When Common Sense is Applied, Improvements are Realized
Written by David Tooker
For many in industry, Lean is interpreted as doing more with less, thrifty management, and cutting costs. To most people, its connotation is to be thin. But for me, Lean has always been about continual improvement and business growth, as you can only cut costs and remain profitable for so long. You need sales to survive and create more value for customers with the same value add resources. Lean has never been about cutting head count. I’ve never favored the use of the term, but that’s another discussion.
In the fall of 1993, I conducted a professional development meeting for the local APICS Mid-Hudson chapter on “Waste Elimination – Improving Profits & Business Performance.” Back then waste elimination was typically handled by the manufacturing and industrial engineering experts. Methods were reviewed and redesigned with little input from the employees who ran the process; the traditional scientific management approach. I witnessed the havoc these traditional improvement approaches caused operationally and business wide. Customer service and business objectives suffered, quality goals were missed, and all due to the traditional ways we managed and ran our factories. The waste elimination topic was well received, however, attacking basic wastes is still the key problem area for today’s Lean efforts. Waste often exposes systemic issues within the organization which are difficult to address because the simple rationalization of the process is not permitted.
When we focus on eliminating waste and the rationalization of the process, it reduces direct labor, shifts more indirect tasks to the employees, and improves the reliability and repeatability of the process. It also increases the need for complex accounting and traditional demand planning procedures. For many organizations, Lean effectiveness continues to be limited. This is mainly due to the distorted understanding and continued reliance on traditional measures and manufacturing execution methods, usually by management that has a stake in the current state. Lean is an easy sell because companies want the benefits it provides, but lack the will power and leadership required for the effective application of a solid cross functional synchronization. These traditional measures and approaches provide little guidance for correct Lean management. In fact, they can even drive management to do the wrong things leading to poor organizational support, vital to sustaining improvement and overall effectiveness of the Lean initiatives.
So, students passed the tests, but the direct application is a different issue entirely. Even today I am amazed by the lack of ability to apply simple common sense and effective Kaizen within businesses on this basic approach. Work place organization is a must. Therefore, we teach the 5s: Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. Quality is a must, so we teach quality at the source (QAS). Empowering employees and implementing improvements (formally work place simplification) is a must. There are many Lean Six Sigma acronyms and people do get confused, we work on those too. When we only teach key employees Lean then send them back to their jobs to implement the principles, along with their current job responsibilities, it limits progress. Adults learn by doing. They need real world examples and direct guidance on the application, supported by the right measures, and solid senior management support.
Here is a recent example I encountered. During one recent project, the owner of a baking company was very excited about the potential of implementing Lean. He called me directly to come in and help with his Lean initiative. He was taking online Lean classes and wanted to do Lean, but was having difficulty. Always willing to engage, we met and reviewed his key issues. The first few days I kept running into Lean jargon with him and his staff every time I pushed them to think about the waste in their process. They did a limited current state value stream map. They knew the terms but were failing on the practical application of Lean thinking (understanding value where value is added, flow, producing to customer demand and perfection). Stuck in their thinking and confused, they were not acting. They were taught these principles and sought perfection.
Remember, perfection does not always mean effectiveness from a business view. Where do we start? What Lean principles do we apply? Is this value stream correct?
“Applying Lean is complicated,” they said. I was pushing them not to overthink. They needed to get started, go out into the process, organize things (5s), find the basic wastes, time the cycles, look at layout for flow, combine tasks, and balance the steps. Work with your workers to eliminate the waste in Storing, Waiting, Inventory, and Moving (S.W.I.M). Stop thinking how to apply the perfect tool!
Follow on assignments were not getting complete. Their frustration was getting worse. They could not equate the concepts they were seeing in the book and what they learned in the online classes to their working environment. This ridged approach was confusing them with how to apply Lean. Finally, on my fourth visit, I said, “We are just going to go out to see the process and do it because you are stuck. You can either listen to me or I cannot help you.” Humbled, they agreed. Out to the floor we went. Most of the product for the day was held up at the final step, decorating.
“This is your bottleneck,” I told them.
“Of course,” they said, “we know that.” This is where we attack first. I pushed them to slow down and look at the basic wastes. How does the product flow? Where is work piling up? How much handling is there? How organized is the area? I pushed them to identify these wastes as well as work with the operators to determine what to do to improve the value add time, improve flow, and eliminate the wasteful steps they saw. We moved to the board and started to draft the future state tasks required: cycle time estimates, inventory, total through put, etc. Every time someone said, “Oh, is that mix mode?”, “TAKT time?”, “Kanban?” I stopped and pushed them to just think basic common sense. Does it make sense to move 40 cakes in a rack to decorate, decorate each cake, place each cake back on the rack, move the rack to slice, slice each cake, place each cake back on the rack, move the rack to box, box each cake, place each cake back on a different rack, move the rack to seal and pack, remove and seal each cake, and pack and skid? Would it make sense to move the full rack once to decorate, then for each cake, decorate, slice, box, seal, pack and skid, one cake at a time? BOOM, the lights went on, the owners face lit up with a big smile!
“I get it,” he said many times, “I get it, wow!” Again, humble time! On my next visit the dam was broken.
“Come look Dave, come see,” the team expressed as if they were kids blitzing a Halloween candy collection, “look, now we decorate, slice, pack, etcetera, one cake at a time.”
“We moved this here, that there,” and on they went. We organized the benches, equipment, and tools allowing us to combine things. We use half the area now with one less operator, who was reassigned to mix and bake. We get 40 cakes completed in 1.5 hours, which used to take 7 hours.
“This is simple,” they said.
“Good,” I told them, “once you get repeatability and consistency in the process then we will look at the more advanced applications of Lean, Mix Mode, Kanban, Pull, and the list goes on.” No, I did not eat the whole cheese cake they gave me.
Lean is a tool that works best when people have the correct guidance and are allowed time to look at the waste, take risk, and change. Try it, get moving, Plan, Do, Check, and Act! (P-D-C-A), “do it, train folks, and then educate the organization”. Education in Lean is important but done best on the job in direct application, Kaizen. The most important thing is to equate the principles in terms people can understand. Most of it is common sense, “the fanatical implementation of common sense”. When people get it, and apply a little at a time in their work, it is amazing the improvements that can be achieved. The day to day improvements add up and eventually the organization achieves the future state impacts that are so vital to success.
Over my career I have encountered many similar situations with organizations, machine shops, volume production shops, medical device manufacturers, food processers, defense contractors, etc. All trying to apply Lean, all encountering various constraints and confusion on its practical application that, when common sense is applied, improvements are realized.
Dave Tooker is a former Principal Lean and Quality Systems Engineer for the Manufacturing & Technology Enterprise Center. He holds an advanced master certification in Lean Six Sigma from Villanova and has over 25 years implementing continuous improvement and Lean.