Lean Journey Takes Time, Leadership
Manufacturers have always sought to improve their processes. During Japan's post World War II reconstruction, the Toyota Motor Company organized and named the principles known as lean manufacturing.
The essence of lean is minimizing waste – that is, reducing activities and the use of resources that don't add value to a product, where value is defined solely by the customer's requirements. Many manufacturers believe lean is suited only to the biggest companies. But most firms with $20 million or more in revenues can benefit from a lean implementation.
A Journey
Most companies that embark on a lean implementation start with the "5S" tasks, which create a neat, clean, well-ordered workplace. The first four - sort, set in order, shine and standardize - are relatively painless, offering opportunities for all to participate and producing quick results for all to see.
The fifth "S" is "sustain" – and that's more difficult. In order to sustain a war on waste over the long haul, each department must look at every process, take it apart, remake it and document what is happening. It must verify its results, make them standard, celebrate success and repeat the process continually.
But after a first flush of 5S success, higher hurdles usually appear, and managers and employees can become distracted, bored or impatient.
Lead Cultural Changes
A lean implementation is a waste of time if owners aren't committed to it for the long haul. Because lean manufacturing changes a company's fundamental culture, it can easily take 10 years to accomplish.
One key element of this culture shift is real empowerment of employees. A lean operation relies on employees to intervene in the process when they spot a defect – a sea change in industries where stopping the line has long been viewed as a cardinal sin.
Or consider the matter of assigning personal blame for mistakes. Nearly universal in western culture, this practice leads to sharp personal criticism and attempts to cover up errors. But lean manufacturers in Japan and elsewhere celebrate and reward the discovery of errors – not to apportion blame, but to repair the causes.
"Pull" organization, letting customer demand drive decisions in production, sales and every other area, is another culture shift. Lean manufacturing isn't focused on maximizing every machine's uptime, but rather on giving the customer continuous value.
Lean leaders structure their supply chains on this basis, too. Rather than fret about the dangers of overreliance, they enlist their vendors as partners in the enterprise who strive to supply parts and materials whenever they're needed.
Finally, to be successful, lean manufacturing requires building a culture of operational excellence. Making a product right the first time is cheaper than rework – that's easy to say, but harder to instill throughout an organization, which is why a lean implementation takes time. But the benefits of lean are undeniable, and those companies who make the journey stand to gain significantly.
Lean manufacturing targets waste centers:
- Overproduction. When a department works "just-in-case" instead of just-in-time, it produces more than is needed for the next downstream activity
- Excessive inventory. Insistence on large runs, though intuitively efficient, can keep good customers waiting and fill a warehouse with excess stock
- Waiting. Poor scheduling, unplanned maintenance, misused automation, upstream mistakes and long setup times can leave workers idle
- Production errors. When an employee spots a malformed part, how long does it take to stop producing more of them
- Excessive transportation. Irrational floor plans and poor scheduling require extra materials movement
- Excessive motion. Some manufacturing operations keep workers busy – but doing what? Motion doesn't equal productivity
- Overprocessing. Too much attention to detail can be as wasteful as too little
