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The Lean Manufacturing philosophy was pioneered by Toyota Company in
Japan by Eiji Toyoda, together with his production engineer Taiichi Ohno. The main
issue of Lean is the waste removal both inside and between companies. This is
fundamental to a lean value stream. Improved productivity leads to leaner
operations, which in turn help to expose further waste and quality problems in
the system.
When thinking about waste, Toyota Co. define the three different types of activity within the organization as the following: 1-Value adding activity: those activities that, in the eyes of the final customer, make a product or service more valuable. 2-Non value adding activity: those activities that, in the eyes of the final customer, do not make a product or service more valuable and are not necessary even under present circumstances. These activities are clearly ‘waste’ and should therefore be the target of immediate or short term removal. 3-Necessary non value adding activity: those activities that, in the eyes of the final customer, do not make a product or service more valuable but are necessary unless the existing supply process is radically changed. Such waste is more difficult to remove in the short term and should be a target for longer term or radical change.
To easily understand the basic structure of Lean, the Toyota Co. use a picture of a house with a base that gives preliminary support for the Lean system start working, where we can find the 5s concepts, Machine maintenance activities, Standard work, Robust process, Production planning, etc. Above the base, we can see the two main walls that support the roof that are called by JIT - Just in time and Jidoka, where we can find the continuous flux, pull system, kanban, process autostop, pokayoke, visual management, etc. In fact, the JIT is related to the quantitative aspect and the Jidoka with the qualitative aspect.
Above the two walls we can find the roof that represents the main objective of the Lean system. It is the high productivity and high quality with low cost. In center of the house, we can find the people. It means that we need the effective commitment of all organization people that must work as a team and with a Lean Thinking of continuous improvements – kaizen. The Toyota’s philosophy says that we need to respect people in order to have success on that commitment.
Let’s take the example of Toyota’s house. First of all, as a real construction of a house, the Lean implementation should start at the base, then the walls and finally the roof. During the Lean construction process, from the base until we get the target on the roof, we need an effective involvement of all people in the organization structure in order to have success. Otherwise, the Lean implementation will fail.
Prepare the base is the most critical step of Lean process because most of the companies did not start from the base. In fact, most of the companies did not do the correct Change Management. So, the self-questions must be done: Did we start the implementation from the base? Did we prepare people for that?
Without a good base preparation, the structure of the house will be weak and the two walls and the roof could not be sustained. In fact, just after a strong base we can construct two strong walls in order to sustain the roof. In some cases, the companies just give focus in one wall only. But the companies forget that without two strong walls, the roof can not be sustained continuously.
Finally, the heart of Toyota’s house is the respect of the people. Before and during the Lean implementation, the Toyota Co. prepares people for the new way of working. It is the Change Management for the Lean planning and correct approach. Let’s think about more self-questions that must be done: During the Lean implementation, did we have the Change Management? How about the implementation planning? Are we having a respectful approach with the production people during the Lean implementation?
In order to go lean, we also need to understand customers and what they value. To drive company to focus on these needs we must define the value streams inside the company (all the activities which are needed to provide a particular product or service) and, later, the value streams in the wider supply chain as well. To satisfy customers we will need to eliminate or at least reduce the wasteful activities in the value streams that the customers would not wish to pay for. But let me remind that we need to do that without getting the business in risk.
Next step we need to find a way of setting the direction, fixing targets and seeing whether or not change is actually occurring. We need an internal (and later external) framework to deliver value for the customers as well as a toolkit to make the change management. We need to identify the necessary action to be done and the responsible areas for each one of those actions. Everybody should be involved in order to understand that the changes could only occur with the effective participation of all areas. Not only as expectant or someone who only point problems in Lean Walk. We need support areas to act as a part of a team work to implement the Lean Concepts.
If we can do this effectively we won’t need to benchmark competitors to set some arbitrary and often incomparable target. Perfection or the complete elimination of waste should be the entire enterprise goal. Sounds good!, but let’s back to the real world. If it is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it? Let’s see now some critical factors.
One of the main difficulties I’ve seen in some companies that try to apply Lean is a lack of direction, a lack of planning and a lack of adequate project sequencing. Knowledge of particular tools and techniques is often not the problem. In many cases lean initiatives are killed because of a lack of Change Management program.
The Lean implementation must act as a lever to the internal process of organization renew, promoting improvements in the job environmental and the performance indicators. However, the changes process must be conduct correctly in order to avoid the premature “death” even in the beginning of the implementation process.
Some companies give focus in “how to do” before understand the “Philosophy” that give reasons to the actions. In both cases, we can’t sustain the new know how because the new concepts implementation do not go automatic just after the actions. The new always have a kind of resistance. The cultural changes are more than only give information and rules to follow.
The Lean must be implemented step by step in a people daily environmental and behavior. The lean implementation needs a systemic view in order to do the changes in all areas. Not only in the manufacturing shop floor but mainly in the support areas, as well. It is really necessary that all areas be committed with the same goal of manufacturing value stream.
We also need to train our people to see the waste in order to create a cultural of improvements. Our people need to see that the manufacturing process is the only one that really creates value in the point of view of our costumer. But let’s remark that the people only react when they fell that the managers think the same and act like a sponsor, as well.
Let me remark that the Lean model that works well in another company did not guarantee that it is going to work at the same effective as before, even if it is in the same company of the holding. The cultural aspect is different from company to company. We can not just copy and paste from another place. We need to find out our own Lean way of working. We need to understand the principles of the Lean philosophy “what” that must be get as a target and the methods “how” that we can do to get that target. We can not separate the Lean principles and method. We need to implement both at the same time.
Finally, when all the Lean principles and methods will be working integrated, then we will have a real Lean system. When the system will be practice and committed by everyone in the company, then we will have a real Lean culture implemented. So, just after that, the result will happen.
When thinking about waste, Toyota Co. define the three different types of activity within the organization as the following: 1-Value adding activity: those activities that, in the eyes of the final customer, make a product or service more valuable. 2-Non value adding activity: those activities that, in the eyes of the final customer, do not make a product or service more valuable and are not necessary even under present circumstances. These activities are clearly ‘waste’ and should therefore be the target of immediate or short term removal. 3-Necessary non value adding activity: those activities that, in the eyes of the final customer, do not make a product or service more valuable but are necessary unless the existing supply process is radically changed. Such waste is more difficult to remove in the short term and should be a target for longer term or radical change.
To easily understand the basic structure of Lean, the Toyota Co. use a picture of a house with a base that gives preliminary support for the Lean system start working, where we can find the 5s concepts, Machine maintenance activities, Standard work, Robust process, Production planning, etc. Above the base, we can see the two main walls that support the roof that are called by JIT - Just in time and Jidoka, where we can find the continuous flux, pull system, kanban, process autostop, pokayoke, visual management, etc. In fact, the JIT is related to the quantitative aspect and the Jidoka with the qualitative aspect.
Above the two walls we can find the roof that represents the main objective of the Lean system. It is the high productivity and high quality with low cost. In center of the house, we can find the people. It means that we need the effective commitment of all organization people that must work as a team and with a Lean Thinking of continuous improvements – kaizen. The Toyota’s philosophy says that we need to respect people in order to have success on that commitment.
Let’s take the example of Toyota’s house. First of all, as a real construction of a house, the Lean implementation should start at the base, then the walls and finally the roof. During the Lean construction process, from the base until we get the target on the roof, we need an effective involvement of all people in the organization structure in order to have success. Otherwise, the Lean implementation will fail.
Prepare the base is the most critical step of Lean process because most of the companies did not start from the base. In fact, most of the companies did not do the correct Change Management. So, the self-questions must be done: Did we start the implementation from the base? Did we prepare people for that?
Without a good base preparation, the structure of the house will be weak and the two walls and the roof could not be sustained. In fact, just after a strong base we can construct two strong walls in order to sustain the roof. In some cases, the companies just give focus in one wall only. But the companies forget that without two strong walls, the roof can not be sustained continuously.
Finally, the heart of Toyota’s house is the respect of the people. Before and during the Lean implementation, the Toyota Co. prepares people for the new way of working. It is the Change Management for the Lean planning and correct approach. Let’s think about more self-questions that must be done: During the Lean implementation, did we have the Change Management? How about the implementation planning? Are we having a respectful approach with the production people during the Lean implementation?
In order to go lean, we also need to understand customers and what they value. To drive company to focus on these needs we must define the value streams inside the company (all the activities which are needed to provide a particular product or service) and, later, the value streams in the wider supply chain as well. To satisfy customers we will need to eliminate or at least reduce the wasteful activities in the value streams that the customers would not wish to pay for. But let me remind that we need to do that without getting the business in risk.
Next step we need to find a way of setting the direction, fixing targets and seeing whether or not change is actually occurring. We need an internal (and later external) framework to deliver value for the customers as well as a toolkit to make the change management. We need to identify the necessary action to be done and the responsible areas for each one of those actions. Everybody should be involved in order to understand that the changes could only occur with the effective participation of all areas. Not only as expectant or someone who only point problems in Lean Walk. We need support areas to act as a part of a team work to implement the Lean Concepts.
If we can do this effectively we won’t need to benchmark competitors to set some arbitrary and often incomparable target. Perfection or the complete elimination of waste should be the entire enterprise goal. Sounds good!, but let’s back to the real world. If it is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it? Let’s see now some critical factors.
One of the main difficulties I’ve seen in some companies that try to apply Lean is a lack of direction, a lack of planning and a lack of adequate project sequencing. Knowledge of particular tools and techniques is often not the problem. In many cases lean initiatives are killed because of a lack of Change Management program.
The Lean implementation must act as a lever to the internal process of organization renew, promoting improvements in the job environmental and the performance indicators. However, the changes process must be conduct correctly in order to avoid the premature “death” even in the beginning of the implementation process.
Some companies give focus in “how to do” before understand the “Philosophy” that give reasons to the actions. In both cases, we can’t sustain the new know how because the new concepts implementation do not go automatic just after the actions. The new always have a kind of resistance. The cultural changes are more than only give information and rules to follow.
The Lean must be implemented step by step in a people daily environmental and behavior. The lean implementation needs a systemic view in order to do the changes in all areas. Not only in the manufacturing shop floor but mainly in the support areas, as well. It is really necessary that all areas be committed with the same goal of manufacturing value stream.
We also need to train our people to see the waste in order to create a cultural of improvements. Our people need to see that the manufacturing process is the only one that really creates value in the point of view of our costumer. But let’s remark that the people only react when they fell that the managers think the same and act like a sponsor, as well.
Let me remark that the Lean model that works well in another company did not guarantee that it is going to work at the same effective as before, even if it is in the same company of the holding. The cultural aspect is different from company to company. We can not just copy and paste from another place. We need to find out our own Lean way of working. We need to understand the principles of the Lean philosophy “what” that must be get as a target and the methods “how” that we can do to get that target. We can not separate the Lean principles and method. We need to implement both at the same time.
Finally, when all the Lean principles and methods will be working integrated, then we will have a real Lean system. When the system will be practice and committed by everyone in the company, then we will have a real Lean culture implemented. So, just after that, the result will happen.
