. Do not try to build an exact copy of Toyota – this will not work. Be inspired by TPS solutions, look for the best practices and create your own, tailor-made for your environment. A “standard tool” may not fit, but perhaps you can use its idea/concept and adapt it to your specific situation (every Lean tool must be modified and adapted to your environment). Show your team simple, logical connections between processes and strive consistently to improve them. The Lean toolbox will support you, but it will not substitute the foundation (every master needs their tools, but the tools do not make a master). Don’t know where to start? Start from basics. Look again at the 4P model and answer yourself - what is your ultimate goal? Do you know where your business is heading? Do we have the correct processes in place? How about people – do they know what to do? Do they share your values?
FALSE NO 3: LEAN = CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Most of the time, during the ‘implementation’ of Lean, we forget about the most critical ingredient of successful transformation – PEOPLE. I’ve been there (on both sides) and done it myself. Conviction of your and only right when you walk into production with sabre and change all processes to ‘better’ so that they can return within a few weeks to the old state. Sounds familiar?
Lean derives from TPS.
I’ve seen many versions of the TPS House; some of them have ‘People’, ’Team Work’, etc. in the centre, and some of them haven’t got anything there. In my opinion, the standard TPS house (and Lean itself) have ONLY ONE, REAL, actual foundation – RESPECT FOR PEOPLE/HUMANITY
Everyone understands Respect differently.
It is not only about understanding, engagement, and involvement of your Operatives.
It is not only about realising that people are not just “another resource “.
It is not only about understanding that human mistakes are not the result of intended actions but are a result of learning underdeveloped processes and systems.
Finally, it is not only about that we are all equal partners, we cannot exist without each other, and we have the same purpose at work – to give quality service to our customer (who is willing to pay for it).
Respect for people and humanity goes much deeper. It means challenging people in a steady flow and giving them the ability, space and environment where they can grow. It means to stimulate each person in three dimensions: Talent (ability to learn & perform any task effectively), creativity (ability to improve continuously) and Enthusiasm (emotional ability & energy to want to do the first two).
The best example of poorly executed Lean transformation comes from US education (you can read more about it here), where the attempt of Lean implementation finished with unskilled, de-humanised workers without their job in the end.
Remember - Lean must not do any harm to anyone. So, if you are implementing only your and only ideas (end of the day - your ideas are the best and only matter, right?), you burn out all people, de-skill them and take all creativity and knowledge from them - you definitely misunderstood the whole Lean conception.
Real Lean does not exist without Respect. Full stop.
What is Lean, then?
As I said before, for me, Lean is a “do better every day” mindset.
However, a correct mindset is not everything. In order to work, you need to add PERSISTENT EFFORTS to strive to be better and RESPECT to your team.
Of course, you can still carry on all waste hunting within your factory or implement every single solution from the Lean toolbox. You will probably find a lot of significant savings (at least on paper, though). Your processes will be “lean”, some of it even very lean... but is it what the REAL Lean is about?
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
P Drucker
So, the next time you come up with another brilliant idea of cutting someone’s job position or eliminating another Waste, think about how this will affect your product value stream and all people involved – did you improve Lead time? Cycle time? Did the process generate more money? Yes? – GREAT! Carry on with implementation. Nothing changed? – stop what you are doing, go back to the drawing board, look at the process and find another improvement.
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