| Volume 8 No. 11 November 2007 www.superfactory.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In This Issue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| From the Editor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Our friend Norman Bodek, who translated some of the original Shingo and Ohno texts into English, just returned from another study mission to Japan. I've asked him to write a series of articles on his observations, and the first one is below. He has also just published another book by Shingo, which is this month's featured book. And finally, Superfactory has launched a new Jobs Board, which already has over 200 lean-oriented jobs. Take a look at the available jobs, or post your own openings for a $10 fee (the minimum amount allowed by the system, to avoid spam jobs) to access about 5,000 lean-oriented Superfactory visitors per day. Visit the Superfactory Jobs Board. As always we appreciate your support for our mission to spread manufacturing excellence knowledge. Click here for more information on sponsorships. - Kevin Meyer |
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| Manufacturing Excellence News | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In the Blog | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join the other 3,000 readers who get their daily dose of blunt manufacturing reality by subscribing to the Evolving Excellence blog! Recent posts in the Evolving Excellence blog include:
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| Upcoming Events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Visit the Superfactory Events Calendar for the full list of events.
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| Featured Book | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking is a newly discovered classic from Dr. Shigeo Shingo, the original Lean Manufacturing genius. Never before published in English, Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking provides the single most important tool for initiating a Lean transformation, Dr. Shingo’s own Scientific Thinking Mechanism. For the first time ever, you have access to Toyota’s secret model of success; learn how to dissect the status quo so you can address the actual problem, generate innovative ideas in group environments, and learn the best way to implement solutions. This book unlocks the secret to managing creative thinking. Norman Bodek has graciously made one chapter available for free download. More Information and to download Chapter 5, From Ideas to Reality |
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| Article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This past September 1st, I led a study Mission to Japan, something I used to do on a regular basis. From these study missions, miraculously, I found Dr. Shigeo Shingo, Taiichi Ohno, Dr. Ryuji Fukuda, Dr. Yoji Akao, and many many more management geniuses. I could hardly absorb what they had to offer. But somehow, I was able to recognize their genius and to produce their books in English. From this past trip, I came back with “tons” of new information. I am overwhelmed and trying to find a way to disseminate all the things I found. I am grateful that Kevin Meyer at superfactory.com asked me to write about my learning and experiences from the study mission. I found probably the best Toyota training course available in English and I think I also found some of the real secrets that Toyota uses to motivate their employees, definitely lacking with companies in the West. Virtually every company that I know of is attempting to implement Lean in their organization but hardly any company outside of Toyota can profess to be Lean. Why? Why aren't other companies able to implement Lean? Being somewhat redundant I will answer that question to the best of my ability. Toyota managers know how to motivate and inspire people. In the West, most managers install Lean tools like Kaizen Blitz or 5S, etc. but they rarely inspire and motivate all workers to participate fully in the improvement process. From this past trip, I found over 100 small but very powerful methods that Toyota uses to motivate and inspire their people. Let us take a few examples. One is called 3 Gen; Gen equals actual -- actual site, actual item and actual situation. Mr. Toyoda, former chairman of Toyota, was told by his plant manager of a problem that occurred on the plant floor. Instead of just relying on what the plant manager told him, Mr. Toyoda immediately went to the plant floor to see for himself. It is not that he lacked trust in the plant manager. No, Mr. Toyoda knew that “seeing is believing” and that the only way a person really learns is from experience. So Mr. Toyoda went to the factory floor, to the actual site where the problem occurred, and looked at the exact item that caused the problem, and asked the worker to explain exactly how the situation occurred. He learned from his own observation. How would similar situations like this be handled by a senior executive your company? |
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| Featured Evolving Excellence Blog Post | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The False God Opens a New Front Over the past couple years we've been doing battle with the False God of the Almighty Algorithm. This initially stemmed from a conversation with the owner of a small manufacturing company that insisted he needed to implement a complex MRP system in order to be successful. As we demonstrated, after using lean manufacturing methods to dry up inventory and reduce cycle times, running down to Staples to get a visual MRP system... a whiteboard... can be the best solution. Not convinced? I can point you to many small companies and even a couple in the $100 million range that use it for all shop floor management. Well after many months of retreat, and even battling among themselves, the false gods have opened a new front: document and compliance management software. Many of us have worked in companies with huge documentation and compliance management infrastructures. Whole departments of people doing nothing except processing SOP changes, fixing typos, and revving drawings. Then those documents need to be printed, distributed, and especially in regulated environments the down-rev documents must be collected and destroyed. Some larger companies should probably invest in forests in order to maintain a stable supply of paper. How many times have we had to wait weeks for something like "watter bath" to be corrected to "water bath" and how much time, effort, and reduction of value to the customer was involved? Then there's the compliance side of things. NCMR's being generated left and right, routed, processed... all "managed" by yet another group living in a cubicle-town. Numbers must be assigned, observations filled out, routed to have corrective action added, then implemented, then verified, and then the document is finally closed. In most cases the corrective action is something along the lines of "retrain the damn operator" so obviously the problem keeps recurring and recurring (now that's a redundant statement in itself!). The same convoluted and excessively managed process is applied to CAPA's, supplier NCMR's, internal and external audit observations, and customer complaints. What a mass, or morass, of paperwork nirvana! A whirlwind! A snow globe! You know you have a problem when you have titles like "documentation control specialist," "document expeditor," and perhaps even people dedicated to printing and collating. So what's the solution? Almost invariably it's "we need software." Some massive collection of interlocking modules to manage operating procedures, forms, and all sorts of compliance documentation. All paperless, all seamless, moving concurrently instead of serially. NCMR's could be processed so much faster, documents could hit the shop floor so much quicker. All for probably around a quarter million bucks. Yeah, right. Just like ERP/MRP implementations are always on budget, on time, providing exactly what was expected. And it will be the same process you'll want to use for the next decade, otherwise "modifications" and "enhancements" will be required. The false god rears his ugly head again. Automating the management of a problem is not managing the problem. What would happen if you didn't have NCMR's, customer complaints, and CAPA's? Or if your process documentation was so simple, so visual, that changes were rare? Impossible? Really? Are you really attacking the root cause of problems, or are you simply perpetually retraining the operator? You'd think after a couple dozen retrainings you'd realize that there might, just might, be something wrong with the process instead of the operator. Otherwise perhaps you need to look into the root cause of a pathetically poor hiring process. Don't have time to look into the root cause? Strange... you somehow also have a quarter million to spend. Instead of dropping a quarter million on yet another massive software system, how about investing in true improvement. Dedicate some people to true root cause analysis and kaizen. Create a culture where repeat problems are simply unacceptable, where an operator is empowered to call a root cause emergency, where the swamp is drained of wastewater so the underlying problems can be found. Then accept the pain of managing the few remaining documents, NCMR's, and such as a good thing. A little pain can be a good reminder. It keeps you on your toes, always trying to find a better way. Just like the ease of a $20 co-pay keeps many people from making the lifestyle changes needed to improve their long-term health, a chunk of beautifully-designed software can keep us from improving the underlying issues in our operations. Identify and attack the problems, keep it visual and simple. You may realize you don't need to worship the false god. Be strong. Read entire post (you can also view and post comments) |
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It was great meeting many of you at the AME Conference in Chicago last week! The conference was spectacular as usual, with some of the best keynotes in recent memory. Next year's AME Conference in Toronto is already off to a great start with over 800 paid registrants, so you might want to register early to avoid another probable sell out. More information 
Kaizen and the Art of Creative Thinking 
A Japanese Study Mission 
