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Common Lean Questions
How do I get started?
For beginners seeking an overview of the entire lean system, as well as a sense of the types of human challenges which lean leaders encounter, The Gold Mine: A Novel of Lean Transformation represents an excellent starting point. Moreover, explore the Gold Mine Library page for a wealth of information about the book, including excerpts, author interviews, and supplementary resources. There is also a comprehensive and extremely useful paper on this site titled Training Recommendations for Implementing Lean. Finally, LEI founder Jim Womack shares his thoughts on getting started Getting Started on the Lean Journey: First, Take A Walk! Is there an essential implementation sequence and if so, what is it? When it comes down to the actual nitty-gritty of lean implementation, veterans may use these principles as mere guidelines for proceeding, as opposed to a fixed sequence. For example, as illustrated in the novel The Gold Mine, the first step that the sensei takes is a simple walk along the factory floor, paying close attention to the facts of how people work. Moreover, some lean experts differ over when to start creating value-stream maps. And so we recommend as a key first step that you familiarize yourself with key books such as Lean Thinking and The Gold Mine, and then select the appropriate tools to guide your journey. In addition, here is an excellent illustration that can help you select the right sequence of training. Does lean apply to non-manufacturing settings? As John Shook LEI senior advisor and co-author of Learning to See, says, "TPS is described as a manufacturing system, but the thinking of TPS or lean applies to any function. Whether you¹re dealing with 15,000 parts, 15 parts, or just providing a service, lean works. It works because it is a way of thinking, a whole systems philosophy. Techniques aside, lean thinking gives you a broad perspective on providing goods and services that goes beyond the bottom line, beyond the stodgy principles of mass-producing capitalism. It is a human system, customer focused, customer driven; wherein employees within and outside the workplace are also customers." On the LEI site you can find a wealth of articles and resources documenting lean breakthroughs. Perhaps the best place to start is Lean Beyond Production by George Taninecz, which provides detailed examples of successful lean practice in various settings. In addition, Steven J. Spear has been at the forefront of illustrating how lean can be applied to health care with articles such as The Health Factory and Fixing Health Care from the Inside, Today. What are the most common mistakes in implementing lean? To start with, lean must never be seen as a tool for headcut reduction or mindless cost-cutting. This fundamentally misses the purpose of lean, which is to create value through eliminating waste. As companies improve their processes they should be able to reallocate their productive resources to new value-creating work. Another important attitude to avoid from the beginning is the impulse to implement individual lean tools without seeking to understand the system in which they fit. This is hard to avoid, since many tools, like 5S, deliver immediate payoffs. But ultimately all lean workers must understand the why behind the tools, or their value will be lost. Lean beginners should also limit the scope of their initial project so as to better insure success, be sure that they have a leader with deep knowledge and a gemba attitude i.e. always base one's thinking on a close observation of the work itself, and never relax in their efforts. Indeed, one of the hardest challenges they will face is the degree to which individual lean successes will invariably uncover new problems and greater challenges. So in this regard, simply be aware of how difficult this work will be. There are more detailed responses in the article Misunderstandings About Value-Stream Mapping, Flow Analysis and Takt Time about other common mistakes, by John Shook and Mike Rother. How does lean compare to other improvement processes such as Six Sigma? Quality Progress magazine published an artcle How To Compare Six Sigma, Lean and the Theory of Constraints which offers a very good overview that can help you choose the best framework for your organization. In Lean or Sigma, authors Michael and Freddy Balle provide a thorough explanation of a key distinction between lean and six sigma, detailing the deeper “mental model” required for a complete lean enterprise. How does lean compare with the Theory of Constraints, or TOC? How do I convince my leaders and associates to practice lean?
In order to get started, people need to, in essence, develop a lean eye. John Shook and Mike Rother's book, Learning to See, refers to the genchi gembutsu, which is translated as “go see for yourself.” The Gold Mine starts from this perspective. Before being exposed to lean ideas, Phil Jenkinson (a co-founder of the example company) has to learn to see his factory in much greater detail and understand how the different elements affect each other. Developing this discipline remains an extraordinary challenge for all individuals, regardless of their background or the lean level of the plant. This is what folks call a moving target. Consider a plant that has managed to achieve pull, flow, with a supermarket after the cell, a truck preparation area, kanban, and so on. All's well. Right? Now, imagine that the material handler comes to pick up a container from the supermarket with a kanban card, but the box isn't there. The truck still needs to be prepared, so the system now tells her to get the container from the safety stock. This choice, however, would not be using the principle of pull correctly. The properly operating pull system would in fact create the right tension that forces the individual to solve the root cause-in this case, to determine what caused the container not to be there in the first place. However, it takes a sensei level of lean observation to see beyond what appears to be happening in the flow. Most of us would be impressed by the technique of lean, the kanban, the supermarket, the truck preparation, and not see that all of this is failing to do what it's supposed to, which is solve the problems. So learning to see is a pretty big challenge, both on the technical and people front, at whatever lean level you are. What are the best lean resources? What are the best case studies and examples of lean practice? |