Contents Contents 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 711 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017, USA 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN, UK © 2019 by Luciano Attolico Routledge/Productivity Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed on acid-free paper International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-48183-1 (Hardback) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-138-48181-7 (Paperback) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-351-05959-6 (eBook) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. 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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 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com 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