Lean Misconceptions: Why Many Lean Initiatives Fail and How You Can Avoid the Mistakes

176 Pages·2017·4.39 MB·English

by  Cordell Hensley

Lean Misconceptions
Why Many Lean Initiatives Fail and How
You Can Avoid the Mistakes
http://taylorandfrancis.com
Lean Misconceptions
Why Many Lean Initiatives Fail and How
You Can Avoid the Mistakes
Cordell Hensley
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Names: Hensley, Cordell, author.
Title: Lean misconceptions : why many lean initiatives fail and how you can
avoid the mistakes / Cordell Hensley.
Description: Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical
references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016055793| ISBN 9781138217454 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781138400153 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Lean manufacturing.
Classification: LCC TS155 .H385 2017 | DDC 658.4/013--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016055793
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Contents
Preface ....................................................................................................ix
Author ....................................................................................................xi
Section i Misconceptions, Where they
come from, and How to overcome them
chapter 1 Misconceptions ..................................................................3
Headcount Reduction ..................................................................5
Tools and Techniques ...................................................................8
Waste ..............................................................................................9
Speed- or Time-Based Management ........................................11
Executive Engagement ...............................................................11
“Pretty Lean” ...............................................................................12
Bureaucracy .................................................................................14
Functional Approach .................................................................15
Traditional Western Management Practices ..........................16
Project Timelines ........................................................................18
Learning .......................................................................................19
Summary ....................................................................................20
chapter 2 Why and How Companies Start Doing
Continuous Improvement (CI) Activities? .....................21
Delays ...........................................................................................22
The Show ......................................................................................26
Survival or Ambition? ................................................................27
Communication .........................................................................28
We’re Actually Doing Something Now, but Is It
the Right Thing? .........................................................................30
The Ever-Changing CI Landscape ...........................................31
The Dilemma ..............................................................................34
v
vi • Contents
chapter 3 Where Should We Focus? ................................................37
By What Method? .......................................................................39
A Model for Implementation ...................................................40
Learn How to Do or Learn How to Think? ............................43
Focus on a Learning Culture ...................................................44
Clarity ...........................................................................................50
chapter 4 A Brief History of Lean. ...................................................51
Interchangeable Parts .................................................................51
The Industrial Era, Taylor, and Ford ........................................52
Japan Enters the Scene ...............................................................53
Ohno and Shingo ........................................................................55
The In-Betweeners .....................................................................56
Lean Begins in Earnest ..............................................................58
Beyond the Shop Floor ...............................................................59
chapter 5 Dynamic Organizations ..................................................61
Tool Focus ...................................................................................64
Learning Focus ...........................................................................65
The Four Capabilities .................................................................67
Making Problems Obvious ...................................................67
Solving Problems ..................................................................68
Sharing Knowledge ................................................................69
Leadership Developing Capabilities ....................................70
Summary .....................................................................................72
chapter 6 The Principles within Lean .............................................73
The Value of Knowledge ............................................................74
Higher-Order Thinking .............................................................76
The Four Capabilities within Lean ...........................................79
Demonstrable Benefits ...............................................................79
Summary .....................................................................................82
Contents • vii
Section ii How the tools Support the Learning Process
chapter 7 Making Problems Obvious ..............................................87
What Is a Problem?.....................................................................87
Delays in Problem Identification .............................................88
Standardization ..........................................................................90
How Does Standardization Fit into See, Solve, Share,
and Show? ....................................................................................91
See ............................................................................................91
Solve .........................................................................................92
Share ........................................................................................93
Show .........................................................................................93
Where Should Standards Originate? .......................................93
Visualization and 5S...................................................................95
Heijunka ......................................................................................96
Heijunka Varieties .................................................................97
Summary ....................................................................................99
chapter 8 Solving Problems ............................................................101
Problem-Solving Principles and Concepts ...........................101
PDCA .....................................................................................102
Tool Selection .......................................................................105
Common versus Special Causes ........................................106
Root Cause Analysis ............................................................107
Problem-Solving Tools .............................................................109
3C/4C .....................................................................................111
A3/Practical Problem Solving ............................................111
The 5i Technique ..................................................................114
Summary ...................................................................................114
chapter 9 Sharing New Knowledge ................................................ 117
Traditional Lean Tools .............................................................119
Read-and-Initial Boards .........................................................122
E-mail ........................................................................................123
Meetings ....................................................................................123
Little Black Books ....................................................................124
Shared Services Files/Programs .............................................125
viii • Contents
Intranet Sites ............................................................................126
Newsletters ................................................................................127
Yokoten ......................................................................................127
Summary ..................................................................................128
chapter 10 Show—The Importance of Coaching
and Developing Your People ......................................... 131
Introduction ..............................................................................131
Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose ..........................................132
United States Marine Corps ....................................................135
PepsiCo .......................................................................................138
Summary ...................................................................................140
chapter 11 What Next? .....................................................................143
On the Brink ..............................................................................145
Already Started? ........................................................................146
Haven’t Started Yet? ..................................................................148
Training Programs ...................................................................150
Final Thoughts ..........................................................................151
Appendix: A Selection of Tools and Techniques and How They
Support See, Solve, Share, and Show ..................................................153
Bibliography ........................................................................................155
Index ....................................................................................................159
Preface
I wrote this book because I have spent the last decade of my life working
in and with organizations that fail to maximize the value in what I teach
them. Sure, they have obtained benefits. They have made improvements
in their processes. In some cases, I have walked away from a weeklong
training event having helped the organization save hundreds of thousands
of dollars or pounds in waste. However, in most cases, what they have
learned is how to use a specific set of tools. They have their program, either
developed in house or usually paid for from an external consultancy.
The programs I have been involved with have almost always had an
integral element of learning, on paper at least. However, the organizations
and primarily the senior people within the organizations are, in almost all
cases, only focused on the return on their investment in the consultancy
project. They want to ensure that the money spent on having people in
their site is returned in savings from the output of these projects.
It is rare for this not to happen; even today, most organizations have so
much waste in their systems that it is reasonably easy to go in, and do some
analysis, and find tens if not hundreds of thousands and often millions
in savings. However, the reason my industry still exists, the reason why
we often get called back to help the same people who have been through
this before, is that they are focused too much on the savings or return on
investment (ROI) and not enough on the learning.
I am not referring to the learning by their people on how to use the tools,
but the learning of their organization as a whole each and every day. They
learn how to use the tools and techniques inherent in Lean, in some cases
very well. They don’t, however, learn to think for themselves and apply the
principles behind the tools to innovate and adapt to ever-changing condi-
tions. Arguably, many within my industry are still using the same tools
and techniques that they learned years or even decades before.
Not that there is anything wrong with the tools and techniques or that
they do not have their place in a Lean organization. They do, but there is
more to Lean than a toolbox full of kanban systems, andons, 5S programs,
etc. The thinking that sits behind these tools and techniques is far more
important than the ability to use them as they come off the shelf.
ix