Lean Development and Innovation: Hitting the Market with the Right Products at the Right Time

363 Pages·2018·24.19 MB·English

by  Luciano Attolico

Lean Development and
Innovation
Hitting the Market with the Right
Products at the Right Time

Lean Development and
Innovation
Hitting the Market with the Right
Products at the Right Time
By
Luciano Attolico
A PRODUCTIVITY PRESS BOOK
First edition published in 2019
by Routledge/Productivity Press
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© 2019 by Luciano Attolico
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Attolico, Luciano, author.
Title: Lean development and innovation : hitting the market with the right products at the right
time / Luciano Attolico.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018021197 (print) | LCCN 2018021979 (ebook) | ISBN 9781351059596 (e-Book) |
ISBN 9781138481817 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781138481831 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: New products. | Lean manufacturing. | Technological innovations.
Classification: LCC TS170 (ebook) | LCC TS170 .A88 2018 (print) | DDC 658.5/75--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018021197
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Contents
Foreword ..................................................................................................xiii
Preface .....................................................................................................xvii
Acknowledgments ................................................................................xxiii
Author .....................................................................................................xxv
1 Lean Product-Process Innovation and Long-Term Thinking .......1
1.1 A Strategic Question: Excellence in the Long-Term or
Mediocrity in the Short-Term? ............................................................2
1.2 Innovating to Achieve Success ...........................................................5
1.3 From Lean Management to the Lean Development
and Innovation System .......................................................................8
1.3.1 Lean Thinking ..........................................................................8
1.3.2 Historical Background of Lean Thinking ...............................9
1.3.3 What Can We Learn from the Toyota Model? .......................10
1.3.4 Wastes in Product and Innovation Processes .......................12
1.4 Types of Waste in the Innovation Process ......................................15
1.5 Process Kaizen in Non-Manufacturing Processes ...........................20
1.5.1 Waste “Suffered” and Waste “Generated” .............................22
1.6 Why Invest in a Lean Development and Innovation System? ........23
1.6.1 Integrating People, Processes, and Tools ..............................27
1.7 Each Situation Has Its Own Peculiarities ........................................29
1.8 Summary of Key Points in Chapter 1 ..............................................30
Resources ..................................................................................................31
Notes .........................................................................................................31
2 Processes: The Way We Work to Add Value ...............................33
2.1 When Processes Are Real Solutions to Problems ............................33
2.1.1 Do Many Things at the Same Time or Arrange Project
Activities into a Sequenced Flow? .........................................34
v
vi ◾ Contents
2.1.2 Pay Attention to Small Signals and Accumulate the
Knowledge ..........................................................................35
2.1.3 Balancing and Synchronizing Work Loads from a
Value Stream Perspective ....................................................36
2.1.4 How Can We Ask for the Materials and Information
That Are Needed When They Are Needed?.......................37
2.1.5 Cause and Effect ..................................................................37
2.2 Make the Customer the Center of Attention: Concept Paper .........38
2.2.1 Forming the Project Team and a Sample
Concept Paper Format ........................................................41
2.2.2 Who Guides the Process? ....................................................41
2.2.3 Product and Market History ................................................42
2.2.4 Who Will Use Our Products? ..............................................42
2.2.5 Classification of Product Features .......................................43
2.2.6 How Can We Understand What the Customer Wants? ......44
2.2.7 Radical Sharing ....................................................................45
2.2.8 The Importance of a Single Unified Vision ........................45
2.2.9 One Product or a Family of Products? The Right
Choice Could Bring Big Benefits (and) Savings .................46
2.2.10 How Can We Standardize the Use of Product
Components to Reduce the Final Cost? ..............................48
2.2.11 How Can We Establish Goals at the Beginning of
the Project? ..........................................................................48
2.2.12 Why Choose One Goal Value and Not Another? ...............50
2.2.13 Are These Objectives Really Achievable? ...........................52
2.2.14 What If We Are Already the Market Leader? ......................53
2.3 Concentrating Efforts at the Beginning of a Project .......................54
2.3.1 When Does a Project Really End? .......................................56
2.3.2 Starting Out Already Late ....................................................57
2.3.3 The Problem of a Sprint Start .............................................57
2.3.4 Iterative Models and Convergent Models of Development ....59
2.3.5 Kentou and Set-Based Concurrent Engineering
in Practice ............................................................................60
2.3.6 Development Teams Based on Modules ............................62
2.3.7 Reuse of Existing Solutions and Knowledge of
Previous Critical Areas ........................................................63
2.3.8 Simultaneous Convergence of Different Modules ..............64
2.3.9 The Case of the Prius ..........................................................66
2.3.10 Group Brainstorming? No Thanks ......................................67
Contents ◾ vii
2.3.11 What Happens if the Solutions Are Incompatible
with Each Other? .................................................................67
2.3.12 Excessive Harmony Does Not Yield Good Products .........69
2.3.13 From a Good Product to an Excellent One ........................69
2.3.14 Two Small Secrets ................................................................70
2.3.14.1 First Secret ............................................................70
2.3.14.2 Second Secret .......................................................71
2.3.15 When the Supplier Teaches Something to the Client:
The Denso Case ..................................................................72
2.3.16 Problem-Solving Resolves Everything… But How
Much Does It Cost? .............................................................73
2.3.17 When Simple Steps Yield Solutions That Avoid Serious
Consequences ......................................................................75
2.3.18 It Is Advisable to Make Modifications Early On .................77
2.3.19 When a Limited Budget Makes No Provision for
Additional Expenses ............................................................78
2.4 Value Stream Mapping to Understand the Real Current State
and Creatively Envision a Desired Future State ..............................78
2.4.1 Value Stream Mapping in Practice ......................................83
2.4.2 The Steps of a Value Stream Mapping Event .....................86
2.4.3 Why Not Start Immediately with Tried and
Tested Solutions?..................................................................89
2.5 How to Get the Intellectual Juices Flowing without Obstacles
or Interruption ..................................................................................90
2.5.1 The Myth of Multitasking ....................................................91
2.5.2 Queuing Theory and Intellectual Efficiency ......................92
2.5.3 The Eight Principles of Flow in Intellectual Activities .......94
2.5.3.1 Level the Arrival of Work ......................................94
2.5.3.2 Minimize the Number of Activities in Process .....95
2.5.3.3 Reduce the Size of Activities .................................96
2.5.3.4 Establish a Regular Cadence .................................97
2.5.3.5 Plan Results and Not Activities .............................99
2.5.3.6 Pull Planning ..........................................................99
2.5.3.7 Avoid Overloading ...............................................101
2.5.3.8 Minimize Interruptions ........................................101
2.6 Resource Leveling in a Complex Project .......................................103
2.6.1 A Model for Leveling Workloads between People ...........103
2.6.2 What Happens if There Are Just a Few of
Us or I Am on My Own? ..................................................105
viii ◾ Contents
2.7 Lean Project Management: The Art of Surfing Applied
to Projects .......................................................................................106
2.7.1 Taking Project Times and Deadlines into Account ............106
2.7.2 Is the Right Information in the Right Place at
the Right Time? ....................................................................107
2.7.3 Value Creating Management ................................................108
2.7.4 Who Promotes the Principles of Flow on a Project? ..........109
2.7.5 How Pull Planning is Put into Practice—A Real Case .......111
2.7.6 Detailed Planning of the Flow of Materials and
Information: Fundoshi Scheduling ......................................113
2.7.7 The Management System and Review of the
Whole Project .......................................................................115
2.8 Standardization and Creativity: The True Strength of a
New Product ...................................................................................117
2.8.1 The Basis of Standardization: Knowing How to Use
the Data and Knowledge in Our Possession ......................119
2.8.2 How Do We Collect Data for a Trade-Off Curve? We
Make Better Use of the Way We Already Do Things
and the Data Already Available to Us .................................119
2.8.3 Standardization of Components, Reuse of Know-How,
and Corporate Profit ............................................................120
2.8.4 Releasing Energies to Make a Real Difference ...................121
2.9 Summary of Key Points in Chapter 2 ............................................122
Resource ..................................................................................................124
Notes .......................................................................................................124
3 People: The Engine for Creativity at the Heart of
Long-Term Success ...................................................................125
3.1 There Can Be No Innovation without People ...............................125
3.1.1 Are Corporate Productivity and People’s Well-Being
Compatible? ..........................................................................126
3.1.2 What Does It Mean to Become Lean? The Principles of
Lean Leadership ...................................................................128
3.2 Coordinating and Integrating Development through the Chief
Engineer System .............................................................................130
3.2.1 Matrix Structure? ..................................................................131
3.2.2 What Skills Should a Chief Engineer Have? ........................134
3.3 Cross-Functional Cooperation to Effectively Develop
New Products .................................................................................135
Contents ◾ ix
3.3.1 Who Makes the Decisions? ..................................................137
3.3.2 What About the Other Departments
Not Strictly Related to the Product? .....................................137
3.4 The Value of Competence ..............................................................138
3.4.1 Example: The Typical Development and
Career Path of a Toyota Engineer .......................................139
3.4.2 What Is the Best Way to Develop Human
Resources in Your Company? ..............................................140
3.4.3 Personnel that Leave and Enter into the Company ............141
3.4.4 School, Apprentices, and Artists..........................................142
3.4.5 Superstars or Normal, but Competent People? ...................142
3.4.6 Specialists or Generalists? ....................................................143
3.5 Suppliers or Partners: Mirage or Reality? .......................................143
3.5.1 How Should We Choose Our Supplier-Partners? ................144
3.5.2 Different Categories of Suppliers .........................................145
3.5.3 How Do I Know If It Is the Right Supplier for Me? ...........146
3.6 Constant Learning and Continuous Improvement ........................149
3.6.1 Big Initiatives .......................................................................150
3.6.2 Learning and Continuous Improvement: Visible
and Invisible Knowledge .....................................................150
3.6.3 Making the Intangible Tangible ...........................................151
Summary of KeyPoints in Chapter 3 ......................................................153
Resource ..................................................................................................154
Notes .......................................................................................................155
4 Tools for a Lean and Innovative Company ...............................157
4.1 Criteria for Choosing the Right Tools ............................................158
4.1.1 Criteria 1: Integration and Ease of Use ...............................159
4.1.2 Criteria 2: Support of Processes ..........................................160
4.1.3 Criteria 3: Support People ...................................................161
4.1.4 Criteria 4: Reinforce Standardization ...................................161
4.1.5 Criteria 5: Enable Organizational Alignment ......................162
4.1.6 Criteria 6: Assist Organizational Learning...........................163
4.2 The Obeya ......................................................................................164
4.2.1 The Effectiveness of Different Means of Communication ....165
4.2.2 The Importance of Distances ..............................................166
4.2.3 Setting Up an Obeya Room ................................................167
4.2.4 Seeing for Yourself ...............................................................169
4.3 Simplify Communication and Learning with A3 ...........................170