A Tribute to Eli Goldratt

This weekend a true pioneer in process and business improvement passed away. From the Goldratt-TOC website:

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Dr. Eli Goldratt the founder of TOC. Eli passed away on 11 June 2011.

"I smile and start to count on my fingers: One, people are good. Two, every conflict can be removed. Three, every situation, no matter how complex it initially looks, is exceedingly simple. Four, every situation can be substantially improved; even the sky is not the limit. Five, every person can reach a full life. Six, there is always a win-win solution. Shall I continue to count?"

Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt 1947- 2011

The Goal was one of the first books I read early in my career.  I highly recommend this book for anyone involved in process improvement. 

In a tribute to Eli Goldratt I thought I would share some posts I did highlighting his teachings:

Lean Quote: Change: Isn't it Obvious 
Do you know how to handle your constraint?
Lean Quote: The Bottleneck 
The Eight Wastes of NPD 
Is it the End of an Era or Just another Lesson? 

Even though this Guru has passed his lessons will continue for generations.  Who could forget the lessons of "Herbie" and that of problem solving.  

How did Eli impact your Lean thinking? Share you story here.


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Lean Quote: Lean Requires Patience, Practice, Sharing

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"The practice of patience toward one another, the overlooking of one another's defects, and the bearing of one another's burdens is the most elementary condition of all human and social activity in the family, in the professions, and in society." — Lawrence Lovasik

The other day I saw this video on TV that had a compelling message that relates to the approach we need to take when implementing Lean.

Based on a true story, this poignant moment in a concert hall reminds us how even the most embarrassing situations can be turned around with a little patience and encouragement.

Click picture to go to video.

From Values.com Patience, Practice, and Sharing can be defined as:

Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. 

Practice is a learning method that can lead to perfection.

Sharing is having a portion of something with another or others.

The Foundation for a Better Life began as a simple idea to promote positive values. They believe that people are basically good and just need a reminder. And that the values we live by are worth more when we pass them on.

Lean thinking is difficult transition to make in many organizations.  From dealing with naysayers to finding early supporters to help convert the rest the challenge is the same.  If you can reflect back on this video's message and that of the quote it will help you in this transition.  Lean thinking requires patience, practice, and sharing to be successful.  Build confidence through encouragement.


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Who Wants To Be A Lean Millionaire

A couple weeks ago at EASTEC my friends at GBMP held a unique learning opportunity.  The idea was to combine the format of the Millionaire game show with Lean thinking.  This trivia game was complete with the help of 50:50, phone a friend, and the poll.  They had several levels from beginner to advanced so everyone could participate in the fun.

If you were able to answer all the questions then you won this t-shirt:

GBMP is always finding creative ways to teach Lean thinking from their Toast Kaizen Video (which they did in person at the show last year) to their hands on exercises.  If you want more you should attend the Northeast Shingo Prize Conference this fall.  I had a great experience last year and I look forward to this year's conference.  The theme is about showing how and why America can regain a leadership position for productivity and quality in a global marketplace.

Lessons For Turning Crisis Into Opportunity

Toyota Under Fire takes you beyond the headlines and into the offices and factories of Toyota to reveal the truth behind the company's highly publicized and controversial recall of nine million vehicles last year.

Jeffery Liker, the author of Toyota Way, and Timothy Ogden co-author this historic case study providing new insight into Toyota's culture. Toyota Under Fire chronicles the events of the recession and the recall crisis in detail, providing valuable lessons any business leader can use to survive and thrive in a crisis, no matter how large:

• Crisis response must start by building a strong culture long before the crisis hits.
• Culture matters far more than decisions made by top executives.
• Investing in people, even in the depths of a recession, is the surest path to long-term profitability.

The books consists of five roughly chronological chapters:

1.      The Most Admired Company in the World

2.      The Oil Crisis and the Great Recession

3.      The Recall Crisis

4.      Response and the Road to Recovery

5.      Lessons

This book provides a clear account of the crisis amid a litany of heresy.   They get to the truth by going to the source, or what we call genchi gunbutsu - go and see for yourself to learn what is really going on.  Toyota Under Fire is a very well researched and detailed book.

I particularly enjoyed the last chapter where Jeff and Tim provide a comprehensive analysis of what others can learn from Toyota about crisis management and turning crisis into opportunity. They summarize four main lessons to be learned from how this crisis was handled:

Lesson 1: Your Crisis Response Started Yesterday

Turning crisis into opportunity is all about culture. It's not about PR strategies, or charismatic leadership, or vision, or any specific action by any individual. It's about the actions that have been programmed into the individuals and teams that make up a company before the crisis starts.

Lesson 2: A Culture of Responsibility Will Always Beat a Culture of Finger-Pointing

By not pointing fingers Toyota was able to turn the energy from the crisis from anger or despair to positive improvement energy. The starting point was to take care of customers. Then energy turned to looking in each function and finding opportunities for improvement to respond more quickly to every customer concern, whether rooted in technical defects or customer perception.

Lesson 3: Even the Best Culture Develops Weaknesses

Toyota's investment in a shared culture of continuous improvement is remarkable and practically unique.  But, the company still encountered difficulties that were directly attributable to weaknesses in their culture.  The greatest threat to a culture of continuous improvement is success.

Lesson 4: Globalizing Culture Means a Constant Balancing Act

Developing a shared corporate culture across varied national cultures is perhaps the biggest challenge facing modern multinational corporations.  The balance between centralized and decentralized, global and local is even harder than most people think.  It was out of this balance toward too much centralization and where they took bold actions to provide more power and influence to local leaders.

Challenge is the source of energy to go beyond goodness to greatness.  After a crisis the goal is never a steady state of returning to the status quo.  That's perhaps the final and most important lesson of turning a crisis into an opportunity.

Toyota Under Fire is highly recommended business leaders, Lean thinkers, and those interested in learning from crisis management.  I believe the message of this book will serve as an essential lesson on the importance business culture and crisis management for all students of business.

Get Yours Today!

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Lean Practiced at Your Home Away From Home

Many Lean practitioner remark about the examples of Lean thinking they find in their travels.  I recently had a trip away from home for training (USA hockey Coaches training) where I found some examples worth sharing.

Here is a good example of a simple poka yoke and standard work posted at point of use. So first of all the black disc is heavy like paper weight so it keeps the cord on the desk where you want it.  They slide a simple rubber grommet over the connector to prevent the cord from sliding through the hole in the black disc.  The disc has the instructions printed on it so that you can easily connect to the internet.

Here is an example of a kanban signal.  Hotels try to conserve energy and water by reducing the number of laundry runs.  They do this by giving the hotel guest the option to use their towels and linens  multiple times if they stay multiple nights.  So in this case you place this card on the bed if you want to tell the hotel maid to change the linens or towels.  It signals replenishment from their inventory of clean linens.  On the back of the card (not pictured) are the instructions explaining this process.

Here is an example of point of use storage and standard work instructions.  Next to the coffee machine in the room are the coffee supplies.  Everything you need is neatly stored in one place.  All coffee machines are different so the hotel has printed and placed instructions for operating this machine locally to avoid confusion.

The last example is that of a visual indicator.  This placard can be put on your door to indicate that you are still sleeping in your room and you don't want to be interrupted.  By placing this signal on the door the maid knows to skip your room and go to the next available room.

These examples which are common in many hotels certainly make traveling and staying away from home easier.  You can also see how it helps the hotel provide the service you need during your stay. As a Lean practitioner I am always interested in examples of Lean thinking. They can serve as great learning opportunities.  We are often surrounded by them but struggle to recognize them. Can you recognize Lean thinking around you?


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Lean Quote: Cure the Fear with Learning

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

Most people would rather live with a problem they can’t solve than accept a solution they can’t understand." — R.E.D. Woolsey and H.S. Swanson

Fear of unknown, consequent failure and complacency are some of the major reasons for resisting change. There are some people out there who have no fear of the unknown, and who can simply decide logically what they want to do and do it, but for the rest of us, we have to make the unfamiliar feel familiar.

This fear can be diffused through open discussion and successful improvement events. Employees will go along with change more readily if they feel responsible for its implementation. Few people oppose something they helped develop. Employees’ involvement in successful endeavors will motivate others in the facility to join the journey and begin to implement change on their own. Ask employees for their time, ideas, and suggestions to make certain that a positive environment for change is created. Change is best done through reasonable increments and initial successes. Let people be active participants and become responsible for the new way of doing things.

People are normally very open to new solutions which they are familiar with or which they know they can easily understand and learn, but are averse to the opposite. Make the unfamiliar familiar through effective learning. You will find this is not dependent on how hard or easy the solution is to learn but how well the solution and method for learning/embracing is presented. One of the best ways to bring this about is to involve the people in the solution finding process, being receptive to their feedback on the problem, and the prospective solutions they are looking at.

Going ahead with implementing a solution that the people don't understand will not do anyone any good. Forcing them to accept and learn it will only make them rebellious and resentful. Consequently, they will rather live with the problem than work to resolve it.

I have learned the fear of the unknown is natural and we must overcome this fear through learning and understanding.


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Teaching Kids Standard Work in Our Schools

I am not sure how many of you have elementary age kids but I have 3 lovely kids that age. Every time I visit their classrooms I notice all the visuals. They use visuals throughout their learning process. Whether it is learning the alphabet, weather, time, dates, reading or whatever else the topic it is visual. Elementary classrooms are run very much like or Lean factories with regard to visuals and organization. The use of labels help the kids learn new words but also keep the classroom organized. Everything in a classroom has a home and everything is in its place. All the children know this very well.

A recent trip reminded me of the importance of establishing standard work. If you want people to behave in a certain way or do something in a particular manner than you need to use standard work. Here is an example of standard work at my son’s 2nd grade class.

It is mounted on their desk in the top right corner clearly visible. The kids don’t have to remember all the steps in the morning routine because it is right in front of them. It gets the kids organized and ready to start learning without wasting any time.

Standard work is highly effective at establishing a means to do something that everyone can follow. It also makes it easy to identify when someone is not following the process. Where is standard work used in your daily life to create a routine?



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