20110310 as Successful Implementation

7/31/2019 20110310 as Successful Implementation

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L E A N A P P L I C A T I O N S O F T E NFAIL T O D E L IV E R T H E

EXPEC T ED B E N E F I T S B U TC O U L D T H E M I S S I N G L INK

F O R S U C C E S S F U LI M P L E M E N T A T I O N S BEA T T I T U D E ?

By Mic ha e l Ba l l e

O ne of the most vexing and endur ingpuzzles of lea n is tha t , a l th ough manypla nts try to go lea n, few succe ed. Th isf a c t h a s h e e n n o t e d h y m a n y b u t ,h e y o n d t h e o h v i o u s n e e d f o rmanageme nt commitment, the reasonsw h y l e a n p r o v e s so h a r d t o i m p l e m e n t a r e s t i l l l a r g e l ymy sterious. Indeed, most of th e key conce pts of le an h avebee n known and around for more tha n 20 y e a rs.Automotive suppliers have had docimients detail ing Just-In-Time systems since the mid-1980s, numerous consultantse x p l a i n t h e i n s a n d o u t s o f l e a n c o n c e p t s a n d c o n d u c tendless workshops and st i l l only a handful of plants,seryices or offices can now he truly considered lean.In the ir seminal hook, 'Lean Th inking", Jim Womack a nd

D a n Jon e s sh r e w d l y n ot e t h a t t h e r e i s m u c h m o re t o l e a nthan a JIT toolbox. As Womack points out in th e foreword to


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F or t h e s e a ut h or s , l e a n i s a pe r s pe c t i ve , a w a y t o l ook a toperational systems through th e specia l lenses of value, flow,pull and perfec tion (Womack & Jones, 1996,2003).F u n d a m e n t a l l y t h e r e i s g e n e r a l a g r e e m e n t w i th t h i spoint of view, and, in fac t , the few companies tha t havesuccessfully implemented lean in some of their operationsha ve approach ed i t as a system, ra the r tha n just a toolhox.

I would argue that successful le an imple mentation require sa s l ight ly different understanding of l ean, not only as aperspective, but as an att itude.

W H A T I S A N A T T IT U D E ?Why split ha irs? Certainlj^ att itudes ca n broadly b e defineda s w a y s of t h i nki ng or be h a vi ng, but a m or e s pe c i f i cdefini tion would be "tendenc ies to eva luate a n e nt i ty withsome degree of favour or disfavour ordinari ly expressed incognitive , affec t ive and beh avioura l responses." (Eagly &Ch ai ke n, 1993)T o unde r s t a nd t h e puz z l e of l e a n i m pl e m e nt a t i on, 1would a rgue th a t it is not enough to focus on the cognit ivedimension of l ean - l e an th inking in effec t - with out a lsoconside ring i ts affec t ive and be ha vioura l dime nsions. Tobe sure , in the vivid descr iptions of l ea n impleme ntations

i n 'L e a n T h i nki ng ', th e a ut h or s re pe a t e d l y de s c r i be ve r ye m ot i ona l s c e ne s , suc h a s T a i i c h i Oh no's de m a ndi ng t h eimmediate dismissal of a plant manager after a glimpse ofthe fac tory a nd other instance s of unexpected beh aviourfrom the l ean experts; who can forget the descr ipt ion ofh o w a l e a n s e n s e i h a n d e d t h e P o r s c h e p l a n t m a n a g e r ac i rcula r saw and told h im to go down an a is le and saw offe ve r y r a c k of s h e l v i ng a t 1 . 3 m e t r e s i n or de r t o c utinventory a nd to enable e veryone in the sh op f loor to seeevery one e lse?Indeed, l ean spec ia l is ts in Toyota often cher ish fondm e m o r i e s o f t h e w o r s t d r e s s i n g d o w n s t h e y r e c e i v e d

f ro m O h n o h i m s e l f a s t h e i r m o st p r e c i o u s l e a r n i n ge x p e r i e n c e s a n d c a t h a r t i c m o m e n t s . T h e s e v a r i e daccounts show that the affec t ive and behavioura l aspectso f l e a n a r e l a r g e l y a s i m p o r t a n t a s i t s c o g n i t i v e

U n l ik e m o s t m a n a g e m e n tp r a c t ic e s , d is c u s s i o n o n l e a nh a p p e n s o n t h e s h o p f lo o r w i t ht h e p e o p l e r e a l ly in v o l v e d f

dimension wh en i t comes to implem ent ing i t on the shofl oor. Loc kh e e d M a r t i n 's M i c h a e l J oy c e s a y s h e ' s l e a r net h a t 20% of l e a n i s i n t e l l e c t ua l , a nd 80% i s e m ot i on(M cCorma ck, 2002).L E A N IM P L E M E N T A T IO N E X P E R IE N C E SWith this att itudinal outlook in mind, I h a ve re v i e w e d t hs uc c e s sf ul l e a n i m pl e m e nt a t i on c a s e s I h a ve pe r s ona l lwitnessed in industry but also in services and hospitals. turns out tha t , in t erms of l ean progress, most cases dfollow a broadly 'value, flow, pull, perfect ion' process, out l ined by Womack and Jones. However, from ae xpe r i e nt i a l poi nt of v i e w , a c om pl e m e nt a r y pr oc e seme rges: ' aha ! ', system, c ha l l enges, problem-solving, anfmally operator involvement.

In every s ingle case , the l ea n projec ts started in e arnew i t h t h e a r e a ' s m a na ge r e xpe r i e nc i ng a n ' a h a ! ' m om e nta moment of sudden and profound insight. The odd thinh e r e i s t h a t 1 h a ve not f ound tw o m a na ge r s e xpe r i e nc i nt h i s r e ve l a t i on on t h e s a m e t opi c . One s i te m a na ge r i nFrench assembly plant suddenly c l i cked on the not ion otakt t ime, and in the following month improved hi s dismdelivery performance (around 50%) to 9 5 % .A U K plastic inject ion production m ana ger used th e toc h a n g e o v e r g a i n s h e h a d s l o w l y a c h i e v e d t o s u d d e n lpr oduc e 'e ve r y pa r t e ve r y da y ' on h i s pr e s se s , a nd e ndeup t r a ns f or m i ng t h e e nt i r e l ogi s t i c s of h i s p l a nt , a ncut t ing h is inventory in ha lf in a couple of month s.T h e N u r s i n g D i r e c t o r o f a l a r g e F r e n c h h o s p i t areal ised that she could find out of date prescription drugin any ward c upboard i f sh e f ished out the packs from thbott om of t h e c upboa r d, a nd s t a r t e d a t r a ns f or m i ng 5dr i ve , w h i c h t h e n l e d t o de t a i l e d pr obl e m s ol v i ng a nsignifica nt c are improveme nts.The m ana gers of a n administra t ive office rea l ised tha

alth ough th e files the ir staff ha ndled took about two h ourto complete , de l iver ing the service could take up to e ighmonths, and consequent ly reduce d the l ead t ime by half.On t h e s t r e ngt h of s uc h e xpe r i e nc e s , t h e s e m a na ge rt h e n t e nd t o d i ve i nt o t h e l e a n s y s t e m a nd e xpl or e i tvarious dime nsions. As they d o s o the various wa stes, sucas muda (wasteful ope rations), muri (unrea sonable burdeon operators) and mura (variat ions in the process) becoma p p a r e n t , a n d t h e y e n t e r i n a r e w a r d i n g p e r i o d ogathering al l low hanging fruits, often simply b y focusinon th e issues.Unfortunately thi s honey moon period is often draw n t

a c lose wh en dee per problems surface . For instanc e, a pla nmana ger wh o's ha d h is 'ah a! ' experience on using red bin


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different ia te good parts from bad parts, but ofu n d e r s ta n d i n g t h e t e c h n i c a i i s s ue s - a n d th e a n a l y s i s isfully far more complex.O n e p r o b l e m c a n b e t h a t t h e p l a n t s l a c k c o m p e t e n ttechnica l experts to conduct such invest igat ions, and theq u a l i t y p r o b l e m s c a n r e m a i n a t a f r u st ra t i n g p l a t e a uw i t h out obvi ous i m pr ove m e nt , r e ga r d l e s s of t h e e f fortexpended on resolving them. Such ch a l l enges a re commona nd, a ga i n , do not a ppe a r i n a ny one a r e a , but a r e ofte nl inked to th e spec if ic i t i es of the proce ss and th e site, witbi ts unique mix of competences a nd e quipment .Ultimate ly the only way to break through th is ch a l l engewal l is r igorous problem solving. At th i s stage, of a l l th eenth usiast ic l ea n imple me nters. few mana ge to overcomethe fundamenta l issues and enter th is new phase . Wh ereas,t h e e a r l y s y s t e m p h a s e r e q u i r e s a n e m p h a s i s o n q u i c ka c t i o n , l a r g e l y b e c a u s e o f t h e l e a r n i n g i m p a c t o fi m m e di a t e e xpe r i m e nt a ti on, th e c h a l l e nge ph a s e c a n onlybe resolved by m ore structured investigation, start ing w itht h e ubi qui t ous "5 Why?" to SPC trac king a nd a na ly s is , orD OE. In pr a c t i c e , m a na ge r s w h o br e a k t h r ough i nto t h eproblem-solving ph ase a re those who le arn to move awayfrom simply t racking the generic indica tors produced bythe ERP system, and to focus on loca l , ad hoc data studiesto resolve h igh ly spec if ic problems.Fina l ly and only a handful of s i t e managers ach ieve th isph a s e , l e a n l e a de r s r e a l i s e t h a t i t i s not up t o t h e m t oresolve the problems - or narrowly drive th e i r funct iona lreports to do s o - but to involve the operators in problemr e s ol ut i on. F or e xa m pl e , one of t h e be s t l e a n p l a ntmana gers in a Spanish automotive suppl ier plant says th a tthe only indica tor he t rac ks da i ly is the number of operatorsuggestions. This final pha se is consistent with the traininge x p e r i e n c e o f a n A m e r i c a n T oy o ta p l a n t m a n a g e rdescr ibed by Steven Spear in h is HBR art ic le Lea rning toLead at Toyota, whe re after being taugh t to do kaizen in USproduction cells, the plant manage r is taken to Japan to seehow team lea ders get improveme nt suggest ions from theoperators themselves {Spear. 2004).

A N O B S E S S I O N W I T H L E A NSo wha t is th e effect ive dimension to th is lea n att itude th atunde r pi ns t h e pr ogre s s th r ough t h i s l e a n l e a r n i ng c y c l e ?It appe ars to be l ean obsession. M ana gers who mana ge toprogress from one step to the next s imply seem to getobsessed with l ean. They continua l ly t a lk about l ean. Theyexplain every day occ urrence s in lean te rms of m uda, flow,takt a nd so on. In th e ir jobs, they spend far more t ime ont h e s h op f l oor dr i v i ng l e a n t h a n t h e y do de a l i ng w i t hcorporate de ma nds of report ing and the e nsuing pol i ti cs .

M a n y f a il u r e s in t h e a t te m p t st o i m p l e m e n t l e a n s t a r t w i t h af u n d a m e n t a l m i s u n d e r s ta n d i n go f h o w t o a c q u i r e l e a n


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T o u n d e r s t a n d a n d s u c c e e d a t l e a nt r a n s f o r m a t i o n i t is n e c e s s a r y tof a c e a n d e m b r a c e t h e v a r i o u sa t t i t u d i n a l a s p e c t s o f l e a n

Th is obsessive l ink to l e a n is closely t ied to an emot iona linterest in the c ontinuous lea rning process. In fact, the leansystem provides the perfect balance of Increased chal lengea nd i nc r e a s e d c om pe te nc e f rom l e a r n i ng a nd e xpe r i e nc ethat place the worker in the state of psychological 'flow' inM i h a l y C s i ks z e ntm i h a l y i ' s ' T h e Ps y c h ol ogy of Opt i m a lExpe rienc e' (Csikszentmilia ly i. 1990). Indeed, in pre viousr e s e a r c h , I ha ve shown that obsessiveness was a key a spectof most innova tors' ch ara cte r (B alle. 2001). In this respe ct,t h e a f f e c t i ve r e s pons e t o w or k s i t ua t i ons i s a c ons t a ntirr i t a t ion a t wasteful ope rat ions, and a re lent less drive toe l i m i na t e t h e m .C H A L L E N G E , P R O B L E M S O L V IN GA N D JU S T D O ITL e a n be h a vi our t ur ns out t o be e qua l l y d i s t i nc t i ve . A sdesc r ibed in deta i l by Jeff Like r in The Toyota Way, thefirst striking aspect of lean behaviour is genchi genbutsu:g o see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation(Liker, a X M ) . Unlike most manage rial pract ice s, discussionsin lean happen on the shop floor, at the real place, in frontof th e rea l s i tuat ion, with th e people rea l ly involved. Thisanti-meeting room bias is emotional as well as prac t ica l, asi t us ua l l y t a ke s ongoi ng dr i ve a nd l e a de r s h i p t o pul lexecutives or support functions away from their desk anddown to the shop f loor or service counter where va lue isac tua l ly added.

Another fea ture of l ea n beh aviour would be cha l l enge,o r, to put it more bluntly crit ic ism. I h a ve y e t to m e e t a l e a nsense i sa t isf ied with the re sul ts of im proveme nt ac t ivi tyThe three usua l quest ions a r e : "why didn't you go furtberdow n t h i s l i ne of t h i nki ng? "; "w h e r e a r e y ou goi ng t odupl i c a t e t h i sfinding?":a nd. "w h e n a r e y ou c om ing ba c kto thi s are a to furthe r improve it?".

For instanc e , Steven Spear a nd H . Kent Bowen in the ir1 9 9 9 art ic le 'Decoding the D N A of the Toyota ProductionS y s t e m ' h i g h l i g h t a t y p i c a l c a s e w h e r e t h e l e a n s e n s e iwotild not be satisfied by a reduc tion of 5O/o in time for toolch ange, when the y intended to reduce by two-th irds. Whyth is unrea l ist ic expecta t ion? Why not be sa t isf ied by thea c h i e ve d 5 0% improvement? B ec ause the sensei felt th at by

taugh t th em far more a bout reducing tool-ch ange over tim(Spear & B owe n, 1999).L e a n l e a de r s a r e a l s o f a r m or e f oc us e d on pr obl esolving tha n is usua l ly the c a s e ; t rying to "fix the problenot f ix the bla me". Th is beh aviour is rapidly appa rent t h e i r r e a c t i on t o t h e e ndl e s s c r i s e s of ope r a t i ona l s i t eT h e i r f i rs t r e a c t i on t e nds to be a n, on th e s pot '5 w h ya na l y s i s , f o l l ow e d by a n a s s e r t i on t h a t m or e de t a i lpr obl e m s ol v i ng i s ne c e s s a r y . T h i s ve r ba l be h a vi our actually strikingly different from the 'one why?' approaof most ma nage rs tha t inevi tably resul ts in repe at ing tfundamental error of attributing the cause of the probleto an individua l 's behaviour or ch arac ter, ra the r tha n mos y s te m i c c a us e s .

Last but not l east, l ean im pleme nters have a rapid bito ac t ion, prefe rring to test imperfect solutions, and l e a rra th er tha n wa i t to be in a perfec t s i tuat ion a nd postpoa c t i on i nde f i n i te l y A pupi l of Oh no r e c a l l s h ow Oh nhimself would never suggest direc t ly how to resolvproblems. He would ask what people intended to dencourage them to t ry i t and then discuss in great detathe outcomes of th ei r expe riments. Indeed. Jim Womacksuggests th at O bno came up with th e slogan "Just D o It'y e a r s be f or e t h a t f a m ous f oot w e a r c om pa ny T h ebe h a vi our a l r e s pons e t o w a s t e f u l s i t ua t i ons i s t oc ons ta nt l y c h a l l e nge t h e s t a t us quo a nd e xpe r i m e ntwith a l t ernat ive solut ions.R I G O R O U S P R O B L E M S O L V I N GA N D H Y P O T H E S I S T E S T I N GIn practice, the cognit ive, affect ivea nd be h a vi our a l d i m e ns i ons ofa t t i t ude a r e not s e pa r a t e , butintervene c oncurrently This isp a r t i c u l a r l y e v i d e n t i n t h econtext of problem-solving. AsSpear and B owen ha ve shown.problem-solvir^ is a t the core o fthe TPS. Yet . in th is respect .most people are sa t isf iers ra therthan maximisers: confronted with apr a c t i c a l pr obl e m t h e y w i l l t e nd t oimple me nt the f i rst 'solut ion' tha t comes tom i n d , r a t h e r t h a n e x p l o r e t h e i s s u e s m e t h o d i c a l l y a nrigorously - a nd. consequently can get dishe artened whethey obtain l it t le re sults for the ir efforts. In the fu'st ph aseof low-hanging fruit, th is strategy pays, but a t the c ha l l engs ta ge i t be c om e s ne c e s s a r y t o te s t h y poth e s e s r a t h e r t h apur s ue e ve r y pos s i b i l i t y . S uc h r i gor ous a na l y s i s r a r e lcomes natural ly M ost of us have t o f ^ t w h a t I have terme


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meth odology (cognitive), obsessiveness (affective) a nd sh opfloor prac t ica l i ty (beh avioura l) , which consti tutes the l ea nat t i tude, can c arry prac t i t ioners over the numerous soc ia land psyc hologica l barr ie rs to lea n problem-solving - whic ha lso expla ins why ma ny t ry but few succeed.A T T I T U D E C H A N G EW h a t t h e n w o u l d b e t h e p r a c t i c a l c o n s e q u e n c e s o fconsidering lean a s an a t ti tude more tha n a perspect ive? Ibe l i e ve t h a t m a ny f a i l ur e s i n th e a t t e m pt s to i m pl e m e ntlean start with a fundamental misunderstanding of how to'ac quire ' l ean. Clear ly, th e c ognit ive dime nsion is key andt h e c onc e pt s a nd t ool s m us t be l e a r ne d, but t h e y ' r e notenough by far. M any c ompanies ha ve invested considerablyi n l e a n t r a i n i n g p r o g r a m m e s w i t h o u t e v e r s e e i n gsustainable shop floor benefits.

W h e r e a s p e r s p e c t i v e c h a n g e i s l a r g e l y a m a t t e r o fe d u c a t i o n a n d t r a i n i n g , a t t i tu d e c h a n g e i s a fa r m o r ecomplex endeavour, and indeed there is no greatconsensus in the psyc hologica l l i t era ture onh ow t h i s c a n be a c h i e ve d - i f i t c a n bea c h i e v e d a t a l l . N e v e r t h e l e s s s o m ea s pe c t s of a t ti t ude c h a nge h a ve be e nw e l l d o c u m e n t e d a n d h a v e l e a nimplicat ions. The first one would bet h e r e w a r d f e e d b a c k t h a t t h eenvironment gives to the individua l ,t h e s e c ond m ode l be h a vi our , a ndthii-dly the power of social c omparison(Aiken.2002).Overall , individuals are ve ry sensitive toconditioning from their environment. Constantrei i i ibrceme nt of verbal expression or beh aviour doesg e n e r a l l y l e a d to a t ti t u d e c h a n g e , pa r t i c u l a r l y w h e n t h epe r s on i s a w a r e of w h i c h be h a vi our i s t a r ge t e d. In th econtext of le an implementation, one ha s to wonder whethe rthe loca l organisa tional c ulture rei itforces le an a ttitudes, orundermines t h e m . The affective aspec t of obsessiveness andconstant, outspoken crit ic ism is usually strongly frownedupon in the workplace. In Uie same vein, the l ean behaviourof go and see , ch a l l enging and expect ing rapid a c t ion, runsc o nt r a r y t o h ow m os t or ga ni s a t i ons be h a ve . T h e j i dokaaspects of l e an, in particular, which imply th a t no operatori s e ve r l e f t a l one f a c i ng a pr obl e m a nd t h a t s uppor tfunctions h ave to respond quickly to operator c once rns -Pierre Vareil le, Wagon Automotive's new chief executive,h a s a r u l e of th um b: a ns w e r w i t h i n t h e s h i f t, a nd a c t i onwith in the wee k - is often far away from c urrent pract ice s.

If such general behavioui's are not addressed, lean is l ikelyto rema in a lot of t a lk and l i t t l e walk.

pa rt of a group of l ike-minded people , and h as th e powerto rewa rd the observer Furthe rmore, repeatedcontact witht h e r o l e m ode l , unt i l th e obse r ve r pe r c e i ve s s om e s h a r e dc h a r a c t e r i s ti c w i t h t h e m o d e l , w i ll re i n f or c e t h e e ffe c t(B a ndura , 1977).I n t h e l e a n c o n te x t , th i s e x p l a i n s t h e i n d i sp e n s a b l einfluence of l e an sense is on th e succe ss of a program me .S u c h p r o g r a m m e m a s t e r s s h o u l d n o t b e p r o g r a m m eadministrators, butrecognised e a n pr a c t i ti one r s w h o c a nconduct shop f loor ac t ivi t i es themselves, and are wide lyknowledgeable on how to apply l ea n conce pts to a var ie tyof loca l s i tuat ions. One of the greatest diff icul t i es ofsprea ding lean quickly is the relat ive rarity of such senseis,a prohlem tha t affects Toyota itself as it pursues its curren th igh-speed globa l extension: a Wal l Stree t journa l art i c lec l a i m s th a t "by f a r t h e b i gge s t h e a da c h e i n G e orge t ow nnow stems from the scarc i ty of TPS coordinators fromJap an " (Shirouzu & M oppe t, 2004),F i na l l y , s oc i a l c om pa r i s on c a n be a s t r ong f a c t or ofat t i tude forming and change: the sheer numher of peoplearound a person who hold and sh are s im i la r a t t i tudes wi l lha ve a strong influence on th e la tter's own. In th is sense, anisola ted lea n pi lot is very unl ike ly to ch ange th e a t ti tudesof th ose around h im , which would suggest tha t , to have ac h a nc e of s uc c e e d i ng, a l e a n pr ogr a m m e s h oul d s ta r t a l lthe way from the top, and involve a l l sites a nd de pai 'tmentsoutright, ra the r th a n conduct pilot after pilot and, in effect,th is is what , ac cording to Orest J. Fiume, former Financ eand Administrat ion VP a t Wiremold, al lowed his c ompanyto be one of those ra re organisa t ions to have succe eded inits lean transformation. In part icular, he recommends thats e n i or m a na ge m e nt s h oul d i m pl e m e nt l e a n a s a s tr a t e gynot a t ac t ic , l ead the cul ture cha nge, mandate l ea n a s a wayof ope r a t i ng, a nd s e t s t r e t c h goa l s a nd c r e a t e a nenvironment tha t supports the ir ac hie vements (Flume, 20M )- w h i c h , ove r a l l , i s a n e l e ga nt s um m a t i on of t h e t h r e e

pr e v i ous a r gum e nt s : f e e dh a c k ( goa l s a nd e nvi r onm e nt ),m ode l l i ng ( s e n i or m a na ge m e nt a t t i t ude ) a nd s oc i a lcompai-ison (through culture ch ange a nd way of operating).To unde r s t a nd a nd s uc c e e d a t l e a n t r a ns f orm a t i on, Ib e l i e v e i t is n e c e s s a r y to fa c e a n d e m b r a c e t h e v a r i o u sat t i tudina l aspects of l ean, certa inly, cognit ive with l eanth inking, but equa l ly affec t ive and behavioura l . In manyway s, I suspec t that tackling exclusively the cognitive anglee x p l a i n s t h a t s o m a n y l e a n p r o g r a m m e s a r edisproportionately rich in lean information a nd theory, a ndequal ly poor in susta inable shop f loor resul ts , employeeinvolvement and fmancia l performance . To walk th e t a lk,

you ha ve to feel i t as well.


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20110310 as Successful Implementation