admin
Lean Certification Training Improves Productivity
I wanted to send you this information about some of the updates we’ve just completed on the Lean Certification Online website. We have added several new videos and training materials to our self-paced online lean training courses. In the near future we will adding Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and 3P training courses. We continue to prove time and time again to our clients that Lean Certification Training improves productivity and is the most cost effective way to train employees, and give them the skills to improve their own workplace.
As you probably know there is a resurgence of interest about the application of lean principles in the business world, which is creating a shortage of people with the right skills to fill those positions. If you don’t believe what I am saying, just take a moment to check our Lean Jobs page and it will confirm what I am saying. As I was writing this post, there are over 1,300 open positions for lean practitioners throughout the US. Why is this happening?
Well, as management teams are stating to realize that Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma programs are not delivering the ‘best bang for the buck.’ Why, because it costs too much and it takes too long to train people in Six Sigma and to develop a solid infrastructure that can sustain the improvements over the long term. Also, the complexity of Six Sigma has created anew level of elite specialists, which is alien to the original concept of lean thinking. Many companies are asking for Lean Six Sigma certification but in truth they are not capable of implementing a complete Six Sigma process. In other words it is a waste of resources and money. Most companies only need to implement lean principles with some basic problem solving skills to see real and effective results.
Lean Certification Online Training Courses
Lean knowledge starts with our Level 1 – Lean Awareness training course, which is the foundation of our lean training series called “10 Steps to become a Lean Enterprise.” This course focuses on the lean concepts and terminology with an overview of the lean tools and techniques. It is a course that is designed for people that have little to no knowledge of lean principles.
Next, is our Level 2 – Lean Practitioner training course, which takes you through the application and implementation of lean principles into the workplace. Our Level 2 course is specifically designed for people that want to participate in lean improvement or kaizen events.
The Level 3 – Lean Expert is our premier lean training package, which is specifically designed for people that intend to teach lean principles to others and facilitate improvement teams. It takes the person through the Level 1 – Lean Awareness and Level 2 – Lean Practitioner training courses and then focuses on the detailed application and integration of lean principles into any business environment.
All three levels have been created and developed for three different business environments i.e. Lean Manufacturing, Lean Healthcare and Lean Administration (or Lean Office). I have inserted a video introduction to the Level 1 – Lean Awareness training course.
Lean Certification Training Improves Productivity
I appreciate you taking the time to read this article and watch the video. I wanted to give a better understanding of my intepretation of the implementation of lean princiles ito any business environment. I know from my almost 30 years of expereince in the Lean Process Improvement field that Lean Certification Training improves productivity. How does it improve productivity? It empowers employees to partciapte in the improvement process.
Please leave a comment below and share it with your friends. Also, please “Like” our FaceBook page. If you’re interested in Lean training or consulting services please go to the Lean Certification Online website for more information.
Lean Management System is a Critical Element!
One of the key aspects of Lean principles is the position that a management team takes during an implementation process. They need to realize that a Lean Management System is a critical element to ensure a successful implementation. It is necessary to create a pro-active infrastructure that can support the right culture and sustain the improvements over the long term. Too many companies are applying lean principles as a quick fix and then wondering why things start going south after a few months. It is estimated that over 90% of companies that implement a lean program will fail within two years of starting their lean journey.
I was doing some research on YouTube and found this video that was posted by The Lean Enterprise Academy. It is a presentation by John Shook, CEO of the Lean Enterprise Institute. He is talking about “The Future of Lean: Deepening the Fundamentals: embedding the practice of Lean” at the Lean Summit 2011 that was an event that was run by the Lean Enterprise Academy in the UK. I am sure the information in this video will be very helpful if you are thinking about implementing lean in your own business.
Lean Management System is a Critical Element!
I always enjoy listening to John Shook because he gives great insights about implementing Lean principles. After almost 30 years in the Continuous Process Improvement field, I believe that a Lean Management System is a critical element of any lean implementation process. In this video, John Shook shared some priceless nuggets of information. Anyone can learn from the information. If you enjoyed this video leave a comment below and share this blog post with your freinds. Also, don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page.
If you would like to know more about lean principles and how they are applied into the office environment click here.
Lean Office Organization
Here is a great video about lean office organization. It explains some simple ways to better organize a home or business office space to increase effectiveness and reduce inefficiencies. When you realize how much time is wasted just looking for things, it’s amazing how productivity increases and it seems like your not working as hard to do the same amount of work.
Lean Office Organization
I really enjoyed this video because it is full of easy to follow ideas for improving any office space. You can implement all the ideas in this video with little out of pocket cost. If you enjoyed the video leave a comment and share this blog post with your freinds. Also, don’t forget to “Like” our Facebook page.
If you would like to know more about lean principles and how they are applied into the office environment click here.
Lean Production at GE Reduced Assembly Times by 68%
Lean Production at GE Reduced Assembly Times by 68%!
One side of lean production is technical, involving processes such as just-in-time delivery to reduce inventory. The other involves people, organizing production workers into teams with responsibility for identifying problems and suggesting solutions.At GE’s Louisville plant, lean also means co-locating all the functions associated with manufacturing: design, engineering, quality control, production, even product development, on the same site, so opportunities to improve the process or respond to changes in the market can be acted on quickly. Those are benefits that are impossible to achieve with outsourced manufacturing in a low-wage economy.In a Harvard Business Review article Jeff Immelt, GE chief executive, said that by using lean production Appliance Park teams have cut by 68 per cent the time taken to build a dishwasher.
Lean Principles Help Lectra Achieve World Class Status
Article written by Chris Turner
I read this article and found it more than interesting for one reason, most people think lean principles are only relevant in the manufacturing industry. However, this is far from the truth and a terrible misunderstanding of the facts. This article appeared in the Business and Finance section in a recent edition of Rueters and it dispels the myth by demonstrating how lean principles help Lectra achieve world class status. The most interesting fact to note is that Lectra is a textile company and they implemented lean manufacturing principles to achieve a 98% availability rate in their cutting room. This is an achievement that is unparalleled in the textile industry. Enjoy the article.
Lean Principles Help Lectra Achieve World Class Status
Lean Principles Help Lectra Achieve World Class Status
Lectra CEO, Bertrand Crönert aims to reinforce Lectra’s leadership as a long-standing partner of the fashion, automotive, aeronautical and furniture industries, in the overall optimization of their production processes. Lectra’s cutting room solutions, the reference for the most demanding companies, guarantee maximum return on investment and the lowest total cost of ownership. Lectra’s cutters are extremely powerful, with an availability rate near 98%-even when used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week-a record unparalleled in the industry.
“Thanks to its experience with major companies in the automotive industry, Lectra has developed in-depth knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, which benefits our production solutions. Our teams have integrated Lean fundamentals into our technologies-improving usage time, detecting and resolving malfunctions, eliminating superfluous tasks, eradicating quality failures-that can be easily applied to other sectors, fashion in particular, with its continuous collections and just-in-time production,” said Daniel Harari, Lectra CEO. “Bertrand’s mission is at the heart of Lectra’s strategy which aims to provide long-term support to leading companies in implementing their Lean approach, and Bertrand, with his long experience of complex technological projects acquired in the automotive and energy industries, will allow Lectra to enter a new phase.”
The appointment of Bertrand Crönert is part of the plan to reinforce sales and marketing teams worldwide, as well as that of seeking sustained R&D investments, which will allow Lectra to support its customers in post-crisis challenges.
So, what does this article clearly demonstrate? It shows that lean principles can be successfully integrated into any business and all industries. Any organization that has processes can implement lean manufacturing principles. Therefore, any lean consultant with a good level of hands-on experience spanning across several industries will know how to apply lean principles into any business process. It is for this reason that lean principles help Lectra achieve world class status and achieve such incredible results by doing so.
If you would like to learn more about lean principles and how they can be applied into your business and industry click here
Featured image by: aopsan
Lean Manufacturing Methods Increase Throughput Velocity
Article written by Chris Turner – Director of Lean Training and Development at Radical Transformation LLC.
I don’t know about you, but I find that most of the information in articles on the internet are more about the conceptual application of lean principles. I don’t find many articles that actually demonstrate how lean principles are improving business practices in different organizations across the country. It would be great to find articles that share the real-life experiences of a company that shows how lean manufacturing methods increase throughput velocity, eliminate waste, reduced costs, etc.
It is for this very reason that I find it refreshing to find a great article such as this one in Aerospace Manufacturing and Design about TCI Precision Metals in Gardena, CA. It identifies some of the operational challenges that job shops are facing to improve the service to their customers by taking a look at throughput, efficiency, cost control and workforce education. The key question here is: How did lean manufacturing methods help TCI Precision Metals to overcome many of their operational issues and improve their processes?
Lean Manufacturing Methods Increase Throughput Velocity
Many shops, committed to being lean, feel they are doing everything they can, given the programs they have put in place. The problem with this thinking is, being lean and agile is a process, not an event. In the interest of customer service and profitability, new ideas need to be evaluated all the time.
We hear a lot about being lean these days, but what does it really mean? It is not simply a check list or a certificate on the wall. The concept of lean manufacturing is more of a commitment to critical thinking, oriented towards shortening cycle times by eliminating waste and reducing incidental work, while increasing value-added work. If you can effectively achieve lean, (lean cannot be achieved; but a shop can always be working toward being leaner and more productive), you will see more velocity through your shop, improved profitability, increased customer satisfaction, and heightened morale.
There has been a substantial increase in order activity during the past 12 months, and all indicators point toward 2012 producing similar volume. A weak dollar has also provided a boost in making U.S. manufacturing more competitive, resulting in some manufacturing returning (re-shoring) to the United States.
Customer Expectations
The customer may tell you that price is not always the most important thing, but eventually it plays a large role in the customer-supplier relationship. Understandably, the customer does not care what your internal issues are; they just want good parts, on time. During the past few years, there have been everything from reverse auctions, customer-driven top-down changes in terms and conditions, and target price mandates. Customers continue to demand faster, more frequent deliveries, while trying to reduce their own inventory levels.
Pushing Capacity
Everyone wants to take on more work even when backlogs are increasing. After all, it is all about throughput – how much can you push out the back door without severely impacting the different parts of your business. How do you do that given all the constraints of running a business profitably?
Removing Bottlenecks
Most shops continue the time-honored practice of purchasing oversize raw materials at the beginning of the cycle. When the raw stock arrives, it is either staged for the prep work necessary to finish machine or it is machined to size as part of the finish machining process. Typically, other outside processing operations that need performed are not part of a shop’s core competencies. What you are faced with is a classic batch and queue system. Few of the steps are being performed simultaneously. The end result is raw materials moving around for days or weeks before the real shop value of final machining takes place. Shop capacity also suffers from poor machine utilization as expensive state-of-the-art equipment is used for incidental prep work. Batch and queue fails to serve your customers’ interests since it slows down the pipeline of finished parts to them.
Example 1: One finished part has a calculated savings of $10 each, but equally important, in this example, is the shop realizes an increase in capacity of more than 43 hours. The quantity ordered was 100 pieces and the total run time was 54.83 minutes per part – a reduction of approximately 26 minutes per part.
Example 2: The savings in time and money are reflected in the reduced cost and price of the machine-ready blank. Since two sides of a part are cut at the same time, the machine-ready blank user benefits from a cost standpoint compared to using raw stock. When the machine-ready blanks arrive with additional features added, less in-house machine time is required.
Increasing Throughput
Sometimes throughput is done internally through creating work cells designed around a product or a family of parts that use essentially the same disciplines. In addition, sometimes it requires finding external solutions to streamline the flow of raw materials or parts so that as little time as possible is wasted. There are ways to be creative about the pre-production stage – especially when you have a supplier who can economically reduce the incidence of attrition on the front end and present cost saving opportunities in your shop as a result. This is where lean-ready, machine-ready precision blanks come in.
Machine-Ready
Machine-ready blanks are square, rectangular, or round aluminum, stainless steel, or other alloy blanks, ground and milled to tight-tolerances. These blanks enable a CNC machine to get right to final machining, eliminating the need for squaring up the material prior to finishing the part. Adding features to blanks, especially parts requiring large amounts of material removal is also possible, eliminating the need for specialized machines or tying up machines that are better served performing other operations.
Increasing throughput velocity on the shop floor is what it is all about. When there is an increase in the velocity of parts through the shop, more parts ship out in the same period of time, which increases profit and customer satisfaction. Other ways of looking at increased velocity, include:
- Freeing time on the shop floor for better uses
- Reducing constraints that prevent shipments of more product
- Identifying under-utilized capacity and putting it to better use
- Improving backlog by off-loading unnecessary prep work and second ops
- Increasing a shop’s capacity without adding unnecessary costs such as payroll
I think the quote by George Bernard Shaw sums up this article: “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” For any organizations to change it must start a process of self-analysis by taking a deeper look into the ways it interacts with its customers on a daily basis. When it can do this in an open and honest manner it will discover what it needs to improve to give better customer service. The entire process can only be successful is you can change the way you think about your business practices and processes. Until you can do this we will not be seeing any articles about your company entitled “lean manufacturing methods increase throughput velocity!”
If you are interesting in learning more about online lean training courses for Manufacturing, Healthcare or Administration, please click here.
Lean Healthcare Methods Deliver Improvements
Lean Healthcare is the buzz word of the day! The question is: Does it really deliver measurable results? I found this article in Canadian Healthcare Technology and it highlights the successful application of lean principles to improve the quality of healthcare for the patient. As the cost of healthcare is rising at a faster rate than income, many organizations throughout the world are realizing that lean healthcare methods deliver improvements that will reduce costs. This is a win-win for the patient, staff and the healthcare organization.
Lean Healthcare Methods Deliver Improvements
“With health costs continuing to rise, looking for ways to cut “waste” in the system and increase efficiency makes sense if we want to ensure a system that continues to provide excellent care in the long term,” said Minister of Health Michael de Jong (pictured). “Thanks to Lean techniques, we are helping to provide better value for public dollars, and patients across the province are benefiting from shortened wait times and more streamlined care.”
The Lean in British Columbia’s Health Sector Annual Report 2010-11 details the work underway across the health system to increase productivity and efficiency and reduce costs. With more than 125 lean events held by health authorities in the past year, the report focuses on seven case studies, which provide concrete examples of how patients in every region of the province are benefiting.
Highlights of the report include:
• In the Provincial Health Services Authority’s Provincial Specialized Eating Disorders program for children and adolescents, wait times from referral to assessment have been reduced from 66 to 8.5 days, and wait times from assessment to first treatment have been reduced from 48 to 8.5 days.
• In addition, the program has created two care pathways to better support eating disorder patients.
• In Northern Health, the lead time from when patients are referred through the Prince George Home and Community Care office until they receive long-term care home support services has been reduced from an average of 68 days to 14 days.
• In Vancouver Island Health Authority, acute care bed days have been reduced from 7.4 to 3.9 days for patients designated to move from the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital to a residential care facility with rehabilitation services.
• In Fraser Health, Surrey breast cancer patients are now offered three diagnostic tests (imaging, cytology and physical examination) during a single visit to the Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre, with the intent to reduce time to diagnosis.
• At B.C. Children’s Hospital, the elimination of 2,160 unnecessary blood tests represents better care for patients and is estimated to lead to cost reductions of $32,400 per year.
• In Vancouver Coastal Health, modifications made to the Early Intervention and Rehabilitation Program for disability management have led to a reduction in absence duration, and a reduction in long-term disability claims, which is estimated to produce savings for Vancouver Coastal Health of $17.6 million (amortized from 2010 until 2020).
• More than 60 modifications have been made to processes in the pre-surgical screening/operating room booking processes at Kelowna General Hospital in order to make the journey more patient and family-centred, and more efficient.
The lean approach follows a patient’s journey through the system to identify steps that benefit patient care in order to eliminate “waste” or those steps that add no value. Examples of waste in health care might include duplicate tests, patient waits and underutilization of staff skills and knowledge.
Once wasteful activities are identified and removed, remaining steps are made more efficient and integrated so that services flow as smoothly as possible. A focus of lean is continuous improvement so the cycle is repeated, helping the processes become more and more streamlined.
The use of lean techniques is just one way that the Province is turning to innovation to ensure a high-quality and cost-effective healthcare system. In 2009, Health Shared Services BC launched a shared services program, leveraging their buying power, consolidating supply chains, and working together to increase efficiency and improve outcomes. Projected savings are expected to reach $200 million by 2014.
This article clearly demonstrates the huge cost benefits that are possible for all parties when a healthcare organization starts to focus on their processes. It certainly proves that lean healthcare methods deliver improvements that have a direct impact on the quality of care. I think we all agree that everyone involved in healthcare is working flat out to achieve the best level of quality care for their patients. However, it is only through the collective focus and activities of improvement teams that healthcare staff are able to collaborate and share ideas to improve their processes. The minds of many working together will generate more ideas than one person working alone.
If you are interesting in learning more about online lean training courses for Manufacturing, Healthcare or Administration, please click here.
Featured image by: Photostock
Lean Certification Training Transforms Management Thinking
Lean Certification Training Transforms Management Thinking!
Lean Certification Training Transforms Management Thinking
In the early 1980s, many U.S. industry and government leaders saw that a renewed emphasis on quality was necessary for doing business in an ever-expanding and more competitive world market. This was particularly striking in the auto industry, where firms like Toyota [TM] were producing higher quality cars at lower cost.One response was the move towards lean manufacturing which reflected an effort to emulate the accomplishments of Toyota. But many of the implementations of Lean manufuacturing were travesties of what Toyota had pioneered: they took the cost cutting aspects of Lean but eliminated the respect for people which Toyota saw as crucial. Jeffery Liker wrote in 2003: “What percent of companies outside of Toyota and their close knit group of suppliers get an A or even a B+ on Lean? I cannot say precisely but it is far less than 1%”: The Toyota Way p.10.In terms of Bernie Maloney’s analysis, the firms opted to view the world as complicated, rather than complex. They pursued mechanical outputs and financial returns, rather than improved human outcomes–delighted customers. They adopted mechanistic solutions that were far less than optimal and in essence didn’t solve the problem. View original article
Lean Certification Training –What the difference between Hard skills vs. Soft skills?
When I created the curriculum for Lean Certification Online, I included both hard skills and soft skills into the lean training programs. I want to explain what I mean by “hard and soft skills” and why it is so important to use both.
When a management team discovers the benefits of lean principles, they go to great lengths to find out how to implement them into their own organization. They are often surprised because they think that lean principles come in a contained package or as some type of integrated system that can be inserted into their business systems, just like a plug and play item on a computer. They are amazed when they find out that lean principles are a series of different tools and techniques grouped together under the broad heading of lean principles. These tools and techniques are what I call the ‘Hard Tools’ of lean.
These hard tools are continuous process improvement methods used to identify and eliminate waste to increase value for the customer. These tools and techniques are implemented in the Gemba (or place of work), where an improvement team is focusing on a specific problem. A successful lean business will train their employees to use these tools so they can participate in a rapid improvement event (RIE) or Kaizen. It is easy to teach employees about lean tools and techniques and how to apply them to help recognize waste that is hidden inside business processes. These hard tools such as Strategy Deployment, Kanban, 5S, 5 Why’s, Value Stream Mapping, etc. have been successfully used by companies all around the globe.
As I travel around the country, I often get the chance to talk with people that have completed some type of lean training, and they often tell me all about the different tools and how they are planning to implement them. However, what I find most interesting during these discussions is that only a small percentage of the people that have completed Lean Certification Training will mention the use of soft skills to support their lean implementation process. What do I mean by soft skills?
Lean Facilitator
Continuous Process Improvement includes the ‘hard skills of lean to identify the root cause of a problem that is creating waste and then finding a solution to eliminate it. However, there is another aspect of lean that many people do not even talk about but I personally believe they are equally as important. They are personal improvement tools and techniques that allow us to participate in a process of self-analysis to increase self-awareness. This helps individuals, groups and organizations to develop and improve their own capabilities by identifying any personality or cultural issues that are stopping them from reaching their full potential. Why do I believe these ‘Soft skills or tools” are so important and should be included in a lean certification training program?
When we learn about lean principles, the focus of the training is on process activity and how people can find solutions to eliminate a problem. However, people will participate and take action based on their personality type. During their working life, people develop a set of core beliefs and these will influence a person’s behavior. When this person learns about lean principles, they will go back to their respective organizations and use their new skills to implement a lean program. At this point, they will need to ask questions.
- What is the culture in the organization?
- Does the management team actively support the lean implementation process
- Does the company know how to empower its employees?
- On the other hand, does their organization not care about the attitudes of its employees and the role they play in the lean improvement process?
These are critical questions that will need answering because they will define the culture of the organization. The individuals that are facilitating the lean implementation need to understand how the other employees are going to react to the change process
It is important to find out if the person is capable of facilitating groups of employees. They need to have the type of personality that can motivate and guide people in a way that does not end in conflict. It is easy to teach anyone about the tools and techniques of lean but not everyone has the traits of a good facilitator. However, they can learn how to become one by learning about their own flaws and choosing to change their behaviors.
There are a few soft skills that a person must have before they can even consider becoming a facilitator and working with groups of employees. Here are some examples:
- They must be open minded
- They must be able to actively listen when people are sharing their ideas
- They must be aware of their own personality flaws
- They must know how to respond to people comments without losing their temper
- The must know when to speak and when to be silent
- They must treat people with respect at all times
- They must be aware of their personal biases and not let them influence their facilitation process
- They must be able to control their emotions at all times
The way to learn how to do these things is to participate in the soft skills. There are several well know and accepted systems that can help a person to discover their own personality traits. They can begin to understand how they communicate with others and if they need to make any improvements in how they do it. This is where people get to collaborate and learn together. There is no better way to learn about yourself than through working with others who can tell you what you need to improve and how to change it. We all have personality issues that we are fully aware of and we also have those that we totally unaware of. It is the issues that you do not see that will trip you up.
Lean in its simplest form is a process of building relationships to benefit the stakeholders, which includes the customers. You can be a great practitioner when it comes to lean tools and techniques, but if you don’t have the right temperament to support them, you are not going to be very successful. There are three things that are required to be a good facilitator, 1) people must like your personality and training style, 2) they must see you as the expert and believe that you know what you are talking about, and 3) they need to understand how the information you are sharing can benefit them personally. If you fail on any one of these, you will have difficulties implementing lean principles into any organization.
Chris Turner is the founder and Director of Training and Development for Radical Transformation LLC. He has 28 years of experience in the Continuous Process Improvement field. During this time, he has integrated Lean Principles, Lean Six Sigma and Change Management into his skill’s portfolio. He has worked with major organizations in the UK, USA and Canada such as the US Air Force, Canadian Ministry of Health, Siemens, Medtronic, APW, English China Clay to name a few. He participated in the design and development of Lean Certification Online, which gives 24/7 access to online lean training materials. To learn more click here
Lean Principles vs. Process Failures – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly?
Why is failure a good thing when implementing Lean principles?
Yeah right, so you’re telling me that I need to fail to succeed when implementing Lean principles? I know. You’re thinking this is the most stupid thing you’ve ever heard! In fact, that is exactly what I am saying. Without failure, there is no chance for improvement. First, we need to define the word failure to make sure we are on the same page. What is a failure?
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the definition of a failure is:
“Omission of occurrence or performance; specifically: a failure to perform a duty or expected action.
Take a moment to understand this definition of a failure. It is an “omission of occurrence or performance.” So, what does this really mean? It can be interpreted as saying that something didn’t happen when it was supposed to. The next part of the definition says this, “a failure to perform a duty or expected action.” Again, this means that something that was supposed to occur at a given time did not happen. In other words, an action was not executed or completed to meet defined expectations. So, why is this important?
The general perception of failure is that it’s a bad thing, and it should never happen. However, is this viewpoint realistic? Can we ever achieve a state where there is no failure? Absolutely not! If there was no failure, how would we learn from our mistakes and make improvements? It is not always pretty, especially when it affects the environment, lives, etc. Without failure, the human race would not have developed technologies to overcome many problems. Existence relies on failure because this gives us an opportunity to find ways to make something better and to reduce the chances of it reoccurring. So, you’re probably thinking what has this got to do with implementing lean principles? Well, it has a lot to do with it.
The truth is that failure, and lean principles go hand in hand. They are basically the two sides of the same coin. One cannot occur without the other. To be successful when implementing lean principles into your company, you need to fail and do it often! Seriously, I hope you “fail” time and time again during your lean implementation. Shocking right? How can I say this to you? I am supposed to be a Lean expert, and my job is to help people to succeed. Here’s why I want you to fail and be happy about it. Failure is the feedback you get from a system to tell you that something is not working. Failure is simply another word for performance results. In fact, someone once said, “There are no failures, only results.” If you can change your thinking to accept failure as nothing more than a result, you realize that you can influence the outcome. However, you may not like the result but using lean principles you can change the process to create a better result.
Failure is necessary for learning. We are told that we must learn and try to become an expert or specialist in a specific subject. Why do we need to do this? It’s because we want to get it right the first time and not make a mistake. Ok, a reality check is needed here! How many people do you know that can learn about something and then apply it without ever making a mistake or failing? Honestly, how many perfect people can you think of right now? You got it, zero, none, nada! How many organizations do you know that can implement a new system such as lean principles without experiencing any problems? Again, its zero, none of them! Even with the guidance of a lean expert there is going to be growing pains and problems along the way.
There is not one person, group or organization on this planet that did not go through a learning curve when they applied their knowledge and tried to make something happen in a different way. Lean implementation is no different. It is a journey of discovery that involves watching, listening, doing and learning. Learning about lean principles is only part of the process. It is the preparation a person, group or organization must have, so they know how to start their journey to reach the destination. Implementing lean principles into any business is a process of learning by doing or converting knowledge into action. This involves people collaborating together to find new methods of working and putting these into practice. However, when you put people together, they must be looking at the same roadmap and heading towards the same destination.
Everybody needs a common goal to work towards when implementing lean principles. So the question is; “Why do you want to implement lean principles?” The next question should be; “Are you willing to see failure as a positive learning experience rather than a negative condition of doing business?” Performance is based on results; these can be tracked to determine if they are following a positive or negative trend. Lean principles teach us that the feedback we receive by tracking performance results is the driving force behind continuous process improvement. To manage anything we must be able to measure it, then track and trend the results.
Without measurement, we do not know if we are being consistent. If we cannot measure a process, then we enter a world of failure with the root cause unknown, and this is nothing more than chaos. When failure can be measured it brings with it understanding (or insight), and this puts you one step closer to achieving success. Insight gives a person, group or organization the ability to define a strategy to create change and improve a process. When the strategy is executed, the outcome creates results and feedback. We can take this feedback and evaluate it to determine if there is a need for countermeasures and adjust the strategic initiatives.
What is the one thing that separates a business, which successfully implemented lean principles from one that was unsuccessful? It is the way they perceive failure and how they deal with it. A successful lean business will see failure as an opportunity for improvement. They will use it to drive their continuous process improvement, and they will use problem solving tools to identify and eliminate the root causes of waste. One by one, they discover and deal with their failures and try to correct them until they reach their tipping point. When they achieve this, they will experience a cultural shift to where lean principles are integrated into their everyday activities. There is no separation between work activities and continuous improvement. As employees perform their daily tasks, they are empowered to look for ways to improve their workplace.
On the other hand, a business that is or has been unsuccessful when trying to implement lean principles does not see failure as an opportunity. They see it as a kind of natural disorder, which occurs as a consequence of doing business. It is something they have to endure and the way they overcome it is by working harder to eliminate it. The sad thing is that these types of companies are doomed to making the same mistakes repeatedly. Albert Einstein said this “The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again expecting different results.” These types of companies labor under the belief that thinking of change is the same as physically implementing change. It is not. Talking and not taking action is nothing more than playing mind games (or fluff). Remember, actions speak louder than words!
Failure when implementing lean principles is a natural phenomenon and to be successful we must embrace it. We must develop the confidence in our abilities to participate in the process, and find a solution to any problem. It requires the discipline to follow through, and know that you and the team members did your best. And most important, know that you all learned something. The question should never be, “does this work?” It should be “I wonder how many more steps before we reach the tipping point” where lean principles become fully integrated. So to anyone who has failed, and continued on to find the answer, I acknowledge you! It means you are that much closer to successfully implementing lean principles into your organization.
Chris Turner is the founder and Director of Training and Development for Radical Transformation LLC. He has 28 years of experience in the Continuous Process Improvement field. During this time, he has integrated Lean Principles, Lean Six Sigma and Change Management into his skill’s portfolio. He has worked with major organizations in the UK, USA and Canada such as the US Air Force, Canadian Ministry of Health, Siemens, Medtronic, APW, English China Clay to name a few. He participated in the design and development of Lean Certification Online, which allows learners to have 24/7 access to online lean training materials. To learn more click here
