Transformation in any business starts by changing the organizational thinking, which translates into action and results. Unfortunately, most management teams are disjointed therefore they are stuck into a state a decision paralysis because of the fear of the unknown. Lean transformation requires a little hootspa from the decision makers. If they falter for one moment, they will transfer that sense of uncertainty to the rest of the organization and the lean transformation process will be doomed to failure.

Companies that have successfully implemented a lean transformation structure to become a world class organization experienced the same phenomenon as every other business. The difference is that they managed their thinking process and acceptedthat they do not know everything and there are times when they need to “just go for it.” Here is a excerpt from a great article I found in Forbes, about “Radical Management” written by Steve Denning

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

I have seen this problem play out over the 28 years that I have been involved in the Continuous process Improvement field. When I talk to the management team and they tell me that they have been a lean company for 5 years or more, I think to myself  ”here we go again!” I can forgive managment team that do not know about lean principles. However, I cannot forgive a management that knows about lean but refuses to do anything with it. It is important for everyone to get educated and convert their knowledge into action. This is why lean certification training transforms management thinking! Click here to learn more…

Featured image by: jscreationzs

Lean Certification Training Transforms Management Thinking is a post from: Lean Certification Online

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 Certification Training –What the difference between Hard skills vs. Soft skills? is a post from: Lean Certification Online

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

Lean Principles vs. Process Failures – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? is a post from: Lean Certification Online

Is your company interested in implementing lean principles? If so, you or someone else has probably started thinking about it after talking it over with someone, or reading a book, or browsing the internet to find articles about lean principles. I am sure that many in the company are not totally convinced as to how lean principles can change things for the better. On the other hand, many may have already realized that it is something that would benefit the company and its customers.

So, what’s stopping your organization from making the next move?

It’s probably because the decision makers are not sure about what to do next. The general belief is that there is a need to learn a little more about it before a decision can be made to get started, right! There are people in the company that have a basic understanding of the lean process but there are a few details that others want to grasp before reaching an agreement to make the move. It’s a never ending dilemma, trying to decide about when and where to start the process. The problem is that with each passing day, the hidden waste that nobody can see is causing the company to lose more and more money.

In fact, experts say that non-lean companies spend 15% to 40% of their revenue supporting inefficient practices and waste. A company will continue to lose money until they change and start doing things differently. Is your company experiencing the same situation? Implementing lean principles could help it to improve its processes. The savings generated from these improvements can be used to increase cash flow or to fund new projects! So, are you still not convinced or undecided? Let me share something with you. You’re not alone. There are many people in the business world that are going through the same confusion. So, what can you do to help when it comes to making the right decision about implementing lean principles?

You need to learn how to implement lean principles, and you need to get it done right the first time. There is only one way to do this and that is to learn from someone who is considered an expert in their field. They have taken many organizations through the same process with proven results. An expert will share their knowledge and experience about implementing lean principles. I know what you’re thinking! Lean experts are expensive because of what they charge per day, which is anywhere from $800 to $3,000 per day. Plus you have to include the additional expenses such as flights, hotels, rental cars, etc. So, unless you’re a big corporation with lots of cash it’s an expensive option. It’s easy to see how a small to medium size business can be $20,000 or $30,000 out of pocket with not much improvement to show for it So, how can you get the knowledge and experience of a lean expert and learn how to implement lean principles without incurring the high costs?

I am happy to tell you that this is the very reason that I created Lean Certification Online and designed a system of online lean training courses. My vision for doing this was to help people, and to give them access to the right information, at the right time. I wanted to help anyone who wanted to learn and gain a better understanding of how lean principles can be applied into any business environment. I know from the feedback that I receive from clients that use my online training how they feel about it. I have developed a system that is easy to use and is supportive of their goal for learning about lean principles. Lean Certification Online training modules were developed and are being updated based on my own learning and hands-on experiences while working with clients.

I still continue to support several clients with their on-site projects, so I know all about sleeping in strange hotels and waiting in airports, etc. I practice what I teach, and I try to eliminate waste to cut costs and improve the value for the customer. However, traveling to a client’s facility can be fun, but it’s not as much fun as it used to be because of spiraling costs and tighter budgets. The flight schedules are getting tighter and the number of connections per trip is increasing because of flights being eliminated as airlines try to cut costs. I understand how my clients think and understand their issues when it comes to improving their bottom line. They need to know that they are getting the best bang for their buck. Most are easy to work with but unfortunately some are not. They have cultural issues to overcome, which make it difficult for them to go to the next level or sustain their improvements over that long term. Anyone learning about lean principles needs to know how to deal with these types of situations because they are going to experience the same things, time and time again. Therefore, it’s important to make sure that your lean training includes the necessary information to overcome these issues. Let me tell you how Lean Certification Online does it.

I use a system called “Blended Learning”, which is a combination of self-paced online lean training modules and live online classes. Every person that is a subscriber to one or more of my online lean training courses has a direct email access to me (or an available facilitator). They can share their questions and receive answers within a reasonable time frame to allow them to keep moving through the online training modules. I deal with every person on an individual basis, and my goal is to help them to be successful at achieving their goal. I regularly use online video and conferencing services to connect with companies, groups and individuals to deliver training materials and answer questions. So, the original question at the start of this article was: Can a business learn about lean principles using an online lean training course? The answer is “YES” with the learner getting right support from the facilitator. In return, the facilitator needs to receive feedback from the learner to give the best support.

Learning About Lean Principles Using Online Lean Training! is a post from: Lean Certification Online

There has been lots of talk over the years about the benefits of implementing principles from the Toyota Production System into a business system.

However, the healthcare industry is now implementing the same lean principles developed in the manufacturing sector. As a result of using lean principles they are improving the delivery of services to patients. Why is this so important?

It’s important because anyone purchasing a health insurance plan is paying more than at any previous time. These premiums are climbing much faster than personal incomes The United States is paying out more money per capita on healthcare than any of the other OECD developed countries. Almost all OECD countries have seen an increase in their healthcare spending as a percentage of their gross domestic product (GDP). According to data compiled by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) the USA share of GDP devoted to healthcare grew from 8.8% of GDP in 1980 to 15.2% of GDP in 2003.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) put the percentage of GDP on health care at about 16% in 2009 which converts into hard cash of about $1.3 trillion compared to around $75 billion in 1971. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated this percentage will almost double to 31% of GDP over the next 25 years in the United States. This increase will have a serious impact on the economy in the United States because health care spending will continue to increase at a faster rate than incomes. In 2009 US consumers were spending an average of $7,290 per person compared to $2,964 per person in all other OECD countries. This data demonstrates the disparity between higher costs versus the quality of healthcare in the United States compared to what other OECD countries are paying for what appears to be a better quality of service. What can be done to help reduce the impact of this problem?

Teaching healthcare workers to understand the application of lean principles and how they can be used to discover and remove waste is the first step. Getting them to make the connection between waste and increasing costs is very important. Everyone needs to understand that the removal of non-value added activities (waste) will improve patient satisfaction, while reducing costs and increase profits.

The second step is to train a team about Value Stream Mapping so they can define and understand where there are constraints in their healthcare facility. Training in how to use VSM will get everyone to focus on the same things and allow them to develop the common language of lean practices.

The third step is to teach every worker in a healthcare facility to become a problem solver. Understanding and applying the 8 step problem solving model from the A3 process using PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) or PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) helps them to discover and remove the root causes of problems.
Implementing these three easy steps can launch any healthcare organization on the path to continuous process improvement by reducing costs, while improving the level of client or patient care.

Check Out Our Lean Manufacturing Courses

Lean Healthcare is a post from: Lean Certification Online

Organizations who have successfully implemented lean solutions have gone to great lengths to analyze their customers’ needs to understand their definition of “value” and how to deliver it. The end result is that a company must continually focus on their processes and how they are performing in order to discover better ways to increase value.

The goal for any business is to improve problem solving skills that effectively expand continuous process improvement capabilities in order to minimize waste and increase customer value. To achieve this, a paradigm shift is required because a management team must learn to integrate lean manufacturing thinking into their business methods. This will help them to gain new insights about their business activities, and optimize their assets, technologies, services, and products that can improve process flow throughout the entire value stream.

Removing waste throughout the value stream will create more efficient and effective processes which will increase productivity. This will lead to changes in resource requirements, such as fewer people, lower operating costs, reduced floor space, and increased throughput. An organization will be able to make and deliver their products and services at a lower cost and with fewer defects in comparison to a traditional non-lean business. Lean manufacturing companies have the additional capability of responding effectively to fluctuations in customer needs without affecting quality, cost, and delivery.

A misconception about lean manufacturing principles is that they can only be utilized by manufacturing companies. This is not true. Lean solutions are ideas for improvement that can be applied to any process in all business environments. Today, lean manufacturing principles are being successfully used by financial and educational institutions, healthcare, government agencies, and many other types of organizations, to help improve the delivery of their products and services to their customers.

Many organizations start off thinking of lean manufacturing as nothing more than a cost reduction program, but this often changes as they delve deeper into the implementation and integration of lean principles into their business model. They begin to realize that lean solutions have more to do with developing an organizational culture that is focused on continuous process improvement, and this will impact the way they think and act when searching for a solution.

Many companies do not actually include the word “lean” when describing their internal operating system. They prefer to use “transformation” or something similar. The reason a business will do this is to convey to their employees that lean manufacturing is not a short term program or cost reduction initiative, but a new way for the entire company to operate. The long term sustainment of a new operating system will require effective leadership, cross-functional collaboration, and perseverance.

The Question Is – What is Lean Manufacturing? is a post from: Lean Certification Online

Taiichi Ohno developed the pull system and incorporated it in the Toyota Production System (TPS). Since that time, it has become an integral principle in any Lean implementation. The Holy Grail for a Lean Enterprise is to design a business system that is capable of single piece or continuous flow. However, in reality, many companies cannot achieve this. Many have one or more shared resources, which create a serious constraint and inhibit their ability to flow. It is because of this that they work with a less than a perfect system that is not capable of supporting continuous flow. At this point, Kanban becomes an important and critical tool. It can be used to help these companies to make the transition from a batch and queue process to a system that can improve product flow. They will not have achieved perfection from a Lean purist viewpoint, but it is a better situation than what they had before.

Taiichi Ohno clearly understood one important fact when he categorized the seven wastes, it was that overproduction is the root cause of the other six wastes. He also realized that creating too much inventory increased lead times. It is these simple understandings that lead him towards the development of the pull system, using kanban. So, where did he get the idea for a pull system? While visiting the U.S. he observed a worker in a supermarket replenishing the goods on the shelves after the customers had removed them. This was the seed of the idea that eventually became what we today know as a “pull system”.

Kanban is a Japanese word which translates into “card or signal”. It becomes an important element when implementing a pull system. The purpose of a kanban is to send a signal to the person responsible for material replenishment. At each operation, there is a predefined number of products, which are being withdrawn and these will need to be replenished. For example, if a process is using a kanban quantity of 20 units, the replenishment signal could be placed at the minimum number of five units. When the kanban is uncovered, it will activate the material replenishment process to reorder the units. This minimum kanban quantity will be dependent upon the replenishment cycle time, which is the total time required to purchase or produce the 20 items and deliver them.  Once they are received, they will be used to replenish the kanban quantity to it predetermined level of 20 units. This process will be repeated every time the kanban reorder quantity of five units is reached. An ideal kanban quantity is one, but it can be any number of units, e.g. 10, 12, 20, 50,100, etc. The pull system must maintain the necessary quantities to maintain the flow of work to meet customer demand, without overproduction.

If you are interested in learning more about Lean Principles and what it takes to become a Lean Enterprise check out the Lean Certification Online website. Their training courses are online and access is available 24/7. They are offering 30 days free access to their Level 1 – Lean Awareness online training, with no obligation. Click here to sign up

What is Kanban? is a post from: Lean Certification Online

Article Summary

The decision to implement a companywide process improvement program will be made by executives, however they may or may not fully understand the needs of the business operations. It is important to present them with all the facts to help them choose the best continuous improvement tools that will fit the needs of the business and fit into the available budget.

Lean, with its focus on eliminating waste, is a quick and easy method to make changes and improve business processes. It includes problem solving and the use of the 7 quality improvement tools. Lean implementation has no internationally defined standard, however the Toyota Production System is accepted as the comparative benchmark.

On the other hand, Six Sigma is more analytical system that incorporates the DMAIC model and needs specialized training. It is going to take longer to train and implement. Implementing Six Sigma instead of a Lean program will be determined by the status of two systemic conditions i.e. process complexity and process variation. Implementing Six Sigma where Lean would better serve the employees and customers alike is similar to using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut. It would be a misapplication of company resources such as people, time and money. A global standard for Six Sigma does not exist, however, general training curriculum and implementation practices have developed over time. A good example of a lack of a global standard is how some Six Sigma certification institutions do not include a Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) module, while others do.

The integration of Lean and Six Sigma created Lean Six Sigma. It uses the principles of Lean to increase process velocity and the Six Sigma DMAIC model to reduce the negative impact of process variation. Lean Six Sigma training and application is inconsistent between different organizations. Overtime, some standardized practices have developed for training and application but there is still no official standard for Lean Six Sigma. Several business entities have became well known as a result of developing their own form of Lean Six Sigma with their own name. However, is a system by any another name still maintaining the Lean Six Sigma focus? 

The only way to know if any system can do this is to look at the results. A critique of a company’s financial statement is the best performance and capability measure for the success or failure of any continuous improvement program. If it can’t meet this criterion, then avoid it.

Implementing Lean Six Sigma, a good or bad business choice? Part 5 is a post from: Lean Certification Online

The concept of Just in Time (JIT) and lean manufacturing training methods have been attributed to Henry Ford, who started researching and developing more efficient production methods in 1910.  Ford created an automobile manufacturing system to build the Model T that was called a moving assembly line. The introduction of Ford’s production system at the Highland Park Plant took production output from 19,000 cars in 1910 to 78,440 by 1912. Ford was producing one Model T every 12 hours. His methods were so successful that Ford soon became one of the richest men in the United States. How did Henry Ford deliver lean training to his employees?

One of the main problems facing Ford was that many of his workers were unable to read or write, and many were immigrants who did not speak English. Ford decided to divide the labor into small repeatable tasks, and each employee received on the job lean training, learning through a process of direct observation and practice. His version of lean training took a long time, especially if an employee did not speak English. Each Ford worker was a specialist and trained to perform a specific task. The work was so repetitive and monotonous that employee morale was low and many workers quit their jobs after a few months. This affected the production numbers because it took time to train new employees and get them up to speed. Some estimates say Ford was spending as much as $100 to train each new employee, which was a considerable sum of money at the time. How did Henry Ford deal with his employee morale and training problems?

Henry Ford introduced a series of employee incentives. He believed these would allow him to retain his skilled employees and be able to encourage the best people to work for him. His main incentive was to introduce a profit sharing plan which increased an employee’s wages to $5 a day, which was double the acceptable pay rate at that time. Ford’s employee turnover and absenteeism problems soon disappeared.  He introduced classes to teach English, math, and writing skills to his employees. This created a more stable and skilled workforce which increased productivity and reduced production costs. Between 1914 and 1916, Ford’s profits doubled from $30 million to $60 million, and he could produce a car at the rate of one every 93 minutes. By the year 1920 Ford could manufacture one car every 60 seconds.

After World War II, Toyota, a Japanese car manufacturer was making new strides by adopting many of Henry Ford’s ideas and developing them to a new level. Just like Henry Ford, Toyota realized that the success of their business was rooted in the skill and attitude of their employees towards producing a quality product. Toyota moved its business focus to become people centric. This led to employees receiving Just in Time (JIT) or lean training from experts in their field.  Eventually, Toyota developed offline classrooms within their facilities to deliver lean training to their employees before being allowed to work on the assembly line. Toyota believed that by doing this, their employees would become more productive and quality focused. Their belief was correct! Today, Toyota’s manufacturing methods, known as the Toyota Production System (TPS), have become accepted as a world class standard for Just in Time (JIT) and lean training throughout every industry. Before you sign up for any lean training courses make sure the foundation for the training program is based on methods from the Toyota Production System (TPS).

Lean Training is a post from: Lean Certification Online

Here are the 10 implementation steps to become a Lean Enterprise.

Step 1 – Strategy Deployment.
Step 2 – Value Stream Mapping.
Step 3 – Workplace Organization.
Step 4 – Process Flow.
Step 5 – Quick Changeover.
Step 6 – Pull System.
Step 7 – Balanced Workload.
Step 8 – Standard Work
Step 9 – Continuous Improvement.
Step 10 – Extend Lean into Supply Chain.

Lean Enterprise in 10 Easy Steps is a post from: Lean Certification Online