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12/05/2011 05:27 PM
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Dear Members,
I am writing my Masters thesis on the Topic of Lean Project Management, The Research Questions of thesis are
Question 1: What is the definition of Lean Project Management?
Question 2: What are the principles of Lean Project Management?
Question 3: How Lean can be applied in Project Management?
Question 4: Is there an existing application of Lean Thinking in Project Management?
Thesis mainly use the underlying variables (Concepts) of Lean Principles, Specify value, Identify the value stream, Flow, Pull and Perfection. Using the underlying variables i developed the complete Theory of Lean Project Management.
The Results of the Thesis show that Lean is applicable in Project Management and many of the Lean Principles exist in Project Management Literature under different names. However seemingly, my Supervisor and examiner want me to show the negative side of Lean Thinking. I recently looked at an article by Darius Mehri(2006). The Darker Side of Lean: An Insider's Perspective on the Realities of the Toyota Production System. This paper criticize the practices and do not talk about any principles.
Can you please share your knowledge if you know any articles showing the draw backs of lean principles in projects or services?
Best Regards
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12/05/2011 06:10 PM
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The only "dark side" comes up when people mis-apply the principles, or try to force the tools into place without grasping the original problem(s). This results from people not truly understanding what the underlying people / leadership / cultural principles are; or believing that the tools will work without them.
When done correctly, "lean" is about developing people to be better problem solving.
That being said, your original thesis is ground that is well covered. I suggest you investigate "Critical Chain" project management. It very much aligns with lean principles, and is what I would call "lean project management."
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12/06/2011 03:57 PM
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The darkest side of Lean emerges when people want to use it for manpower reduction. Moment the benefit start emerging in terms of efficiency, people start sensing the risk of loosing job. The benefit in terms of market gain comes after a lag which may need more and more experienced employees. often it is too late before this are understood by the people.
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12/06/2011 03:58 PM
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It is worthy of your professors that they have you look at the down side of Lean, as there is much to learn from how many misapply Lean principles. I read The Dark Side of Lean and I believe you have to be careful about mixing and equating Lean with the Toyota Production System and Japanese culture and their management style. If one does, then one is likely to "throw the baby out with the bath water." Adopting Lean principles and objectives (e.g., create flow by eliminating waste) need not, and should not lead to organizations becoming "Japanese" in everyway. Adopting Lean principles, in combination with other methods (e.g., Systems Thinking, respect for people, inclusion and feedback loops for innovation), take organizations to new levels of efficiency and effectiveness. Lean should not be viewed as just tools and eliminating waste (as many do), but rather as a methodology to create more customer and organizational value. There is always a danger of failure when one employs methodologies created by others, for their specific purposes, without thoroughly understanding them and then adapting them to ones own situation (Take the good and don't replicate and pass on the bad).
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12/07/2011 11:29 AM
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I agree with Charles. When Lean ("L") represents the Toyota Production System I have not experienced any dark side because Lean would not abuse people. TPS supports the value adder and creates an environment for people to succeed. Those who use the tools and find ways to cut and abuse the work force in the name of lean don't understand the true meaning and process. Toyota found that TPS worked very well in the U.S. and it was not just a Japanese culture when the Georgetown KY plant opened. G.M. send dozens of people to NUMMI for two year training assignments but not much was learned and applied. TPS or LEAN is more than surface actions that people see when they tour Toyota facilities. Is TPS perfect? No but it is better than any other systems I have experienced. TPS is all about systems thinking and respect for people and the communities they operate in.
Ron Turkett
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12/07/2011 12:35 PM
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I've occasionally seen negative things written about Toyota and their production system. But Toyota would be the first to tell you that their system is not perfect. That's what continuous improvement is all about - relentlessly pursuing perfection. And as others have already said, when you apply TPS principles incorrectly, bad things can happen.
Some of the negative things I've seen written about working under the Toyota Production System appear (to me at least) to be written by what many people call CAVE men. (Citizens Against Virtually Everything.) For instance, there was some buzz on the internet a few years ago by someone claiming that Toyota constantly wanted them to improve their process. I don't know about you, but I find that rather comical.
Tom
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03/06/2012 01:20 PM
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Dear Basit,
Please send me your email i.d and i will send you the full theory.
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03/07/2012 10:49 PM
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Lean is a theory, or ideology. The theory is fine, but the downsides are due to other factors that influence the success of society.
The best way to examine this is to compare Toyota to Ford.
Ford talked about the failure of Profit Motive over Wage motive, and his predictions are coming true right in front of your eyes in today's economy. The gap between the rich and the middle class is widening, and lean has contributed to this gap. Not intentionally, but none the less that gap is growing
if you compare transportation then Toyota has created a world wide supplier system in which parts are shipped all over the world to try to take advantage of labor costs, and production costs. This is not the fault of lean, due to we all have to try and save money in our production, but precious oil reserves, and other materials are wasted in that transportation, and oil is running out.
Ford pretty much did everything under one roof, and in 4 days from digging the dirt to end of production. No one can truly estimate how long it takes to make a car today.
Today cars never go down in price unless certain features are taken off. Ford lowered prices all the time, and improved quality. If you calculate the amount of wages needed to purchase cars today, we use up more of our salary as well to purchase cars.
So the real problem with lean is that Lean is not doing as well as advertised. The consultants and book writers are making money, but no real bottom line improvements. Its a horse and pony show. Everyone is telling you how great lean is improving things, but then look around and show me how those improvements affect society.
www.leaneconomics.org
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03/07/2012 10:49 PM
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I can share my own experience with defining Lean for refinery uptime through maintenance (not to be mistaken as TPM). I have huge experience with project management (engineering and business projects), but have never done this with PM.
The basic distinction of Lean as compared to other approaches is the conscious attention to achieve Flow and Pull. Take the "Learning to See" book and study it carefully. Then take the generic project management process and identify and map exactly what the principles leading to Flow and pull are or look like in the context of project management. In other words, follow your nose and see what emerges. It will get you past the slogans and into the specifics.
Let us know what you come up with.
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03/08/2012 11:20 PM
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Dear Friends,
Thanks for your valuable comments. I have reviewed an enormous amount of literature on both showing the negative and positive sides of lean. Since i used the systematic approach in my thesis, I personally don't see a negative side of variables.
Let me explain it with an example. Take the first principle
Specify value
Their are two underlying variables of this principle
first value (Any activity for which the customer is willing to pay for)
Second waste (Any activity for which the customer is not willing to pay for)
The purpose of first principle is to identifying value adding activities, once value adding activities will be identified it will show the non value adding. Therefore the elimination of non value adding will of course save resources, time and money, Thus improving productivity of organization. However the question is that value can be easily identified in production line as same activities are repeated, thousands of time. Activities in Projects are often a one time activity.
Linking back to the negative side. One of the problem with the scholars highlighting the negative aspects is that their arguments are valid but conceptual, not supported by quantitative research. However, i agree that most of the publications are based on showing the good sides, it may also have some links with the fact that companies often avoid to discuss the failures with applying lean.
Following is the criticism that i found in literature
Criticism on lean
In its development over time, critics either from within or outside the lean movement have pointed to various shortcomings and pitfalls of lean thinking. Most of these shortcomings surfaced as organizations progressed on their learning curve as well as the extension of lean thinking into new sectors with different settings and constraints, in particular this happen more often when applied to sectors outside the high-volume repetitive manufacturing environment (Hines, et al., 2004). Key aspects of criticism found in literature are discussed in forthcoming sections.
Lack of consideration of human aspects
It is recorded by authors that lean production systems put higher pressure to the shop floor workers (Hines, et al., 2004), the speed of belt is very high, which makes it difficult for workers to detach themselves from the repetitive work, these difficulties have been aggravated because of a higher pressure for quality (zero defects) and efficiency in modern Japanese lines, which demand a high degree of mental concentration on work (Berggren, 1992) similarly also Mehri (2006) that the higher speed of belt also contribute greatly to accidents and health problems. Following the similar line of arguments Williams, et al., (1992) mentioned that lean production is de-humanizing and exploitative in its physical nature.
Lack of creativity
Slack on human resource side mean unused work time and excess workers. In lean organizations slack is identified as waste and often removed, increasing worker utilization and reducing the size of the workforce usually lead to reduced manufacturing cost. Tight deadlines and schedules may derive creative tensions that may stimulate employee's creativity. However it is also recorded by authors that too much stress is more likely to stifle employees' creative thinking (Chen, et al., 2010). As mentioned by Silverthrone (2002) most people cannot work effectively in tight schedules, this makes things worse rather than better and may eventually lead to situation that workers will not be able to innovate for long period of time. Research has shown that slack is a key source of innovation and creativity (Millson, et al., 1992), slack time provides workers with the opportunity to review their work and learn to perform activities in more creatively way to obtain higher quality results. This notion highlights potential tradeoffs between creativity needed to improve product quality and the speed of production.
Incrementalism
The Japanese depend on continuous improvement and do not believe in sudden change like westerners. According to (Proctor, et al., 2004) extensive dependence on incremental improvements eventually mean Japanese are not good at coming up with brand new ideas. Other authors argue the same; it is very rare in Toyota that new ideas emerge from within the company. In order to substitute this lack of creativity Toyota relies on outside expertise by purchasing innovation from smaller companies (Mehri, 2006). Furthermore in product development setting, continuous improvement has limitations, particularly when coupled with a workplace culture that does not allow free flow of ideas, open discussion and extensive intelligence (Mehri, 2006).
Coping with variability
Another aspect of criticism in literature is the ability of lean production to cope with variability. Variability is the degree of difference in the same process when repeated, some variation is natural as process not often remain the same, and some variability is artificial. This artificial variability is related to controllable factors in the design and management of systems. On an operational level the lean approach focuses on only removing artificial variability and natural variability remains the same (Joostein, et al., 2009). Therefore, in situations of demand variability (natural variability) lean approaches has sought to flatten to control demand, as the Japanese automotive industries work in fairly stable demand environments. This stable high-volume and repetitive demand character suits the application of level scheduling (heijunka) and pulls (kanban) approach. However in other industrial settings, demand variability is a main inhibitor to the implementation of lean in general. In order to solve the variability issues authors introduced alternatives like, agile flexible assemble to order system for dealing with customer demand variability (Hines, et al., 2004). Furthermore, many authors have also mentioned that lean production has reached its limitations and a range of other approaches to counter variability, volatility and variety are suggested, some authors suggested for a lean-agile approach as more applicable, discussing whether an agile or lean strategy, or even a hybrid approach might be the most suitable one (Hines, et al., 2004).
Other Aspects
Authors have also raised questions on the credibility of reports on lean related applications and improvements that have led some to conclude that the lean message is 100 percent positive. Lean can improve productivity and reduce costs; such claims are critically questioned by researchers. Furthermore, such an overly positive conclusion fails to take into account the variety of issues related to the application of lean thinking (Joostein, et al., 2009).
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03/09/2012 01:47 PM
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Hi,
I just gone through your comment and seem you have missed one great thing about Lean. Whatever we do is to achieve customer needs.
You and I are one of the customers in this competitive market place. Unfortunately, we are the one who has led the market to reduce cost and better quality and etc.
Lean tools and principles are just to help how we can eliminate Waste and create more value to the penny we as the customer want to pay for.
Selling price - Cost = Profit or
Cost + Profit = Selling Price
If one day, we as the customer will change the way of how we evaluate value, then Lean will still help an organisation to achieve that.
Just a question, would you want to buy a small basic car which cost you $50k and will deliver to you when it's ready. The $40k you paid is to help every employee in the factory with annual wages of $50k and all employees in the factory has no target and work as they wish. Would you want to ring up a call center and if you are lucky you get answered or you have to ring up and wait for 24 hours before someone to entertain you?
There is no right or wrong. Is just how to satisfy customer needs. If we change our buying behavior, then we will change the way we manufacture, the way we create the value chain.
Lean is all about how to make you and I happy with the money we pay for.
Just my personal opinion.
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03/09/2012 01:47 PM
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Rich,
Please expand on what you see as the difference between TPM and Lean. Perhaps styart a new thread for this because I am interested to understand some of the finer points.
Regards.
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03/09/2012 01:47 PM
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Ron,
Just a point about GM and NUMMI - The individuals GM sent to NUMMI learned a lot. The organization (GM) learned little or very slowly. Many of those people that went to NUMMI left GM when they returned after two or three years at NUMMI. After experiencing the NUMMI culture they could not, or didn't want to, reintegrate with the GM culture.
Some say GM has finally applied the NUMMI learning in the creation of plants like Lansing Grand River or some other plants outside the US. Certainly GM has changed but, very slowly.
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03/12/2012 12:06 PM
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Dear Wilson
I think, I have not missed any thing. I agree what ever we do is to fulfill the customer needs. Working on value adding activities eventually mean working on activities that fulfill a customer need. However, working on a customer need does not always mean that all activities are value adding.
Good that you pointed out the Toyota's preliminary equation of production system.
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03/12/2012 12:06 PM
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Robert. Agree. When I returned to GM after being part of the start up team at Toyota Georgetown I took groups of employees to NUUMI to help with our Delphi transformation. Some of the comments during the visits included "they work too hard", "Do they get paid OT for being in their workplace 10 minutes before the line starts?". Positive comments referenced the degree to which employees participated in their jobs and the focus on the people adding value. On the other hand I heard from several GM employees that spent two years at NUMMI that it was just another assembly plent. They missed the difference. After a ten year absence from GM i returned finding a continuing strong resistance to change. The Delphi plant we started in Poland had all of the Toyota culture implemented at start up including the hiring, org structure and training processes.
GM has made some dramatic change but more is still required. The products are much improved.
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03/12/2012 12:06 PM
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Lean for uptime deals with every value stream in the overall system of streams across the many functions that are engaged in reaching and sustaining production system uptime; cost effectively. TPM tends to be very narrow in its scope by comparison, thus, represents only a few subsets in a system of many, many subsets.
Another vantage of Lean for maintenance is to envision an entire firm whose "product" is to maintain every aspect of each customer firm's state of repair. Their challenge is to create lean at the Enterprise level (customer, the firm and its suppliers and subcontractors).
Hope this make sense.
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03/12/2012 08:06 PM
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I am puzzled how LEAN could possibly be for customers?? LEAN is a manufacturing process to reduce "work in progress" (WIP), slack time, etc. Pulling a product through a facility reduces WIP and the footprint required to do the same amount of work compared to a push system. LEAN identifies the causes of the waste in a process. With pushing, the actual cause is literally buried under WIP. Pulling also reduces rework if a fault is found in the production lines products. Reduced WIP, rework, facility space, waste, etc. are what contribute to the reduced costs of doing business when applying a LEAN process. This does not touch the customer in any direct substantial way, unless they are the product.
The speed of the line or "Just in Time" (JIT) principles are a separate discussion and are not a required part of a LEAN process. They can be added to LEAN, but LEAN is a stand alone concept. LEAN does not affect creativity, jobs, etc. those are corporate spin offs that do not reflect the point of LEAN.
LEAN as with any good idea will required long term commitment and support from upper management to see it through. LEAN or JIT is a mind set towards process engineering, how these concepts are applied or misapplied will affect the outcome.
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03/13/2012 04:55 PM
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Todd, one explanation why Lean can be related to customers is that Lean can be used to correct those problems that customers complain about. If customers complain about delivery time being too long for example, then use Lean tools and techniques to figure out how to reduce those process lead times that are affecting the delivery times. If customers complain about product cost, then use Lean tools and techniques to figure how how to reduce product costs., etc.
The basic answer is that Lean tools and techniques can be used to change company and supply chain processes to the degree that will then result in customer satisfaction.
Sam Tomas
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03/13/2012 04:55 PM
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You have lean all wrong. I am not sure where you work, but in a market economy you are only working to provide service to your customer.
Why do you work? You are not working just to work, well at least that was the idea of a market based economy. You work to serve your customer. All your lean activities are so that you can provide service faster and cheaper at improved quality and response time and keep your profit margins and your cost structure ahead of your competition.
If you don't understand that you have no idea of what lean is. You are lost in the work and don't understand the purpose.
Very few work in a real market economy these days so this may be the foundation of this confusion.
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03/14/2012 02:26 PM
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John, it would be nice to know to whom you are directing your comments since there is the original posting and about 17 responses. Who is it that you feel has Lean wrong? If it's me, I'd like to discuss it further with you.
Respectively,
Sam Tomas
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