Monday, June 30, 2014

Process Discipline

Part One of the Foundation Thinking Series

In its original sense, Discipline is systematic instruction intended to train a person, sometimes literally called a disciple, in a craft, trade or other activity, or to follow a particular code of conduct or "order".  It also involved the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience.  "And you will report status every day until it is fixed!"

Then there is Process Discipline and the "Rule of Rules”: Never make a rule that you are not willing to enforce every time. Every time equals consistency. In order to be consistent, therefore, the line between acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior must be crystal clear. You must know exactly when to act.  Two ways we can cook discipline into our processes are by using standard work and by using a reaction plan in the process control tool.

Can it be any more clear than this??

Monday, June 16, 2014

Process Automation - Control or Inform?

Half the fun of improving processes is coming up with new or better ways to do stuff. One of our biggest opportunities is how we transfer information. This would be moving original documents, reviewing documents, and storing documents.

Information Workflow


Monday, June 9, 2014

Employee Buy-In to the Improvement Plan

As individuals we come up with really good ideas, changes to Products, Processes, and/or People in order to drive higher levels of Performance.  If we find a few people who think like us, the ideas and plans can become very elaborate.  We can hide in our offices or in the Innovation Stations and draw thought maps that would rival the great thinkers of Harvard and Yale.  But when we start implementing we fail to see the change we were looking for, our great ideas are stoned in the middle of the street, and we are ridiculed in front of our peers.

And that did not turn out how we thought it would.... once again.

Shaping the Vision

As we have explored before, change is hard.  It's harder when we don't include decision makers and smart people in the deployment of the vision.  The Captain of the ship points the way and we get to figure out how to get there.  "We" does not mean only the Directors and Senior Managers, it means all of us.  There are oodles of people out there, with skills and abilities that can help plan the change, execute the plan, transform the organization, and assess the results.

As the Captain's Executive Officer (XO), you get to figure out how to take the sometimes lofty statements by the boss and then translate them into what the future looks like for the organization and you are the point person for supporting the teams when the transformation begins.  More than likely you have something to start with, the Vision & Mission Statements, and the boss's lofty statements will typically track along in parallel.  Functionally this means something slightly different for each section of the organization based on how each connects to the main product or service that is provided.

The Correct Way To Draw An Org Chart

We have discussed creating the vision and specifying value in the past, but how do we take our thoughts and dreams on paper to those in the organization that will be going on this journey with us?  Spend some time talking with those teams to explore how they see themselves fitting into the Vision & Mission Statements and what do their metrics say about performance.  When they talk about the "things" they provide for the product or service, are they reflected on your VSM or Strategy Map?

Communicating the Vision

I'm going to presume that if you are in some sort (any sort) of Leadership position, that you have gotten over the fear of public speaking.  This will not be a one-time flash of the power point slide during an all-hands meeting and then you never speak of it again.  It will be discussed until everyone understands and are ready to start moving forward, and part of the conversation will be one where the vision is shaped.

You should discuss it everywhere you go.  Visit all the teams in their stand-up meetings, even if it's at 6am.  If you can put it on one piece of paper, hang the vision in the break rooms and the performance measurement screens on the walls.  Make it part of the company newsletters and create a video discussing the vision and how important it is to the organization.  When you are discussing it, do try to sound a little excited about the journey and the possibilities it will open for everyone.  And let the teams know they are part of this journey because they will be making adjustments to their 4P's also.

Share results with the organization while the transformation is ongoing.  What are the wins, what are the lessons learned, and what has been accomplished?  Reward some team members if you are having an all-hands meeting with the organization.  Instant awards like restaurant gift cards are cheap and easy.  Handwritten thank you notes provide a personal touch not seen today as often.  Award certifications if there are Green Belt or Black Belt certification projects tied to the change.

People want to know what you think about the transformation and if they are doing a good job.  Communication always comes up as a top issue for organizations and some of these ideas can help move you forward along your Lean Transformation.





Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Lean Roadmap


Roadmaps are handy little things, helping to point the direction while on a journey.  Sometimes they serve to identify markers on the road letting us know how far along we are, or telling us how far to go to the next marker.  The Lean Roadmap provides some general direction to keep our focus forward.  Many times we will not get the results that we want when we pick our favorite concept to launch into first. The steps in this map build upon each other to reach the smooth flow of the moving or pulse line.  Just like most other efforts we start by talking to our customers and finding out what they like, don't like, and what's important (what is value?).  We can make some presumptions about our customers, but we should go talk with them and confirm our beliefs.




Create the Vision

We all know that being able to describe the vision simply or on paper is one of the most important first steps in communicating the vision, and being able to imagine the potential in your organization's operations can put you on the road to good change.  Creating the vision may or may not be aligned with your organization's offerings, and the most important question to answer is "how are we creating value for the customer"?

When we measure Product of the 4P's (People, Process, Product, Performance) we are taking a look at the product performance and customer demand.  The measure of performance should be based on the requirements or the capabilities the product is sold upon.  Customers have expectations about the Product for how it performs today and future enhancements.  Does the vision need the Product to be enhanced?  This is one part of the Vision.  We must also evaluate how our Processes operate, do our People have the skills and abilities for new Products and Processes, and is the Performance good enough to provide the customer the experience that will keep them coming back for more?

Standardize the Flow From Improvements

Once we know where we are going (Future Vision) we need to know where we are starting (Current State) and where is the first marker (Future State).  These are high-level maps and metrics describing the Vision and different States.  These will be used to target improvements in the flows: product flows, work flows, and cash flows.  

Target and reduce the waste and variation.  This is the mantra, this is the drumbeat.  Everything follows a rhythm and this moves the organization to the next level of performance.  Learn from your processes and make changes that can be documented in your SOP's, Policy Statements, and other Work Documentation.  Deploy the new learning across the organization and manage the change reaching higher levels of performance.  Using a Kaizen approach will be faster, and small steps will be required.

Make the Supplies and Information Point-Of-Use

Improving the flows is not only the transformation steps in process, but creating efficient movement of inputs to the process.  Make the material and information inputs easy to find and fast to move.  Ensure this is documented in the new process and that everyone is emotionally and physically on board with the new way.  Implementing 5S concepts in your operations are focused on organizing and not housekeeping.  Organize your material and information in files and on your servers/clients.

Balance the Team

As you make improvement stay aware of bottlenecks in the system.  Comparing cycle time to takt time will assist in determining where the help is needed first.  Continue this analysis as customer demand changes.  Bottlenecks can (and will) move through your system.


Implement Visual Controls and Response

Visual Controls are the metrics, schedule, and constraints posted on the wall or on the displays that the team needs to be aware of.  While we may have the vision that says "no more fire-fighting", there should be some recognition that quick action is sometimes needed.  Having the signals in place that facilitates this planned response is much better than waiting for the boss to find out from an unhappy customer.  This type of system is the foundation of an Employee Empowered Workforce.

Connect Suppliers Using Pull System

Implementing a Pull System is much more difficult and will create much frustration if you have not started improving your flow.  Responding only when the order is received (start signal) should keep cash flow high by not spending those dollars on material and labor that will only increase Work-In-Process (WIP).  High levels of WIP in your system is just half-built product sitting around waiting to be damaged or made obsolete.

Move/Pulse the Line

We can all envision a Moving Line with Lucy and Ethel inspecting and packaging chocolates.  A Pulse Line is one with products that move to the takt time and they have longer cycle times or the cost to automate the transfer is too high.  In the places where our office products are created, we can use electronic workflow queuing to move products and to status completion.  The "Line" is really a collection of interdependent work teams operating to accomplish a series of tasks.  The results are fed back into the Visual Controls and then analyzed for new learning.  Using this method will help us to move to higher and more stable levels of performance.


I hope this encourages you to take another look at Lean Flow and how you may use the tools and techniques to improvement customer satisfaction and employee relationships.