This is a very good question, but rather above my pay grade, and typically, this is why we need a sensei. Have you got one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You see, this question touches upon several different principles of lean practice and lean learning. And ultimately much of the answer depends on your personal point of view. First, let me latch on to the idea of applying lean principles. On paper, this sounds clear and simple. The rub is that lean is a practice, as my father keeps repeating, and not a theory. This means that \u201capplying\u201d the principles can be problematic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can\u2019t count the times when I\u2019ve been working with guys at the gemba in a new situation (or, occasionally, in an old situation, which is really embarrassing) trying hard to apply a lean principle such as, say, flow, or stop-at-defect. And when I\u2019ve shared our efforts with my father (yes, I know, my father is my sensei \u2013 sigh!) he\u2019ll roll his eyes and wonder what possessed me to advise this or that. But I\u2019ve applied the principle, I complain. And then he\u2019ll ask if I\u2019ve noticed this<\/em>. Because, in this case, the principle applies completely the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The issue here is that lean principles and goals can\u2019t just simply be \u201capplied,\u201d they are interpreted, and there is usually a great need for wisdom in their interpretation. So-called \u201creal\u201d lean is in fact far more of a tradition than a theory. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so important to have a connection to this tradition and to seek to inscribe oneself within its bounds, as opposed to interpreting it as feels more comfortable. That\u2019s why senseis are so important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n … lean principles and goals can\u2019t just simply be \u201capplied,\u201d they are interpreted, and there is usually a great need for wisdom in their interpretation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Fake Lean<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Recently, I was struggling with a completely new environment with managers who were obsessed with productivity (of course). I didn\u2019t quite know where to start, and asked my father, who said to start as we always do: accidents and customer complaints. We did that, which uncovered a number of findings, which led to kaizens to improve operator ergonomics. I had told the managers that they should see productivity results show up as they improved the ergonomics of their working cells. When this did not happen, I couldn\u2019t figure out why and discussed it again with my father. Are the operators stabilized in one zone, he asked? Or are they moved around across the plant for flexibility\u2019s sake? I went back to the gemba to check, and of course found out that operators could be moved from one station to another within the day according to the MRP- calculated work orders. As long as a team of operators doesn\u2019t \u201cown\u201d a cell, and doesn\u2019t see that they\u2019ll get the benefits from their own kaizen efforts in their own workplace, they\u2019re unlikely to get involved. Furthermore, productivity simply won\u2019t progress as long as operators are isolated across the shop because any time won on a single operation cannot be reorganized in a way to gain a full person, and make real productivity improvement. Ohno, in The Toyota Production System, had explained long ago that reducing half an operator\u2019s workload was not productivity until we could take the full person away to another job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon reflection I realized that I had been befuddled both on the \u201crespect\u201d front (involving operators in the success of the improvements) and the \u201ckaizen\u201d aspect (real productivity). This \u201cpractical wisdom\u201d for fault of a better term can only be learned through practice with a teacher. This a core issue to lean<\/em>, and is why lean remains fundamentally interpretative and linked to people<\/em>. Principles can be codified and are a good place to start, but without the correct interpretation, they lead to nonsensical solutions more often than not. The sensei\u2019s opinion is the obvious test method to know whether you\u2019re doing \u201creal\u201d lean or \u201cfake\u201d lean. And again, what can appear as nuances of a principle can end up with radically different results when you end up applying it in practice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Principles can be codified and are a good place to start, but without the correct interpretation, they lead to nonsensical solutions more often than not\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n But what if you haven\u2019t got access to a sensei? I\u2019m often asked this question, and never quite sure what to answer, beyond: looking for a sensei is part of your lean journey. I realize how frustrating this answer can be, so I\u2019ll go out on a limb and suggest some possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you work as a consultant in production, whether manufacturing or services, then I\u2019d say the test method is pretty straightforward: do your clients learn to see muri, mura, and muda and to reduce them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all, if you work in a production environment and as result of your consulting, frontline managers develop a greater sensitivity to muri, mura, and muda and find specific good ideas to reduce these (muda is usually the result of a combination of muri and mura), you can be confident you\u2019re doing something right. In my experience, a lot of muri can be seen at the preparation and planning stages and can be avoided proactively. Mura is more about eliminating fluctuation at the operational level. Muda tends to show up when the process is in place and seen by variations in output which can then be analyzed in terms of muri and mura of the system. I\u2019ve been taught that management\u2019s role is to continually self-examine operations in order to provide and improve a flexible system and connect the workforce to the customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-production Lean<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But what if you\u2019re not in a production environment? What if you try to apply lean in a completely new setting, such as IT, where there is no lean tradition? This is a discussion I recently had with Steve Bell, co-author of the great book Lean IT: Enabling and Sustaining Your Lean Transformation. <\/em>We concluded that it\u2019s tricky, but the spirit of PDCA still applies, and your question is still totally valid: how do I test my ideas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In developing lean beyond the original field of automotive production, its pioneers such as Jim Womack, Dan Jones, John Shook, Jeff Liker and others have consistently tried to test their ideas in two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not sure whether this answers your question, but from talking to the gurus over the years, I can tell you that what really gets their goat is applying lean without the PDCA spirit: the certainty that such and such principle applies and that\u2019s that. Lean is not a religion, its applying scientific practice to the realm of business. Whenever I pontificate about any lean topic, or worse, consulting success, which is frightfully easy to do, I find that they just stop listening. On the other hand, the lean gurus I know are always ready to discuss ideas and experiments and debate against real life experience or Toyota traditions. On balance, I\u2019d argue that lean gurus don\u2019t especially look down on consultants or their work, but are unimpressed by the cookie-cutter approach of most consultants. If there is one common theme that binds all \u201creal\u201d lean practitioners it is turning the PDCA wheel. I\u2019m willing to bet that if you frame your questions in that way the lean gurus will be as patient (and forgiving) with you as they\u2019ve been with me!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Gemba Coach:\n
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\nI am a lean consultant who is totally dedicated to applying the lean principles. Unfortunately most lean gurus who I encounter seem to look down on our work. They argue that consultants like me don\u2019t do \u201creal\u201d lean. \u00a0Where do you weigh in on this? Are they being too snobby? Should I work to be more authentic in my practice?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"11647,12523,7421,7585,12639,11735","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n