Lean Flow and Employee Involvement

There is no shortcut or back road to Lean transformation, it's not a journey you make on your own change, and it's not a top-down only effort.  But you have some busy people that can help you navigate in the dark, they are your employees.  How many of us remember when work arguments were won based on volume and creative profanity instead of the facts and data of the situation? The yelling may have diminished, but I'm not sure we are all in for using facts and data.

We do know that it is rough out there, but this is not the time to hide in the office and wait for the dust to settle.  Now is the time to look at how we do things to better meet customer needs and expectations.  We know that Lean is based on the Toyota Production System and part of the foundation is "Respect for People".  Everywhere I have worked, Leadership says that "People are our most important asset".  Does anyone know what that really means?

Lean Transformation Model

As you notice from the model we start with choosing one of our products and ask the team what they think their customers would say about that product.  We need to go talk with the customer also, but this gives us a starting point.  Share this information with the team, it may shock or surprise them (or confirm what they know) but the truth will be there out in the open.  Think about how these truths align with the 4P's.

When we map and measure the processes that support a product we are using the team not only to uncover the hidden processes we use, but so we all have a common understanding how we construct that product.  There will be human interactions the team may not have experienced before and you need to be ready to lead them through the various situations.  Make sure you attempt to includes everyone's voice.  Even your hard working introverts that are not sitting at the table (there they are along the wall) have something to say.

If you have adequately defined the flow problem and identified the most likely direct root causes, ask your team members for their suggestions to overcome the causes.  Some of the team may have been through that type of problem and could have the answer.  Try the solutions before any wide-scale implementation to uncover any constraints you may not have anticipated.  One person on the team, or the boss, will not have all of the answer that is needed, but each person may have a piece of the answer and it is up to you to create the picture of the new process.

Once you have the solution implemented, track the performance and share the results with the team.  This should be displayed on a board in a common area and where you hold team meetings.  You may even be able to connect that information with customer surveys or financial analysis.  Share the before and after data with the team to show them their efforts are making a difference.

What has been your experience working with teams or being on a team that improved one of your processes?

Change Fundamentals

“Change makes me feel uncomfortable.”

“Change is hard.”

“We don’t need to change, everything is fine.”

I’m sure you have heard these before, maybe even said something like this.  But now you are in a position of Leadership or you are responsible for the activities of a team and you see that you’re not reaching the performance levels you need to get ahead.  Money Girl may be scheduling meetings with you twice a week to discuss your budget numbers.  You could be meeting twice a day and that is not going to solve your problems.

This model is used help align groups of people to specific results and keep them within the left and right boundaries of their tasks and responsibilities.  The Beliefs of the individuals on the teams will lead to the Behaviors which drive their Actions that produce Results.  This helps to show why people think “Change is hard” and you do not see the Results.  Turning the team around is not only your responsibility; it’s in your skills toolbox.

The first step is the hardest because the team’s lack of momentum has anchored them to the past.  Did they win a team performance or safety award ten years ago?  Does your team currently perform the best in the branch but their internal competitors should all be sent back to the farm team?  You may find the team is the “cream of the crap” and this is never a nice realization.

You need to find out what the team Believes.  Do they really know their performance or want to know?  Do they believe they have the ability or permission to make change?  Do the team members have the skills, knowledge, and ability to perform the work that is being asked of them?  And there are more questions you could ask based on your industry or location.

Beliefs are the hardest to change; many were shaped by past experiences.  You will be battling against previous good or bad managers, corporate cultures, left-wing professors, and perhaps an undesirable work ethic.  Some team members will be easy to shift and a small number, if any, will probably need to be released back to wild.  Jim Collins talked about having people in the right seats on the bus, assuming they are on the right bus to begin with.

Tools to help Leaders re-align the individual’s and team’s Behaviors are the Company’s Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives.  Do your team members know how and where they fit in the Vision and Mission?  This may take some exploration with the team and your Leadership.  I have seen teams try to determine how they fit, review this with Leadership and are sent back being told to try again.  This is not a catastrophic event as long as you can show you are learning from the experience.

Goals and Objectives play a large part by providing a basis for measuring the team.  Remember that not every team will have Objectives for every Goal, and try not to overthink your importance to the site but be open to how everyone fits together.  Goals should link Objectives to the Vision and Mission.

Measuring the team’s current performance to the Goals and Objectives can be an enlightening event that will drive the team to Action.  Don’t just print the chart and stick it on the wall, share it with the team and ask questions that lead to sustained high performance.  Using A3 Thinking helps to document what the team is experiencing and how they can learn by evaluating the low and high performance times.  This learning is documented in the team’s standard work, SOP, or Desk Guide and is used for training new team members.

These Actions will create Results with increased performance, higher levels of predictability, and increased team moral.  We are not just robots moving paper from one pile to another pile; we are thinking creatures with drive and a desire to make customers happy with the products we provide.  The processes we work in will not improve on their own, they require the ingenuity and creativity we have in all of us to make change.  It is there, just waiting to flourish.

How have you seen or experienced a change in hearts and minds?

Poke-Yoke the Engineers

Being an engineer and forced into a box did not "feel" right.  How am I supposed to use my technical creativity to take these requirements and turn them into something you can hold in your hand?  Get away from me with your process stuff, I'm here to (hold up your shield) support the customer!!

I acted this way for a time while adjusting from being a recent college graduate to a responsible and productive member of society.  I had my office, with three computers, bookshelves full of component specs and design books, and my attitude of "THESE HANDS WERE TOUCHED BY GOD!!".  Obviously those people don't understand my brilliance and I must dumb-down my methods to meet their level of intelligence.  Now, if I could automate the human out of the equation quality and productivity would instantly improve.

Wow!! Was I really that full of myself?  I don't think I was very helpful during that time in my career.  I had just left Uncle Sam's Misguided Children two years before and graduated with my Manufacturing Engineering degree a few months prior. I had a few career successes and my level of confidence in my abilities were over-the-top.  I had lost my touch with reality and the work relationships suffered.

It only took a project or two to learn that my work produced a product that was needed for another team on the floor and their success (read as OUR success) was based on how well I performed, not just technically but to their schedule. I learned there was enough variation in my output to disrupt everything on the floor when I worked in my own smoke-stake or rice bowl.

We started by paying attention to the feedback coming from the floor.  How often were they coming back for us to fix something, how much time was spent during changeover, and how often did we deliver our products late to their need?  Simple, but powerful measures to gauge performance.  When we analyzed the data coming from the floor, we found the enemy and he was us.

Continuous Learning Cycle

Our first move was to document changes being made on the fly and changes being made at our desks.  Most of the changes had been made on the floor, which hid most of the problems and the information showed us how bad our product was.  A picture began to form showing what exactly who the culprits were and they were quickly standardized through our purchasing department.

Next we checked all our computers to ensure we were all connected to the right data sources.  Some had "drifted" off course and was quickly realigned to master libraries.  We saw a vast quality improvement after the last of the "bad" product had gone through the system.  It looked like the worst was behind us, but in reality we were still in a fragile state.  We still needed to update our standard desk guides.

When we stabilized our output, we began to chance variation in the inputs.  The design engineers had their design software connected to standard data sources linked to our MRP system.  We tracked our requests to them to fix their problems, shared that data in a professional manner, and saw results.  We found problems in the MRP system also and many times the reason was they did not think that option mattered to anyone.

It is great to feel like the hero that saves the day, but after a while we get tired of the same old problems.  It looks like no one cares when things do not improve on their own.  We live in the information age, and when there are problems with the information flow we have to address those to closure.

What has been your experience working in the data flow?  Have you seen improvements over the last few years?