Becoming a Lean Business

September 14, 2008 8:30 am RSS Feed Icon Management

What is Lean?

A manufacturing philosophy that shortens the timeline between the customer order and the shipment by eliminating waste, said John Shook, Toyota\'s first and still only American \"Kacho\" (manager) in Japan.

In 1890, Sakichi Toyoda receives a patent for a wooden loom and the philosophy of \"KAIZEN\" is born out of the need to compete. Sakichi Toyoda said, No machine or process ever reaches the point where it cannot be improved upon.\"

In 1908, Henry Ford invents the moving assembly line and raises the daily wage to $5.00; continuous flow as a production method is created. Henry Ford said in Today and Tomorrow, that the thing is to keep everything in motion and take the work to the man and not the man to the work. This is the real principle of our production and conveyors are only one of many means to an end.\"

The Roots of Lean Manufacturing

Henry Ford developed and used some very specific management tools as he built his Model T factory, a tractor factory or two, airplane factory, component factories and a railroad. The management tools he used eventually turned into what is now known as Lean manufacturing. This evolution occurred after crossing the ocean twice and being interpreted and re-interpreted between languages, cultures, among engineers, accountants, toolmakers and dozens of other specially trained people.

Japanese manufacturers, Toyota in particular, adopted Lean in its manufacturing process and spent several decades refining it while Americans ignored it. By the time it started to come back to the United States, much of what Henry Ford had learned, used and published was forgotten. The methods he had used became somewhat rigid and institutionalized, and in doing so became less adaptable to different manufacturing models.

When Lean manufacturing returned to the United States in the 1980s, many viewed it as a one-size-fits-all tool. That tool happens to have great value in the right environment but is not readily adaptable to others - for example, job shops, custom manufacturers and short-run manufacturers.

The management tools Henry Ford developed can be used to implement true Lean manufacturing in a high-variety, low-volume plant just as readily as in a high-volume, low-variety plant. His tools centered on observation and adaptation. While that might mean setup reduction and \"kanban\" stocking in one plant, it did not necessarily mean that for all plants or all the time.

Responsibility for Health of Business

Ford said that the health of every organization depends on every member - whatever his place - feeling that everything that happens to come to his notice relating to the welfare of the business is his own job. That statement represents a critical management tool regardless the size of any organization or the complexity of its product or service.

In most cases, people doing the work are going to know where the inefficiencies and waste are. If they trust management, they will tell managers about them and together workers and management can do something about it. If they do not trust management, then the company - and more importantly, the customers - will continue to pay for that waste.

Trust is a big word in this context. If an organization has an environment where there has been some mistrust for awhile, there are at least two things that management can do to dramatically and quickly increase trust.

Everyone Wants to Do a Good Job

First, there is a part of normal human psychology that can be used. Almost everyone wants to do a good job. It is part of how people are wired. Individuals gain a large portion of their identity and self-esteem from their jobs, and other people\'s perception of their jobs. Here are three simple ways to help build employee self-esteem:

  1. When an employee has an idea of how to make his job more efficient, listen to them. By just this simple act, a manager can signal to the employee that their ideas are important.

  2. Give quick and honest feedback. The employee will then know that the manager did hear and understand the idea. Whether or not the idea is implemented, a manager must make sure the input is recognized.

  3. If the idea is implementing, or changes are made because of an idea, give all the credit to the employee.
    4. \r \r Whether a company\'s management is in a high-trust or low-trust relationship with its employees, doing these things will increase their job satisfaction and increase their willingness to share those things that happens to come to his notice relating to the welfare of the business is his own job.

    Knowing What Is Being Measured

    Second, the company must make sure it is measuring the most important things in its operations, like productivity and quality, and that employees know exactly what is being measuring. If employees understand what is important to the company, they will make those same things important to themselves as well.

    Managers should talk to employees about measurements that the workforce can influence. It is a good idea to focus on the local results, even if the workplace is part of a large, multi-location company. Concentrate on productivity and quality reports rather than income statements and balance sheets. Employees will see this as evidence that management is focusing on their jobs rather than management bonuses.

    Do the men and women who work for most companies feel that everything that happens to come to their notice relating to the welfare of the business is his/her own job? Most likely, they do. The job of managers is to get the employee to tell them about it and then do something about these things that come to their notice.

    True Lean manufacturing needs the involvement of everyone coming into contact with the company\'s product and its customer.

    Steven Bonacorsi is a Senior Master Black Belt instructor and coach. Steven Bonacorsi has trained hundreds of Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, and Project Sponsors and Executive Leaders in Lean Six Sigma DMAIC and Design for Lean Six Sigma process improvement methodologies.

    Bonacorsi Consulting, LLC.
    \r Steven Bonacorsi, President
    \r Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
    \r 14 Clinton Street
    \r Salem NH 03079
    \r sbonacorsi@comcast.net
    \r 603-401-7047

    Lean Manufacturing Consultant
    Companies of all sizes are now implementing lean manufacturing. Businesses as small as a dentist office are blogging about using lean manufacturing t...

    The Roadmap To Lean Six Sigma Training And Beyond
    An organization planning to conduct Lean Six Sigma training should also focus on providing the right channels of communication in order to ensure the ...

    Using Lean Six Sigma and ACFC for Fueling Business Growth
    This is because when employees develop negative feelings for Lean concepts being implemented, it becomes very difficult for the organization to garner...

    Lean Manufacturing Principles
    Lean manufacturing is one of the most widely utilized business improvement methodologies. There are hundreds of consultants and schools teaching lea...

    Introduction To Six Sigma Implementation Teams
    If a business fails to select the right team for Six Sigma implementations, chances are high that the organization will not be able to unlock the full...

    What Lean Six Sigma Practitioners Should Know About Benchmarking
    Benchmarking plays a vital role in Lean Six Sigma implementation projects as it allows Six Sigma professionals to assess the overall value offered by ...

    Technological Aids For Lean Six Sigma Process Improvements
    Companies like Safeco, who have been ranked among the largest insurance service providers, took nearly a week for making changes in auto policies they...

    Lean Manufacturing is Alive and Well in the Small Batch Environment
    When it comes to Lean Manufacturing and in particular Six Sigma we can all see how it applies to high volume, low product mix production. However for ...

    The Lean Office
    All of us strive to shed fat and become lean. The same holds good for the organization you are running or working in, except for "the bottom line". Th...

    What Is Lean? Company Resources
    LEANLean as the name suggest is the production of products or services using the least of everything - human effort, investment in inventory, machines...

    OEE
    Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a concept utilized in a lean manufacturing implementation.The OEE concept normally measures the effectiveness...

    Quick Wins
    A Quick Win is an already developed solution idea linked to a known root cause. i.e., it allows your team to jump into the Improve Phase of Lean Six S...

    Transactional Six Sigma
    There have been many debates and discussions among Six Sigma experts regarding the transactional costs and how Six Sigma strategies can be implemented...

    Is the Elliptical Machine the Key to Getting "Lean"?
    What are the visions that come to mind when you think of a person that is "lean"? I think of the body of a dancer. Someone who is lithe, long and le...

    Two Lean Tools You Can Use to Improve Processes at Your Site
    In quality improvement engineering there are many tools. I would like to illustrate a few and show how they can apply to healthcare. I will be using...