CREATING A LEAN CULTURE Tools to Sustain Lean Conversions THIRD EDITION DAVID MANN CRC Press Taylor & Francis Croup Boca Raton London New York CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor St Francis Group, an informa business A PRODUCTIVITY PRESS BOOK
Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction xv xvii xix xxi SECTION I WHAT IS THE LEAN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM? PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF LEAN MANAGEMENT 1 The Missing Link in Lean: The Management System 3 Developing a Lean Culture 3 Don't Wait Start Now! 4 Your Personal Lean Journey 5 Lean Management Focuses on Process 8 Lean Management and Continuous Improvement 8 Parallel Implementations of Lean Production and Lean Management...10 Changing from Conventional Production 11 Gelting Rid of the "Do Whatever It Takes" Approach 11 Lean Processes Need Lean Management 12 Focusing on the Process Produces Results 13 Engaging Executives with Lean: A Different Approach 15 Understanding the Executive Perspective 18 Lean Orthodoxy Not the Answer 19 Tending to the Chain of Command 21 Measuring the Process against Expected Outcomes 21 How Can You Recognize Culture? 22 Overcoming Cultural Inertia 24 New Settings with Old Habits Won't Work 25 vii
viii Contents How to Change Your Culture 26 Extinguishing versus Breaking Habits 27 Make Sure You Don't Slip Back into These Old Habits 28 Summary: Technical and Management Sides Need Each Other 28 Study Questions 29 2 Lean Management System's Principal Elements 31 The Principal Elements of Lean Management 31 Lean Elements Need to Work Together 33 Execution Is Key to Lean Management 35 Implementing Lean Management: Where to Begin? 36 First, Improve Stability 38 Start with Visual Controls 39 When Implementing Leader Standard Work First Can Be Effective 41 Leader Standard Work in Automated Production Environments and Process Industries 41 Does Lean Management Apply in Process Industries? 43 Process Focus and Leader Standard Work in Process Production 46 When Leader Standard Work Can Come First 47 Summary: Four Principal Elements of Lean Management 48 Study Questions 49 3 Standard Work for Leaders 51 Leader Standard Work Is Process Dependent 52 A Recipe for Success 52 Leader Standard Work as Interlocking Layers 56 Leader Standard Work Shows What to Do and What Not to Do 57 Leader Standard Work Should Be Layered from the Bottom Up...62 Designed Overlap in Leader Standard Work 63 What Does Leader Standard Work Cover? 64 Team Leaders 65 Supervisors 66 Value Stream Managers 66 Form and Format for Leader Standard Work 67 Leader Standard Work: Compliance or Improvement? 68 The Role of Training for Lean Implementation 72
Contents ix Summary: Leader Standard Work Is Element 1 of Lean Management 73 Study Questions 74 4 Visual Controls 75 Visual Controls Focus on Process and Actual Performance 77 A Variety of Tools to Visually Monitor Processes 78 Hour-by-Hour Production Tracking Charts 78 How Visual Controls Enforce Discipline 79 Job-by-Job Tracking Charts 83 Priority Board Hourly Status 90 Completion Heijunka 92 Between-Process Tracking 94 Noncyclical Process Tracking 96 Maintaining Visual Trackers and Acting on the Information They Provide 100 Benefits of Using Simple Visual Controls Instead of More Sophisticated Information Technology 102 Both Visuals and Automated Tracking 105 Accuracy versus Precision of Visual Information 106 Proximity of Visual Controls 108 Flexibility of Visual Controls 108 Visual Controls and the "Fingerprint Factor" 109 The Power of Networks 109 Intangible Benefits of Visual Controls 111 Summary: Visual Controls and the Data for Lean Management 111 Study Questions 112 5 Daily Accountability Process 115 How Conventional Production Differs from Lean 115 Three Tiers of Daily Meetings 116 Tier One: Team Leader and Production Crew 119 Tier Two: Supervisor and Team Leaders 120 The Green Dot/Red Dot Convention 122 Day-to-Day Project Management 125 Tier Three: Value Stream Leader with Supervisors and Support Croups 125 Daily Accountability Exposes and Solves Problems Quickly 126 Further Note on Task Assignments and Follow-Up 126
x Contents It's Not about the Boards! 129 Early Boards as Experiments 130 Accountability Boards and Geographically Dispersed Locations 130 Flat-Screen Monitors 131 The "Vacation Paradox" and Capacity for Improvement 132 Improve-the-Business Capacity 133 Impact of a Daily Few Minutes 137 Accountability in Office Processes 137 Summary: Daily Accountability Improves Processes 138 Study Questions 139 6 Lean in Administrative, Technical, and Professional Work 141 Lean Management in Enterprise Business Processes 142 Lean: Not Just for Manufacturing Anymore 146 Resistance: Accountability and Visual Controls 146 Making Performance Visible and Comparable 147 Enterprise Value Streams and Their Political Environment 154 Organizational Governance for Enterprise Value Streams 159 Lean Leader: Point of Contact with Executive Team 165 Process and Structure 165 RG&A Workshop Participation 166 RG&A Reviews Two-Way Commitments 167 Summary 168 Study Questions 169 SECTION II LEARNING LEAN MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTION: SUPPORTING ELEMENTS OF LEAN MANAGEMENT 7 Learning Lean Management: The Sensei and Gemba Walks... 173 Your Sensei and "True North" Provide Direction 175 Gemba Walking 178 How Lean Typically Starts and Grows 180 Gemba Walking Teaches How to See in New Ways 181 Seeing through the Surface 182 Focus on Both Processes Technical and Management 184 Being the Sensei: Gemba Walking as a Structured, Repeatable Process 188 Letting "Students" Know What to Expect 189 Summary: Learning Lean Management by Being a Sensei's Apprentice...l91 Study Questions 192
Contents xi 8 Being the Sensei: Engaging Your Executives in the Lean Initiative 193 Symptoms: Orphans, New Sheriffs, and the Next Big Thing 195 When Gemba Walks Are Not Enough 198 A Framework for Understanding the Engagement Problem 200 Redesigning Executive Gemba Walks 201 Experiential Learning 202 Repeatable Process 202 Lean Management as Structure 202 Nuts and Bolts of Executive Gemba Walks 203 Strategie Breakdowns Are Management Problems 204 "New" Executive Gemba Walks: Tools, Structure, Process 207 Summary 211 If the Student Hasn't Learned, the Teacher Hasn't Taught 211 Consider Executives as Customers 212 Study Questions 213 9 Leading a Lean Operation 215 Nine Leadership Behaviors to Learn 215 Attribute 1: Passion for Lean 218 Willingness to Make Personal Change 219 Attribute 2: Disciplined Adherence to Process Accountability... 220 Attribute 3: Project Management Orientation 222 Attribute 4: Lean Thinking 224 Lean Thinking Looks for the Sources of Problems 225 Attribute 5: Ownership 225 Attribute 6: Tension between Application and Technical Details 225 Attribute 7: Balance between Production and Management Systems 228 Attribute 8: Effective Relations with Support Groups 230 Attribute 9: Don't Confuse Measures of Process with Measures of Results 231 A Measure of Process or Result? 234 Frequency of Observation 235 Lean Leaders Recognize Imperfection 236 Summary: Consistent Leadership Is the Crucial Ingredient in Lean Operations 237 Study Questions 238
xii Contents 10 Solving Problems and Improving Processes Rapidly 239 A Root Cause Orientation to Problem Solving 239 Workarounds Are Anti-Improvement 241 A New Way of Thinking 241 Should Perfection Be a Goal? 243 Structured Problem-Solving Process 244 Who Makes Improvements? 245 Short-, Medium-, and Longer-Term Improvements 245 Recommending Future Improvements 247 Managing Improvement Activities 247 Improvement Resources and Skills 250 A Rapid Response System and Implications for Support Croups 251 Support Group Response Time 252 Leadership Alignment versus Changing Reporting Relationships 252 Summary: Finding the Root Cause of Problems Is Key 257 Study Questions 258 11 People Predictable Interruption, Source of Ideas 259 Whom Do I Expect Today? The Attendance Matrix 260 Who Starts Where Today? The Labor and Rotation Plan 262 Completing the Labor Flanning Suite 262 Who Is Qualified for Which Jobs? 264 How Can I Encourage Participation? The Idea System 265 Who Will Work on Suggested Improvements? 266 A Visual Improvement Suggestion Process 266 Making Listening Visible 269 Quick Wins and Just Do It Processes 272 Lean Training for Line Leaders 273 Where Conventional Training Fits In 273 Knowledge, Practice, Feedback: The Role of Coaching 276 What If Frontline People Don't Buy into Lean? 277 Responding to Low Performers 278 Progressive Discipline 279 Human Resources Policy Issues in Lean Management 280 Involve HR in Lean 280 Summary: Resolving People Issues to Support Lean Production and Lean Management 282 Study Questions 283
Contents xiii 12 Sustain What You Implement 285 You Already Have a Management System! 286 What Should You Do? 288 Rely on Leader Standard Work 289 Maintain the Visual Controls 289 Conduct Gemba Walks Regularly 290 Expect to Repeat Lessons 291 "On Board" versus Active Involvement 291 Keep Yourself Honest 292 Ultimately, A Do-It-Yourself Proposition 292 Assess Your Lean Management System 293 Details of the Lean Management System Assessment 294 When Should You Assess? 298 Who Should Assess? 298 Interpreting the Assessment 300 Keep Asking These Questions! 300 A Lean Culture Is a Beautiful Thing 301 Summary: Maintaining Lean Management 302 Study Questions 304 Appendix A 305 Appendix B 315 Appendix C 325 Glossary 335 Bibliography 349 Index 351 About the Author 367