Lean Principles for Complex Times

When is the last time you did not feel like discretionary time was not a luxury?  It seems that most of us are rushing through the day from one meeting to the next taking hits from all directions with little time to work on those Continuous Improvement projects that you know will improve your process.

Tony Schwartz blogs about Ten Principles to Live By in Fiercely Complex Times.  I could not help but to consider how these principles align with Lean Leadership and how you could apply these to your Lean world in manufacturing, healthcare, or service.  Here are a few of Mr. Schwartz’ principles with Lean commentary:

Management…

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.

~~Stephen R. Covey

The Top Lean Leadership Blog of 2011….

Image via Wikipedia

The Fishbone diagram is also known as the Cause & Effect (C & E) diagram.  It is also known as the Ishikawa diagram referring to its originator, Professor Kaoru Ishikawa.  The C & E diagram is a good tool when you need to identify the root cause of a problem.  It is also a good tool when there are several possible causes to explore.  Using the Ishikawa diagram enables you to brainstorm and collect possible causes in a group setting.

#2 – The Lean Learning Cycle

The Deming Cycle & Learning

The #2 Lean Leadership Blog post of 2011 was The Lean Learning Cycle:

Lean Manufacturing is much more than a set of tools.  Lean is a way of thinking that can and should result in a culture change.  Part of the culture change is becoming a learning organization.  Since Lean Practitioners embrace Deming’s Plan – Do – Check – Act cycle (PDCA), it makes sense to utilize PDCA as part of the learning process.

As a leader, you need to create opportunities for your team to learn and to reflect on their new knowledge.  Translating “Plan – Do – Check – Act” into “Learn – Do – Think – Apply” will enhance the learning process:

True North is the vision…

“True North is the vision of the ideal.  Always do what we should do, not what we can do.”

~~Hajime Ohba, former General Manager of Toyota Supplier Support Center via The Old Lean Dude

#3 – Procedures?

Follow through is critical. Image by familymwr via Flickr

Our march through the top 10 Lean Leadership blogs of 2011 continues with #3, Why Don’t People Follow Procedures:

It’s a cold and rainy morning as John, a new Production Manager, is driving to the plant.  He implemented a new procedure yesterday and he wants to follow-up with his team to ensure everything is going as planned.  It’s an important change since it should resolve a nagging quality issue.  John is hit with a major issue as soon as he walks in the front door.  Before he knows it, it’s been a 12 hour day and John all but forgot about following up on the new procedure.  That’s OK, follow-up will wait until tomorrow, right?  When John finally gets around to asking his operators about the procedure, he finds that they are not following it at all and each operator seems to be doing his own thing.  Sound familiar?

#4 – Can You Avoid Lean Failure?

Image via Wikipedia

We are looking at the top 10 Lean Leadership blogs of 2011. After two contributions by guest bloggers, Mark Hamel and Tim McMahon we are moving on to a post created to answer a reader’s question.  Here it is:

A reader asked a great question in response to a recent Lean Leadership Blog post at the Consumer Goods Club.  His question was in essence how do you keep Lean initiatives moving ahead and not going the way of another flavor of the month program.  We have all seen managers with the best intentions launch new initiatives that were supposed to be the wave of the future only to see them fizzle out after a few weeks or months.  Lean initiatives are no different.  Many organizations have tried Lean and either abandon it completely or don’t take it very far.  So what makes the difference between companies that tried Lean and those that are leading the pack?

#5 – The Best or Nothing

The following was the #5 post Lean Leadership of 2011 and is written by guest blogger Mark Hamel.  Mark is the author of the Shingo Award winning Kaizen Event Field Book.  Mark full bio follows his article below.

Recently, Mercedes Benz introduced a new brand claim. You may have seen it on TV or in print. It uses a direct quote from founding father Gottlieb Daimler, “The best or nothing.”

#6 – Single Point Lessons

This post on Single Point Lessons is #6 on the 2011 Lean Leadership Blog.  It is one of two guest posts to make it into the top 10 and was originally posted as Using Single Point Lessons as a Training Aide by Tim McMahon.  

Tim is the Founder and Contributor of A Lean Journey Blog. This site is dedicated to sharing lessons and experiences along the Lean Journey in the Quest for True North. The blog also serves as the source for learning and reflection which are critical elements in Lean Thinking. 

Tim is a lean practitioner with more than 10 years of Lean manufacturing experience.  He currently leads continuous improvement efforts for a high tech manufacturer. Tim teaches problem solving skills, lean countermeasures, and how to see opportunities for improvement by actively learning, thinking and being engaged.  

Tim’s blog is always interesting and full of good information for the Lean practitioner. Tim was also helpful to me personally as I was starting this blog which is appreciated. It’s a real pleasure to have Tim contributing to Lean Leadership today.

It is often said that lean is 90% people and 10% tools. Knowledge is the factor which determines the rate of change in organizations.

#7 – 5 Reasons for 5S

Image via Wikipedia courtesy Yves Guillou

John, a young production manager, makes his way onto the production floor to see how an important changeover is progressing.  He wanted to make sure everything is moving along as planned because orders are heavy this week and his team needed to be running the next product ASAP.  In fact the scheduler wanted it yesterday and the trucks are already at the docks.  John is disappointed to learn that the change over is running much longer than scheduled because the team cannot find some of the change parts for the filler….. “maybe now is the time to implement this 5S I have been hearing about.”