The Tipping Point of Lean Culture

If you haven’t read The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference yet you should. This book by Malcolm Gladwell is a must read for anyone involved in change management. The Tipping point is when an idea, trend, behavior, product, or message creates enough critical mass crossing a threshold where change becomes unstoppable. It is this epidemic of change that many seek to make their Lean journey sustainable.

Gladwell describes three rules (or agents of change) in the tipping point of epidemics:

1) The Law of a Few
According to the 80/20 principle 80% of the work will be done by 20% of the participants. This 20% who are responsible for starting word-of-mouth epidemics are described in three essential roles called connectors, mavens, and salesmen. Connectors are people with the ability to bring the world together. They know lots of people, particularly important people. Mavens are teachers and students of information with an abundance of knowledge. Salesmen are the persuaders, charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills.

2) The Stickiness Factor
Stickiness refers to the specific content and presentation of a message to make it contagious, memorable or sticky.

3) The Power of Context
Human behavior is a lot more sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. The Broken Window Theory suggests that crime is the inevitable result of disorder and my reduced by improving the environment and thus perception of the environment. Another example is the rule of 150, which is the maximum number of individuals with whom we can have a genuine social relationship.

These three elements of change are the same elements used in successful Lean transformations. Jim Womack and Daniel Jones talked of a similar action plan describing Wiremold’s transformation in the early 1990’s in their book Lean Thinking. “The trick is to find the right leaders with the right knowledge, some type of crisis to serve as a lever for change, and quickly creating dramatic change in the value-creating activities.”

The sensei is symbolic of the mavens who have the knowledge for change. Sensei’s show us how to change. The salesmen and connectors are often referred to as the change agent. They are committed to convince us to improve. In lean transformations you hear bout creating that “burning bridge” which is analogous to the stickiness factor. This is often related to protecting our jobs from global competition but there can be other crises for which change is necessary and vital. Many lean transformations start with some sort of 5S initiative which is the broken window theory of lean. You may also find value stream maps, visual factory elements, and pull systems in the beginning. These are all about changing our comfort zone in our current environment toward a Lean Thinking organization.

Gladwell concludes with this insightful comment about how an organization can support successful change:

What underlies successful epidemics, in the end, is a bedrock belief that change is possible, that people can radically transform their behavior or beliefs in the face of the right kind of impetus.


If you are not using these rules for creating a tipping point in your lean transformation this may be the reason it is not spreading like wildfire in your organization.

Strategy Deployment Video

This is the time of year in which many organizations are working on preparing the plans for the following year. It is from this process that budgets and the subsequent goals are forged. Unfortunately, many organizations suffer from improper measures of performance which are poorly communicated through out the organization. This results in confusion and a workforce not fully engaged in supporting the company's plans.

Lean's answer to this problem is Hoshin Kanri, commonly referred to as Strategy Deployment. Pascal Dennis is probably the foremost expert on Strategy Deployment with his book Getting the Right Things Done. If you have not read this Shingo Prize wining novel you are missing a way of aligning the effort of good people in a systematic way on your strategic objectives. Pascal Dennis, Author of Getting the Right Things Done was recently interviewed on this newest book explaining strategy deployment.

Lean Pathways a firm dedicated to eliminating waste in all forms where Pascal Dennis is an Associate has provided a series of videos on strategy deployment. This video series found on YouTube - Lean Pathways' Channel is from a presentation titled "How do you focus everyone on doing the right things using strategy deployment". This presentation on Lean Leadership was delivered at the Lean Transformation Summit in November of 2008 in the UK.

If you want to make your planning process more than "PowerPoint Junk" then why not listen and learn from someone who knows strategy deployment first hand.

Lean Resources at Velaction Continuous Improvement

Jeff Hajek is the founder of Velaction Continuous Improvement, a training and publishing company dedicated to making continuous improvement easier, more effective, and more rewarding for managers and their teams. He is also the author of a lean book called Whaddaya Mean I Gotta be Lean? which discusses the emotional side of Lean transformations.

Jeff found that when he started his Lean journey there was very little information on how to apply Lean in the trenches. So what began as a side project has turned into an initiative to develop the most convenient, comprehensive, interactive, Lean Six Sigma dictionary and reference guide on the Internet. The Continuous Improvement Companion is the start of this Lean Sigma Encyclopedia which chock full of need-to-know topics, ‘how-to’ tips, warnings about common pitfalls, key points to remember, examples you can relate to-and a whole lot more! It totals more than 95 pages of free information on continuous improvement to help you on your journey. You can also find many more useful topics in the Lean Dictionary that will help you as well. The online Lean Dictionary now has more than 200 terms for you reference. There are also various audio training topics that you can utilize to support your learning.

This is great resource for those in the Lean Community no matter what level of Lean knowledge you have. It is easily customizable and frequently updated with the latest most improved information. Knowledge is power and we should use this to our advantage.

Outsourcing Internal Quality Audits

The other day I was asked what I thought about outsourcing internal quality audits. I think it is worth sharing my view on this with everyone.

Internal auditing is an important tool which measures the effectiveness of the Quality Management System. A good Quality Management System (QMS) contains various reviews and checks to ensure that the QMS is working properly and achieving desired results. One well known independent check is the internal audit.

The internal audit is a requirement of the ISO 9001:2003 Standard under the section titled measurement, analysis and improvement. The standard states that internal audits are used to determine if the QMS:

· Meets the planned activities from product realization planning

· Complies to this ISO Standard

· Meets organizational requirements

· Is implemented effectively

· Is maintained effectively

While the standard spells out the need and reason for internal audits it does not indicate who can perform this function. This is not a mistake. The standard is basically a minimum set of requirements to meet. It does not tell you how to run your business. Fortunately, you have that latitude and therefore could use external services to support your business if you wish.

A recent consulting organization described their internal audit service by the following:

The Company’s Internal Quality Auditing Program allows you to focus on running your business while qualified consultants perform your internal auditing. Concentrate on your work, we'll do the rest.

My aversion to outsourcing internal quality audits comes from this notion that internal audits are not the company’s responsibility. An organization’s priorities must always be Safety, Quality, and then Productivity. Companies that recognize that good products and services come from a good QMS recognize the importance of monitoring and measuring its effectiveness. It is imperative that organizations take an active role in their QMS since it is really the foundation of their business system. Many organizations would not let others come in and run their business so why let them do so with your QMS.

With this said it can be valuable for organizations to use external expertise. Organizations often can’t be experts in everything. Many companies outsource various aspects of their business or use consultants for Lean, management practices, and other improvement initiatives. Quality and the QMS will also benefit from other expertise like auditing your QMS.

Many companies also have other reviews of their QMS from other sources. A common example of an independent review of your QMS is that done by the registrar to the standard. Another method of review of your QMS is from customer quality audits. These voice of the customer audits can be some of the most important. Companies also benchmark themselves against other companies and industries as well.

The benefit of outsourcing the internal quality audits of your QMS are not clear. It could be used to teach a company about internal audits or QMS best practices. However, in the long run this activity must be something that can be transitioned back to the company. If you are not doing the outsourcing as a way to learn new skills or knowledge then anything else is just a short term cost savings activity at the risk of long term quality management. The organization can benefit more by directly being involved in ensuring their QMS is providing the results they desire from their customers point of view.

Organizations should make it a priority to measure and monitor their QMS effectiveness from those who must use the system. Failure to do so can result in not meeting your customer’s expectations. This is where companies many find they lose customers to their competitors.

I am interested to hear what others think about outsourcing internal quality audits. Share your experience and thoughts by leaving a comment.

Lean Exercise on Continuous Improvement using Tennis Balls

During a recent training event we had a team building exercise to break the ice and get to know each other as part of the introductions. This was a simple exercise but it taught a powerful Lean lesson of team work, direct involvement, and continuous improvement. I am always looking for great exercises to use in various settings and thought I would share this with others who could use it. This exercise involves passing tennis balls within a group where the goal is to perform this action as quickly as possible.

When I went to do this post I did a quick search on the internet for “The Tennis Ball Exercise” and found a couple people had already commented on this exercise. Since it makes no sense to redo what others have already done I will share their work instead.

Ralph Bernstein at the Lean Insider posted on the tennis ball exercise with several photos from an event about 6 months ago.

Robert Forder loaded a detailed explanation of the exercise in power point on the lean in education forum at LEI about a year ago.

The Tennis Ball Exercise is a simple, low cost exercise that can be used to teach any one no matter education, language, or culture. It will break the ice, help teams form, and get people involved while teaching the “we can” attitude that so necessary in continuous improvement.

Problem Solving Rules

Murphy’s law is an adage that broadly states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." It is therefore inevitable that businesses must solve problems. One of the key characteristics of successful organizations is effective problem solving. Many in the Lean community optimistically refer to problems as opportunities for improvement. As I always say TPS is the “Thinking People System.” Lean companies understand that solving problems are expected.

Norman Bodek, author and the President of PCS Press shares some rules to problem solving in a recent article in MoldMaking Technology.

The power of lean manufacturing resides in the philosophy that all employees should be involved in solving problems. Toyota recognizing this philosophy developed a system called Jidoka, which gives all workers the power to stop the line and all other employees from working until the problem is resolved.

When do you train your personnel in problem solving? How do you train them in problem solving? Dr. Ryuji Fukuda, VP of Production at Sumitomo Electrics says "The best time to train workers is when an error is first detected. It also is the best time to solve a problem." He refers to this activity as On-Error-Training (OET).

The following five rules are necessary to make OET work successfully in your shop.

Self Rule – The responsibility of finding the root cause of the problem must be from the worker who first detects the problem. They must stop the line and get their coworkers to help.

Quickly Rule – It is important to solve the problem immediately when the information is right at hand.

Actually Rule – You must replay the process that transpired before the defect occurred and try to re-create the defect. Management must challenge and empower the worker who detected the problem to take the prime role of problem solving in order to learn.

Support Rule – Everyone must stop working and support the primary problem solver in the process of finding the root cause and determining appropriate countermeasures.

Don’t Speak Rule – Management (supervisors and managers) must not come up with all the answers. Allow the discoverer and coworkers the time to discuss the problem and a chance to solve it. If they get stuck then management can offer suggestions.

This simple process will help you reduce quality defects, empower your work force, and create a learning organization. It can only be effective if people are allowed to stop line and eliminate the root cause of the defect. I like to use the phrase “You, Me, Now, at the Source.” In the long run you will be much better off resolving issues as they occur.

Visual Board for Production Supplies

In our work environments it can be far too easy to be complacent in our surroundings. Many companies are trying to find ways to manage their production or service costs. We need supplies to do our jobs and many times we are unfamiliar with the cost of these supplies. Unfornuately ordering of supplies is usually done by some central procurement function removed from production. Below is visual board from a recent factory visit where the production supplies, part numbers, and their costs are displayed.

This is a quick and easy solution to get employees familiar with the cost of various items in their work place and involved in managing the cost of these supplies. Information is empowering in this case.

Some may say that with standard work the exact usage of these items may be better regulated. I would agree they are right. The issue is not every organization implements standard work on the first day of their Lean Journey. This visual system can help where standard work is not yet in practice.

What methods do you use to involve employees in the cost and usage of consumable production or service supplies?