Visual Management for Lean Accounting. Visual Management for Lean Accounting

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1 Lean Accounting Summit Orlando, FL September 14-16, 2011 Topics to be covered Is Office & Service different? The case for visual management Elements of visual management Getting started Benefits of visual management Lessons Learned 1

2 Is Office & Service different? Classic arguments Nothing is the same Demand is unpredictable Work is less tangible There are many interruptions A highly variable work environment - much of which is self created Is Office & Service different? The highly variable nature is created by: A lack of standard work Insufficient planning & coordination of activities Batch processing Excessive hand-offs Little application of visual management Others?? 2

3 The Case for Visual Management Consider the following statements: A picture is worth a thousand words Seeing is believing Let me paint you a picture Out of sight, out of mind Fact: humans are visual creatures The visual language is capable of disseminating knowledge more effectively than almost any other vehicle of communication. Visual Communication is universal and international, it knows no limits of tongue, vocabulary, or grammar. Visual language can convey facts and ideas in a wider and deeper range than almost any other means of communication. - György Kepes (1944), founder of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT 3

4 The Case for Visual Management Why would people resist making queues of work, performance, problems, procedures visible? Group discussion Elements of Visual Management The answers to the following questions should be visibly apparent in every work environment 1. What is the purpose or function of the area? 2. What activities are performed in the area? 3. How do people know what to do? 4. How do they know how to do it? 5. How do they know how they are doing? 6. What is done if expectations are not being met? How will we drive Continuous Improvement via visual management? 4

5 Questions #1 and #2 List the processes or activities that your department performs Identify the outputs that are generated for each activity and the customers who receive them Identify the inputs that are required and the suppliers of them Summarize this information in a SIPOC for the department (Supplier-Input-Process-Output- Customer) Question #3: How do people know what to do? Calendar Actual demand Others?? Creating level el pull systems? stems? 5

6 How do people know what to do? Elements of every Pull System Visibility of a queue of work Limits defined for a queue Defined rules for the queue when the limits are met Use of visual signals that are worker managed When volume exceeds capacity based upon color folder system, flag is changed to Red triggering pre- established personnel to come support this process 6

7 What about one-off activities? What about one-off activities? 7

8 Question #4: How do people know how to do it? (e.g. creating standard work) Purposes of Standard Work Reduce variability in output and performance To be used in conjunction with and not in place of training (SOPs versus SWI) Increase flexibility To identify non-standard conditions Creating Standard Work Purposes of Standard Work To identify non-standard conditions Failure to perform an activity Failure to perform an activity at a required point in time Taking longer to perform an activity than it should Performing an activity in a way that will have a negative impact on some downstream process 8

9 Creating Standard Work Elements of Standard Work What groupings of specific steps Key Points the How and Why Quality, Efficiency, Safety Time and Timing Visually Display Standard Work Standard Work Instruction Process: Order Processing Operation: _Order Entry Task Key Points Time / Timing Visual References 1. Enter Order - Enter header first, then each line item for efficiency - All required fields must be input to insure accuracy mins per order - Enter within day of receipt 1 Etc. Etc. Etc. 9

10 Standard Work in a Multi-tasking Environment Role: Customer Service Standard Work Daily Management Frequency Task (with key points) Time Daily Weekly Monthly 1. Enter Orders within day of receipt to ensure that published lead times can be met 5-10 mins per order Throughout day 2. Generate weekly order input reports to monitor current demand 5 mins Fridays by 3:00 PM 3. Generate monthly reports for management to monitor sales performance 10 mins Last Friday of month Elements of Visual Management Manual vs. Electronic?? Close together Proximity Signals Boards A little information to be communicated Complexity Farther away Electronic A lot of information to be communicated 10

11 Combining information in a comprehensive VMS Combining information in a comprehensive VMS 11

12 Another critical i element.leader Standard Work Periodic (daily, weekly) reviews of the VMS Establishing a two-way dialog ( help wanted ) Coaching, Teaching CI ( facilitative or servant leadership) Getting Started 1. Create a SIPOC for your department (Supplier-Input-Process-Output-Customer) 2. For the key activities, determine a visual means to answer questions #3 - #6 3. Experiment, learn and revise as necessary 12

13 Benefits of Visual Management Improved likelihood of sustaining standard work A greater sense of belonging Increased accountability Greater pride Less frustration & stress Increased confidence within guests to the organization (customers, suppliers) What Lean Office or Lean Service is not Simply 5S-ing areas Putting in supermarket pull systems for office supplies Micro-managing Automating every activity Others?? 13

14 What Lean Office & Lean Service is Fundamentally changing the way work is performed, how it flows and is managed Changing roles & responsibilities Reducing hand-offs Reducing batch processing Assessing (continually) demand versus capacity Use standard work & visual management to sustain the system (& performance) Do s and Don ts Don t believe that you are different Don t believe that it cannot be done Don t shoot for the ideal it is about improvement not perfection Don t wait! Impossible is not a fact, just an opinion 14

15 Do s and Don ts Do experimentation -you will learn more by doing Do be flexible - there are several correct answers Do involve people - they will help you get there faster Do measure impact - can reinforce the new behaviors We now know a thousand ways not to build a light bulb - Thomas Edison Q & A??? Contact Information: [email protected] website: Books: The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Administrative i ti and Office Processes (Productivity it Press, 2004, 2005 Shingo Prize winner) Lean Office & Service Simplified: the Definitive How-to Guide (Productivity Press, February 2011) 15