COMPETING Blog

Tour of Shingo Prize winning Tobyhanna Army Depot, Thursday August 8, 2013

Where:  Tobyhanna Army Depot, 11 Hap Arnold Blvd  Tobyhanna, PA 18466

When:  Plan to meet at the entrance gate of the depot between 8 and 8:15, Thursday August 8, 2013

What:  We will tour areas of the facility focusing on their best practices

Who:  Maximum of 3 per member company.  If you are not a U.S. citizen entrance to the base may be a problem.

Why:  We learn by direct observation and listening.  This will be a terrific opportunity to do both.

Our Contact:  Brad Jones
Director for Productivity Improvement and Innovation
Tobyhanna Army Depot
570-615-7863

Lean Tinkers by Bob Emiliani

Lean Tinkers

Oh kaizen, dear kaizen, what has happened to you? This beautiful, human-centered process for learning, creativity, teamwork, and making improvements, both large and small, has been reduced to a yet another tool used incorrectly by managers. Lean thinkers? Hardly. Lean tinkers? More than you can imagine. How do I know this? Let me explain.

In the graduate-level Lean leadership course that I teach each semester, I ask my students, almost all of whom are full-time working professionals, the following question about kaizen: “How is kaizen understood and applied by senior managers in your organization?” Here are some of their responses (edited for clarity):

“Senior management seems to allow kaizen rather than encourage it. As they see it, kaizen is an activity to be used by the operations team to fix problems. People use kaizen to fix specific problems, instead of for continuous improvement. Unfortunately, the director of finance has been able to squash ideas that have come from kaizen.”

“Senior management uses kaizen as a way of fixing the systems and processes that are not working, not to improve any and all processes. Kaizen is done in isolation. There will be a ‘kaizen event,’ then no review, or no time for continuous improvement. Senior management does not participate in kaizen or attend daily close-out meetings. Kaizen is reserved for operations and does not extend to finance or sales.”

“Kaizen is understood in my company as a fast, once-a-quarter approach to reducing cost. Kaizen is used infrequently and never checked on to see if improvements actually stuck or could be improved even more.”

“If kaizen occurs, most of the senior managers will ignore it or say it requires more money to make the changes. Middle managers have to fight with senior managers to do kaizen and implement the results.”

“Their idea of a kaizen is to come to our shops and make changes they thought were necessary without any consultation from the people that work there. They don’t believe in accessing the knowledge of the people who do the job every day.”

“Improving processes is corrupted by the organization’s goal save money. No attention is given to supervisor development or coaching, and it lacks top management support. Kaizen is job elimination under the guise of process improvement. They have failed to eliminate batch-and-queue processes.”

“We are unable to do kaizen without the boss’s approval. There is no reward for ideas. They blame people when processes don’t work. Certain people are seen as problem-solvers, while the rest are seen as problem-causers. In this environment, few people make suggestions for fear of being blamed or losing their job.”

“What we have are ‘kaizen events,’ which are just that; ‘events’ that have a start and end date with specific goals to achieve. Once the ‘event’ is over and the goals achieved, everyone involved gets a certificate and a round of applause, and that is the end of it. Our ops manager does mention that we all should continue and build on the improvements made, but expectations are not established and there are no follow-up discussions.”

“Managers don’t support and attend the kaizen. They expect changes to be made by the group of people involved in the kaizen, which never happens, and management doesn’t follow up. People think kaizen is a joke. There was a kaizen for changing around our whole area which was supposed to be attended by the president of the company, but was postponed twice due to conflicts which his schedule. When the kaizen finally happened, the president never attended or showed his face in any facet of the kaizen.”

“Senior managers don’t understand kaizen correctly because they don’t accept suggestion from others. They accept only their own suggestions.”

“In our monthly meetings, the workers get slammed publicly if they don’t participate in kaizen.”
This is wrong, all wrong. Who taught these managers kaizen? How did so many senior managers mangle kaizen? This seems more the result of management performed as a hobby rather than management practiced as a profession. This is not kaizen. It is something else and deserves its own name, one that reflects an activity that goes nowhere: “Möbius kaizen,” after the Möbius strip, a one-sided surface with one edge.

Managers think they are doing something new and different with kaizen, but because they misunderstand and use it incorrectly the business ends up where it was before kaizen – lacking the ability to improve its processes. The general state of management and leadership remain unchanged as well. No learning has taken place, and kaizen has had no real impact in these organizations – other than to be seen as a joke or as a means to lay people off.

Lean management requires curiosity and imagination. The few examples of REAL Lean that we have, and the many examples of Fake Lean, indicate there is very little curiosity or imagination among the leaders of organizations. As the above answers illustrate, kaizen is used by most senior managers to conform, not to transform people, processes, and the business.

If managers are not undergoing profound personal transformations in thinking and doing as a result of kaizen, like a caterpillar to a butterfly, then something is terribly wrong. As Art Byrne says, “Kaizen is good for you.” I agree. But, that is true only if kaizen is understood and practiced correctly. Our collective, decades-long effort to create Lean thinkers – butterflies – among senior managers has fallen far short. Even the most optimistic among us must concede that. What we have done instead is create legions of Lean tinkers – we have been feeding hungry caterpillars that refuse to undergo metamorphosis.

We have a major failure to analyze, but A3 reports are inadequate because they do not examine managers’ beliefs and untested assumptions, decision-making traps, and the different forms of illogical thinking that contribute to the observed effect. My A4 failure analysis method (see Moving Forward Faster, Appendix IV) is a much better choice for this type of problem.

I will ask my graduate students to analyze this failure and let you know the outcome. In the meantime, why don’t you try to determine the root causes and identify practical countermeasures. Maybe together we can figure out how to transform legions of Lean tinkers into many more Lean thinkers.
__________

Go to Bob’s website for more bobemiliani.com

How did Australia Post reduce unit costs by 30%?

Contributor:  Michael Fromberg
Posted:  04/29/2013  12:00:00 AM EDT  |  0

Michael Fromberg

Interview by Alex Holderness for PEX Network

How have you reduced unit costs by 30% – that’s the question I put to Michael Fromberg, Head of Shared Services at Australia Post recently. He explained the results go beyond cost figures: “We’ve also seen our service levels and the quality of our service improve quite dramatically as a result of the work we’ve done.”

Michael’s going to share a presentation during Australia’s Process Excellence 2013 around what’s been done within shared services, as part of the Lean Six Sigma programme to achieve these results. Here’s a preview of how he’s been driving improvement at every level:

Alex Holderness, PEX Network: How have you embedded a culture of change across the organisation that supports improvement and embraces shared services?

Michael Fromberg: To start with, what we’re trying to do is get an appropriate level of process improvement capability and targets within each level within shared services, in that individual team members sphere of control. We have an expectation that they contribute to process improvement, come up with ideas and participate in the root
cause analysis and the solution design of new processes. This is done by working with their team mates, or their team members, under the guidance of their team leader. (more…)

Network meeting June 13, 2013 at Reading Area Community College

A full day of training focusing on the people side of lean.  The objective is to provide attendees with an understanding of what it takes to gain and maintain allies to their Continuous Improvement (Lean) efforts.

In addition, we will have a Skype videocast with Mark Graban, the host of the Lean Blog, and author of the “Lean Hospital”.  Mark has spoken at the National Shingo Prize conference and the Northeast Shingo Prize conference.  Mark is an exceptional speaker and prolific blogger on lean and specifically lean in healthcare. “about Mark Graban”:  http://www.leanblog.org/about/about-mark-graban/

The training will focus on the people side of lean, about creating and sustaining a favorable environment for continuous improvement.  Training subjects will include:  Respect, gaining Trust, Empowerment vs Accountability, Encouraging while reprimanding, Idea Systems and if time allows the Shingo Prize Criteria.

Who: up to three attendees per company – target audience is Supervisors, front-line managers, lead people, and leadership.

What:  We need people to understand, trust and continually support continuous improvement.  This day will focus on some key people skills which, when used properly, help to gain and maintain allies, evolving  a continuous improvement effort into a continuous improvement culture. Some simulations and role playing will be scattered throughout the day.

Where:  Reading Area Community College, 10 S Second St., Reading, PA, Schmidt Training & Technology Center building, Room T118.

When:  Thursday, 6.13.13 from 9 a.m. – 4:00 p.m

Please contact Dwight to register.  Registration is critical to logistical planning of the event so PLEASE let me know if you plan or do not plan to attend.

 

Competing – Empowerment and Accountability

Play

Empowerment and Accountability:  Opposites or equals?  Certainly when not handled appropriately, these important “people-related” concepts can make the “soft side” of continuous improvement into the “hard-side”.    In this podcast we will explore both Empowerment and Accountability from the Lean perspective.

 

Empowerment

Why empower?

  • Because management cannot see everything; they need help and lots of it.
  • Because even if management could see everything, they would not have enough time to fix everything on their own.
  • Because we are wasting valuable experience and intelligence if we don’t leverage the knowledge and creativity of our most important resource, our people.

Empowerment is defined as the process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, take action, and control work and decision-making in autonomous ways. It is the state of feeling self-empowered to take control of one’s own destiny.

In his wonderful book “Managing to Learn” John Shook speaks of his epiphany when his boss told him “Never tell your staff exactly what to do.  Whenever you do that, you take responsibility away from them.”  Empowerment’s aim is reassigning responsibility while growing the skills of our work allies, with the objective of achieving an “Everybody Everyday” type improvement environment.

So why is it that more of our people are not empowered to do things that, frankly, they can do much better than we can?

Sometimes Supervisors and Managers feel threatened by the thought of surrendering authority.  I frequently have heard “if I give away my authority (power), I will have nothing left.” You could add to that “and I won’t be needed”. Just because you think “command and control” is not the best systems, it does not mean you have a new management system to replace it.

Some who have dabbled in empowerment have not had much luck actually empowering people; I really mean luck because very often there is no associated process or system to empower.  Without a process or system, some people and circumstances may work out great, but, sadly, most people and circumstances are not so lucky. Allowing empowerment to exist without a process or system that includes expected outcomes and the coaching required to achieve those outcomes, can create an atmosphere of entitlement that can ruin our culture.

 

Accountability

To successfully empower someone, we must also assign accountability.  Empowerment with no associated expectations, or no scoreboard, is confusing and ineffective.  As a culture we are used to and generally like to keep score, it is normal.

But assigning accountability to someone is often not so simple.  This circumstance requires immense doses of both courage (for both the empowerer and the empoweree) and commitment from leadership.  In addition, without trust and follow-through this can become nearly impossible.

For our purposes I define Accountability as– answerable for outcomes.  But within the lean context it is important to support this definition through the three principals of kaizen:

A defined process with results

A systems focus

And a non-blaming, non-judgmental atmosphere.

A primary function of lean leaders and managers is to recognize how to effectively blend lean principles together with the softer sides of lean.  When we do this we set the stage for success by teaching, coaching and developing people in a way that allows them to take charge of their work and become comfortable being held accountable.  This is the way to create the talented allies necessary for a long continuous improvement journey.

Empowerment and Accountability, in our context, are not at all opposites. Together, this pair of equally important concepts, coupled with the necessary training and coaching, is critical to the success of any continuous improvement program and shows a great deal of respect for our valuable employees.  To create an environment where Empowerment can be consistently successful, we must always connect it to accountability with high expectations, in a fair and supportive manner.

Competing Empowerment & Accountability

Summary of Lean Thinking Networks meeting at Videon Central, April 4, 2013

 

The networks first visit to our newest network member did not disappoint.

We were first struck by the beautiful facility which included a workout room and a beautiful lunch/breakfast area with a view.

Both of our hosts and most attendees felt the meeting was rushed with our schedule of completion by noon.  I offered Videon  the opportunity to host later in 2013 or early in 2014 allowing a full day aw I would provide training in the afternoon.

Highlights of the tour

Videon refers to their continuous improvement program as QRM (Quick Response Manufacturing) and used several terms either new to our network or having different definitions then Lean and or the Toyota Production System.  Though semantics occasionally created some confusion, the visuals and the improvement activities look very much like to lean and the neon is off to a strong start.  I and many others were most impressed with the people and the culture being developed.

 

Thanks to everyone at Videon, especially Kent, Rob, Ian and Paul for hosting our network.

In attendance:

  • ACT
  • Adhesives Research
  • Green Leaf Enterprises
  • Misco
  • Peiffer
  • Philips Ultrasound
  • Restek
  • Rose Corporation

 

Our next meeting is scheduled for June 13, 2013 at Adhesives Research.  We are looking for a host in May.  If interested please contact me.

July we are hoping to schedule a group visit to Lycoming Engines a Shingo Prize winner.

Creating a Favorable Environment for Continuous Improvement – part 2 – Trust

Play

Competing Part 2 Trust

A favorable environment for continuous improvement is a trusting environment an environment where people feel they can take a chance and occasionally make mistakes. an environment where when a mistake is made the results are not public embarrassment or humiliation.  With the equal partners of empowerment and accountability in the background, this environment is sustained by an “I got your back” theme.  In other words, this environment uses the scientific method, plan do check act, allowing members the constant opportunity to experiment with improvement.

Without trust this environment is virtually impossible to create.  We feel trust when we can predict how someone will react and that they will react in a fair and empathetic manner.  If we cannot trust how someone will react to a situation suspicion will be the primary influencer of our reaction, a reaction based on fear and survival.

An environment without trust has high-cost, high frustration, high turnover and diminishes the total output of the business.

Trust is earned, do what you say, make your actions support your words. Reduce costs, improve quality create a better place to work.

Competing – Respect

Play

Creating a Favorable Environment for Continuous Improvement

Part 1. Respect: it’s costs and it’s value

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
– Maya Angelou

We need an environment where everyone is allowed and invited to be engaged in the process, one where empowerment and accountability are equal partners and where people feel they add value, are needed and trusted, an environment favorable for continuous improvement.

How do we know when we don’t have respect in the workplace and what are the effects?

  1. People and their ideas are devalued
  2. Accomplishments are trivialize
  3. People are not listened to
  4. People are excluded
  5. Ideas, energy and support are lost
  6. Morale is low

How can we create respect in the workplace?

According to the Gale Group Respect is:

  1. Take the time to know me.
  2. Spend time with me.
  3. Let me talk.
  4. Hear me out.
  5. Give me the opportunity to be involved in worthwhile projects.
  6. Praise my accomplishments when due.
  7. I need more than a one-time handshake.

Respect and the feeling of being respected emerge as high-quality relationships are built. And so it is in the workplace. If leaders do not lead the way–taking time to really get to know the people they work with–lack of respect will continue to undermine organizational health and effectiveness.

Network meeting Thursday April 4, 2013 @ Videon-Central in State College PA

Our newest member will be hosting the network in April

When:  Thursday April 4, 2013 from 9am until noon

Where:
Videon Central, Inc.
2171 Sandy Drive
State College, PA 16803

Phone:
(814) 235-1111

Who: Max of three attendees per member company

What: What has worked so far – brief success stories in Supply Chain, Quality Systems and Production.  Workplace organization and flow velocity will be the focus of the tour.

Why: we learn so much from new companies, who may have taken different approaches prioritizing problems and making improvements.

Read about Videon’s success story IMC Story