Archive for category Kaizen

My Experimentation with Personal Kanban

Feb 23

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 9 Comments

Several weeks ago, I reviewed Dan Markovitz’s excellent new book, A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance. I also took Dan’s work as a call to personal action.

Thus far, I have successfully adopted several of his recommendations in order to boost my marginal in-office productivity. By the way, my “office” also includes the hotel rooms that I too often inhabit.

Well, recently I finally pulled the trigger on a personal kanban. I had been thinking this one through for way too long. It was time to “do.”

I purposely limited the application of the kanban to my major distractions – the things that tend to interrupt the (hopefully continuous) flow of my work. Oh, many are the snares of the knowledge worker!

So, here’s a description and photo of my fledgling kanban. I “borrowed” some poker chips from my oldest (he’s away at college and really knows nothing of this borrowing) to represent authorized daily uses of the things that tend to distract me. The chips fall this way (sorry, couldn’t resist):

4 white poker chips for daily email activity (MS Outlook is shut down at all other times) ,
2 blue chips for daily Gemba Tales blog activity,
1 green chip for checking LinkedIn, and
1 red chip for checking Twitter (not a big tweeter).

At the beginning of the day, all of the chips are stacked at the left side of my laptop. As I trigger a chip usage, I move that chip to the right side of my laptop, do that activity and then close the application or log off, as required.

This instills a necessary level of discipline and moderation for me.

The chip usage happens around my calendar, my task list (between 10 and 2 minutes of work content per item), and my just-do-its (the stuff that’s too small for the task list).

So far, so good. Daily improvement, right?!?

Oh yes, check out the pic below of my fancy travel kit.

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Tags: kanban

Standard Work Is Like Food – Taste before Seasoning

Jan 15

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen, Scientific thought - PDCA/SDCA | 12 Comments

During a recent trip to the great state of Texas, I heard some down-home wisdom, “Before you season your food, why don’t you taste it first?”

The person who uttered that question was NOT talking about food. Rather, he was challenging someone who was a little too hell-bent on changing something without truly understanding it.

Sound familiar?

Heck, even etiquette folks will tell you it’s rude to season before tasting.

“If you season your food without tasting it, you will convey to the cook that you are already assuming the food will be bland and tasteless. It is more polite to taste food first and then add seasoning if you think it’s necessary.” (How to Season Food With Table Manners)

But, the point of this post isn’t about manners…as important as they are.

It’s about standard work.

People are relatively quick to pick up on the notion of kaizen – making things easier, better, faster, and cheaper. Self-induced kaizen is fun, even freeing.

It’s better and more fun to give than to receive.

Of course, improvement without standardization is stillborn to say the least.

No doubt, we have heard the Taichii Ohno quote, “Where there is no standard, there can be no kaizen.” Standard work implies that there must be adherence. Without it, it’s more like a standard wish…as fickle as the wind. We can’t sustain improvements and we have little foundation for the next.

However, adherence, especially when “virgin” standard work (you know, that first step from the wild no standard work west days) is introduced, requires folks to often significantly change the way that they do work – new steps, sequences, cycle times, standard WIP, etc.

It can be hard learning a new way. It can be frustrating. It can feel limiting. But, it ensures that people are working to the current one best way…until it is improved again.

So, here’s the rub (pun intended).

How long does one need to go before they start adding seasoning?! How long before the standard work should be subject to improvement?

We know the likelihood of any given standard work being perfect is essentially ZERO. It’s one reason why we apply SDCA (standardize-do-check-act) – to assess not only adherence, but the sufficiency of standard work.

Improvement should follow.

But, try this scenario on for size. Standard work has been developed during a pilot, regularly subjected to improvement over a period of many weeks. It’s been battled tested and has facilitated significant, measurable improvements in productivity and quality. Then, it is introduced to another line or location, with an appropriate application of change management. (Hopefully, this includes the rigor of a net change activity to understand and compensate for any true differences in the adopter’s value stream versus the pilot’s…)

The next line or location quickly goes from no standard work to adopting the new standard work. It’s painful. Within minutes the new adopters think, “I don’t like this.” It’s not “sufficient.” It plain old su*ks.

Not long thereafter, the new adopter folks start thinking about seasoning, about “improving” the new standard work. Hey, I tried it for a day, time to exercise my Ohno-given right to kaizen. Almost, an “it’s my ball, and I’m going home…with it,” type of mentality.

So, here’s a question for you – how long should someone taste the new standard work before they are genuinely ready to consider seasoning it?

I’ve got my thoughts. What are yours?

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Tags: SDCA

Halloween Snow and Two Lean Lessons

Nov 4

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen, Lean Transformation Leadership | 6 Comments

Along with hundreds of thousands of folks in the Northeast, I am in my 6th day without power. I expect at least a few more such days before the lights come on…and the heat.

Heck, they just sent the National Guard to my town, and an adjacent one, to start clearing downed trees.

The root cause of this whole mess was about a foot of snow on heavily treed land…when virtually all of the trees were still laden with their leaves. Near many trees were houses and power lines. You can guess the rest.

Last Sunday was full of chain saws and snow blowers. Now, it’s a lot of dark and cold. But, we’ll make do.

The point here is that there’s a lean lesson somewhere. In fact, I think there are two related lessons.

Before the snow started flying, my youngest noted that my neighbor, Rich was blowing the leaves and pine needles off of his driveway. Rich later shared that he wanted to avoid the messy mix of snow, leaves and needles. At the time, I must admit, I was thinking perhaps that wasn’t a bad idea.

Well, shortly thereafter the heavy snows came. By around 3:00 p.m., the first tree split and hit my house – just a glancing blow, mind you. After that, it really started getting bad. The power went out and the next 12 plus hours were full of crashing tree limbs and trunks. My family and I slept, more or less, in the basement.

At sunrise, we could see the full scope of the damage. We had been absolutely hammered.

It was chain saw, shovel, and snow blower time. Fortunately, my neighbors came by and helped clear a path through my driveway. We then patrolled the neighborhood and cleared the roadway.

(Note to self: there should be a legal limit on the number of chain saw wielding amateurs within a 20 foot radius…)

Well, during this orgy of fuel and bar and chain oil, I recalled a figure that is within my Kaizen Event Fieldbook. This leads to:

Lesson #1: When the muda and the stakes are high, ditch the scalpel and carving knife. Instead, go for the chain saw.

In other words, don’t screw around with making things elegant. If you’ve got to get the tree off of your house or clear a path in your driveway (or road), go big and go aggressive. Make it pretty later.

Too often during lean transformation efforts, folks will spend too much time, resources, and political capital trying to make things perfect. Well, perfect never happens. Get the value to flow better, as quickly as possible.

And my neighbor’s pre-snow leaf and pine needle blowing? Well that, as admitted by Rich, was just plain stupid.

Lesson #2: Quickly understand and acknowledge the magnitude of the coming storm and take proportionate action.

How often do we give the proverbial patient the proverbial vitamins while he is on the proverbial operating room table?!

Put another way, bad things happen when we: 1) are ignorant of the pending competitive challenges for our business, 2) choose to ignore the challenges (maybe they’ll never materialize?!), and/or 3) do something lame that will never sufficiently address the challenge.

Yes, there’s nothing like a little post-storm hansei (reflection)!!

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Tags: Kaizen, Lean Transformation Leadership

The Best or Nothing

Aug 10

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | No Comments

I just contributed a guest post of the same title to Christian Paulsen’s Lean Leadership blog. Please visit his site to read my full post and to take in some of Chris’ excellent lean content. Chris shared some of his insight with us a while back in his Gemba Tales guest post, 5 Reasons You Need to Do a DMAIC.

______________________________________

Recently, Mercedes Benz introduced a new brand claim. You may have seen it on TV or in print. It uses a direct quote from founding father Gottlieb Daimler, “The best or nothing.”

It sounds cool. Not that I’m ready to shell out a boat-load of money for a sexy new car. But, it clearly gets across that the Mercedes guys are uncompromising.

As a top executive from Mercedes Benz put it, “For us, [it] means we want to deliver the very best in all areas – be that in research and development, production, sales, service and aftermarket business or in purchasing.”

I have a hard time arguing with that. I know what they mean. It’s a powerful and noble principle.

And yet, the words grate on my (hopefully) lean thinking mind.

…The figure below summarizes much of my thinking on this subject, while my full post can be found here.

click to enlarge

Other Hamel guest posts: “Do” Only Gets You Half the Way There, or…“No Pie for You!” (on Mark Graban’s Lean Blog), Subsidiarity: A (Medieval) Lean Principle (on Ron Pereira’s LSS Academy Blog)

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Tags: daily kaizen, Kaizen

Lean Aerial Photography!?!

Jul 21

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 2 Comments

Ok, it’s really aerial photography with a lean application. And, it’s not that aerial. Just a guy standing on a big step ladder and taking a picture of stuff below. Yes, there’s a fancy camera in his right hand.

So, where’s the lean in this?

Good question.

When I first saw the ladder in the kaizen team’s breakout room, I was a bit perplexed. But, as it turns out, there was a good reason for the ladder. Actually, it’s pretty cool.

Many of us have participated in the design of future state layouts. This often employs two-dimensional scale models as a team seeks layouts that, among other things, facilitate better flow of product, people, information, tooling, scrap, etc., the use of less floor space, improved visual control, etc.

In an effort to generate multiple ideas and options and converge on the best one, many teams create a number of different alternative designs (think of the popular application of the 7 ways or 7 alternatives). These alternatives are then scored by the team against pre-established, weighted criteria.

Well, creating 7 or so different two-dimensional models can be time AND space consuming. The activity involves materials such as cardboard, plywood, paper cut-outs, sheet metal, magnets, yarn, and so on.

Enter the aerial photographer.

The folks with the ladder had a brilliant idea. After each iteration or alternative design, the designated photographer climbed the ladder and snapped a photo of the layout. (You need a pretty decent camera, by the way.) This way they quickly recorded and printed out the layout and then rapidly proceeded to the next design using the same materials.

More iterations. More ideas. More interaction. More learning. Better output.

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Tags: 3P, trystorm

Line of Sight, Employee Engagement, and Daily Kaizen

Jun 24

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 3 Comments

Lean culture is largely defined by, or at least manifested in, engaged and empowered employees practicing voluntary kaizen. Engagement can be measured in a number of ways, but perhaps one of the most telling is the number of implemented suggestions per employee per year.

A while back, I developed an outline of Autoliv Brigham’s daily kaizen journey (see figure below) based upon information within the book, How to Do Kaizen. Autoliv’s story is extremely compelling.

Often engagement evolves as employee line of sight evolves. Line of sight is my euphemism for the scope of the employee’s ability AND desire to see, to understand, and to care beyond the self. Successful organizations are clearly much more than a loose confederation of individuals.

Start Somewhere

Lean transformations have to start somewhere. Many times it starts with an average employee line of sight that extends about as far as “self.” If that’s the case, then the lean leaders need to engage right there.

What does that mean?

Well, if the employee cares little beyond the self, then train and involve them in creature comfort kaizen for themselves (as finder and fixers of the problems). Recognize their improvements and their creativity and share it with others. The four-fold goal of kaizen is easier, better, faster, and cheaper…in that order. Start with easier and build from there.

This develops the employee’s kaizen capability and, if done effectively, their appetite and eyes for kaizen. But don’t stop there. Expand the context for kaizen. Extend the line of sight beyond just the self.

Expand the Line of Sight

Most employees work within some sort of natural work team – folks who typically work together on a daily basis towards some common purpose. (Admittedly, sometimes the team in which they are a member is less than “natural” and formed for management convenience and economics, not the flow of value. Not optimal, but often it’s still manageable.) There are a number of things that the lean leader can do to facilitate greater engagement, including:

Deploy a daily accountability process. Effective lean management systems include the use of tiered meetings to review team performance versus targets, plan for the next 24 hours, and identify issues, barriers and countermeasures. It drives shared understanding of process performance, foments dialogue, and “pulls” suggestions.
Provide more lean and team effectiveness training and time to use it. The more actionable knowledge about lean and how to better perform as a team, the better. While a lot of daily kaizen can happen in the margins (breaks, before shift and after shift), collaborative efforts are most likely to happen if some time is provided on a periodic basis during working hours.
Leverage performance management. It’s a game-changer when the criteria on how people are evaluated and compensated includes team and company outputs as well as desired lean behaviors.
Involve employees in organized kaizen. Kaizen events and facilitated kaizen circle activities will further develop the organization’s problem-solving muscle and expand awareness and ownership.
Leaders transition to teachers and facilitators. Perhaps the toughest transformational challenge is flipping the organizational pyramid “upside down” so that the leaders become enablers, not bottlenecks.
Apply lean tools and systems that drive employee involvement. For example: 5S is an supremely intuitive and engaging tool…and it can provide near instant gratification. Visual controls, among other things, share information with virtually every stakeholder. Talk about line of sight! TPM, specifically autonomous maintenance, by its very nature requires direct involvement and ownership.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

What do you do to expand the line of sight and engagement within your organization? How does that drive daily kaizen?

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Tags: daily kaizen, lean leaders

“Measuring” Kaizen Event Team Effectiveness: 7 Criteria

May 2

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 10 Comments

Every once and a while someone will ask me to (discretely) evaluate a kaizen event team’s effectiveness. I don’t necessarily relish doing that when it is intended for the purpose of team comparisons, but it’s not an unfair request from a senior leader.

Someday, I should probably try to pull the mystical sensei thing and ask them first what they think…and why.

The criteria that I apply is less than scientific. I don’t apply weighting between the criteria and I simply use a 1 to 5 score for each one, with 5 the highest. Really, the important thing is reflecting upon the meaningful stuff, learning and then improving.

My measurement criteria, in no particular order, with links to a handful of relevant prior posts:

Waste elimination effectiveness. The notion here is about how well the team identified, acknowledge and then eliminated the waste within their target process. “W.E.E.” is driven as much by team aggressiveness as technical acumen. Lean Metric: Waste Elimination Effectiveness
Projected sustainability. PDCA is one thing and SDCA (standardize-do-check-act) is another. There’s nothing as painful as unsustained kaizen gains. They will sap the lifeblood out of a fledgling lean transformation. Gains must be “locked in” with standard work. Lean management systems are needed to drive process adherence and process performance and help facilitate further improvements. Leader Standard Work – Chock that PDCA Wheel
Degree of difficulty. Not much explanation needed here. Scope, technical complexity and change management challenges run the gamut. Some events are easier than others.
Kaizen rigor. Effective teams generally apply rigor around:1) pre-event planning (including linkage to strategy deployment, value stream improvement plans and the like, team selection, appropriate pre-work, etc.), 2) event execution (including event kick-off, team leader meetings, effective work strategies, and the PDCA-driven “kaizen storyline”), and 3) event follow-through. Show Your Work, How to Avoid Kaizen Event Malpractice
Demonstrated application of lean principles, systems and tools. It’s a wonderful thing to see the simple elegance of well applied (and validated) standard work…and other lean tools, for that matter. System-level (or sub-system-level…hey, there’s only so much that can be done during an event) application is even more impressive, for example pull systems, lean management systems, etc. Still more “transformative” is something that goes beyond just the “know-how” of tools and systems. Principles encompass not only know-how, but the “know why.” Teams that enter that realm are effective during the event…and well beyond. Everyone Is Special, But Lean Principles Are Universal!
Value stream/business impact. Kaizen events are often more about kaikaku than kaizen (small incremental improvement). While we would be mistaken to believe that this is and should always be the case, value stream/business impact should be considered when considering kaizen event team effectiveness.
Learning and development. Kaizen events are excellent and intense laboratories for individual, team and organizational growth. Growth opportunities extend to the technical, teaming, leadership and change management areas and serve as a training ground for daily kaizen. And a final point as we recall Taiichi Ohno’s insight that, “Learning comes through difficulties,” the lack of gaudy event results does not mean a lack of development! Bridging to Daily Kaizen – 15 (or so) Questions

So, what did I miss?

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Tags: Kaizen, kaizen team

Bridging to Daily Kaizen – 15 (or so) Questions

Jan 20

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 5 Comments

My teenage education was (maybe) enhanced by substantial doses of Monty Python. Occasionally, I discover a lean metaphor somewhere within their body of work. One of my absolute favorite scenes is from the movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The three minute scene goes by two names: 1) the Bridge of Death, or 2) the Three Questions.

Now would be a good time to watch the scene if you’re not familiar with it. Of course, if you’re like me, even though you’ve seen it before, you’ll watch it again…and laugh.

So, back the lean metaphor. Most folks are stuck on one side of the gorge (that would be the “Gorge of Eternal Peril”) practicing system-driven kaizen – organized kaizen, mostly directed by value stream improvement plans. While this particular side isn’t terrible, it’s only a stepping stone to real lean. You should be crossing the bridge to the other side, the side of principal driven kaizen – system-driven kaizen, plus daily (mostly voluntary) kaizen. Only then will the enterprise and the culture be truly transformed!

Stop! Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he see.

In the Holy Grail movie, the only way to cross the Bridge of Death is to successfully answer the three questions. For this kaizen bridge, you’ve got to answer at least 15 questions. Don’t worry, unlike the Monty Python version, if you don’t answer any of the questions incorrectly (or at least not affirmatively), you will not be, “…cast in the Gorge of Eternal Peril.”

In no particular order:

Have all of your employees been trained in basic problem-solving methods and are they coached how and encouraged to use them?
Is the environment one of problem-solving or problem-hiding?
Has the organization developed good PDCA rigor through the proper application of kaizen events and has virtually everyone participated in multiple events?
Do you have an effective lean management system that employs: a) leader standard work, b) visual controls, and c) cascading tiered performance metrics?
Have you implemented a pragmatic suggestion system that emphasizes quick implementation of true incremental improvement (kaizen teian), typically by the person who suggests the improvement?
Do you broadly and virally share improvement ideas?
Do you apply the 5 why’s or the 5 who’s?
Do the lean leaders promote A3 thinking?
Has the organization sufficiently resourced the kaizen promotion office (a.k.a. lean function) to help teach, coach and facilitate improvement activities?
Is the focus of improvement such that the order of importance is a) easier, b) better, c) faster, and d) cheaper?
Are folks fearful of failure or do they, and leadership, see it as a necessary means of learning and improving?
Are you internally capable (or at least getting there) or are you suffering from consultant dependency?
Do folks know what “True North” is and how they can do their part to get there?
Is the culture one of humility and respect for the individual?
Is lean applied within the context of a holistic lean business system?

I know there are a bunch more. What are your additions to the list?

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Tags: daily kaizen

Guest Post: Going to the Gemba with Grandma

Dec 8

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 7 Comments

Being tech support over the phone is a difficult job, being tech support for my 87 yr old grandmother (Mimi) and her TV remote should qualify me for sainthood.

A few years ago I got a tech support call from Mimi on my drive home from work. Trouble with the remote again, the batteries both fell out and she wasn’t sure in what direction they should go back in.

Having a point of reference to verbally describe orientation was impossible. Her eyesight was poor and the remote didn’t have the (+) and (-) displayed very well. Instead of springs on the (-) end in the remote there were just slightly raised clips, so no help there.

Next, I pulled over to the side of the road for a 35 minute chat about changing them 180 degrees and trying different battery configurations. Finally, she said that the batteries might be dead anyway. The remote had been burning through batteries.

A remote that is draining the batteries constantly? Hmm…something didn’t sound right, so I decided it was time to go to the gemba with grandma.

Normally, when I visited her we played cribbage, but this time we were going to do some TV watching and gather some info.

She said she had been replacing the batteries about every 2 weeks because they kept dying on her. After replacing them, the remote would work for a short while and then have more problems and she would just change them again.

I tried using the remote and didn’t have any issues. She gave me a dirty look and said, “That’s all well and good until I need to watch The Days of Our Lives and then it won’t work, mark my words”

Then suddenly it happened. The remote didn’t work for her. “Oh fiddle sticks there it goes again.” NOTE: Fiddle sticks is a curse word in the Mimi dictionary.

I saw something that I would never have discovered if I hadn’t gone to the gemba.

Mimi had arthritis which made her joints very sore. It also made the pointer finger on her right hand crooked to almost a 90 degree angle.

When she tried to change channels or hit the buttons sometimes that crooked finger would block the Infra Red beam that would send the signal to the TV. It was a user issue.

The solutions were simple.

Mimi had to remind herself to keep her finger out of the way and I put 2 fresh batteries in the remote and taped it shut so they wouldn’t fall out.

She never had trouble with the remote again and we played cribbage 3-4 times a week for almost two years till she passed away. The new batteries actually outlasted her…I think she would have enjoyed knowing that.

This post was authored by Jon Wetzel, creator of the Lean for Everyone Blog where he posts about the uses of lean concepts in everyday life. Jon has 16 years worth of experience in startup biotech, invented the scented pen, and balloon sculptures for fun. He is also certified in Lean, a Six Sigma Black Belt, a member of the Michigan Lean Consortium and runs his own consulting company – Lean for Everyone. Jon can be contacted via e-mail at jon.wetzel@leanforeveryone.com.

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Tags: gemba

Want a Kaizen Culture? Take Your Vitamin C!

Dec 5

Posted by markrhamel in Kaizen | 5 Comments

Among other things, vitamin C boosts one’s immune system. That’s pretty important, especially around the cold and flu season. But there is another type of vitamin C. One that is critical to the formation of an effective kaizen culture.

The Toyota Way, as defined here by Toyota, is founded upon two main pillars: 1) continuous improvement , and 2) respect for people. The following “three building blocks” shape their “commitment to continuous improvement:

Challenge – we form a long term vision, meeting challenges with courage and creativity to realize our dreams;
Kaizen – we improve our business operations continuously, always driving for innovation and evolution
Genchi Genbutsu – we go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals.”

The first building block contains vitamin C in a threefold dose:

Challenge. Constantly be ready and willing to question the status quo and look for better ways. The challenge can be fomented by the envisioned ideal state and/or a specific target condition. It’s about closing the gaps. Challenge should provide the “pull” dynamic for improvements.
Courage. Be ever willing to test improvement ideas and learn from trial and error. This is foundational to PDCA (they don’t call it “PDC”). Lean leaders must actively nurture an environment within which people fearlessly (not recklessly) apply scientific thinking and trystorming.
Creativity. Trystorming without creativity is a sterile exercise. We must think and act differently – “Keep on doing what you’re doing, keep on getting what you’re getting.” Unleash the inner MacGyver!

So, take copious amounts of vitamin C and, as an effective leader, ensure that your folks do the same. Boost that organizational immune system and foster a kaizen culture.

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Tags: daily kaizen, PDCA

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Archive for category Kaizen

My Experimentation with Personal Kanban