Lean

Aug 19 2013

There’s heavy demand in all sectors for ‘lean’ specialists | The Globe and Mail

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“When Sun Life Financial goes to market to bolster its growing team of “lean” business specialists, it faces wide-ranging competition – jostling on job boards with companies as varied as Telus, Bombardier, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, Shoppers Drug Mart, Kraft Foods and the City of Vancouver.

On any given day, there are hundreds of postings on Canadian online job sites for people with formal certification in techniques known as Lean and Six Sigma, as well as the strong managerial skills needed to lead organizational change.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

The quotes around Lean in the title are certainly appropriate.

As discussed before, Lean is not a standard body of knowledge that people can be certified on the way you get a driver’s license. Six Sigma has nothing to do with Lean and has been abandoned at GE, the company the article mistakenly quotes as having originated it. It was Motorola, not GE.

According to the article, management in the quoted companies views “managing a portfolio of transformation and improvement efforts” as a job for which it hires specialists. It’s not. Instead, it is a skill every manager should have.

Wait another three years, and my bet is that we will see an article in the same paper describing how disappointed these companies have been with the certifications, and how little their performance has improved.

See on www.theglobeandmail.com

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Aug 18 2013

Obeya Ops | IW Presentation, April-2013 | Sam McPherson

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Obeya example from Sam McPherson
Obeya example from Sam McPherson

“The Theory behind Obeya is based on a simple idea: Dedicate time and space to coordination and problem-solving and organizational barriers will be minimized.

The ability to maintain Proper Problem Awareness in Real-time, listen to Teammember concerns, make discoveries, resolve problems together, collaborate, accelerate leader and team-member development and reach our full potential is critical to a Lean Organization

The Obeya promotes coordination, strategy and flexibility while leveraging the  expertise and support of teammates from diverse areas.

The Result: Effective solutions and actions that can be developed and implemented quickly…”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

A clear presentation, with many informative pictures, as befits this topic.

See on www.leanleadershipacademy.com

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Aug 14 2013

The Apparent Contradictions of Lean | Lonnie Wilson | IndustryWeek

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“Concepts of lean are both counterintuitive and counter-cultural. If you want to be a lean leader, you must go back to the basics and make sure you have a clear understanding of lean. Only then are you able to teach others.”
See on www.industryweek.com

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Aug 13 2013

The Measure of Efficacy of Spend is Value Adding | Bill Waddell | Manufacturing Leadership Center

Lindsay Levkoff Lynn
Lindsay Levkoff Lynn

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“A writer by the name of Lindsay Levkoff Lynn asserts that a charity should not be measured on the basis of the percentage of its money that goes to the cause for which it exists.  “We cannot measure efficacy of spend by looking purely at the ratio of overheads to programme costs,” she says.  I was curious as to how someone could not just be wrong, but absolutely, totally, dead wrong about such a subject …. and then I learned that she is a former Bain consultant with a Harvard MBA and it made more sense.  Fundamental lean principles are simply not part of her intellectual make-up.

In fact, the percentage of their money that goes to creating value for customers is the overarching measure of not just charities, but every organization.”

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

While I agree with Bill on measuring a charity by the percentage of its money that goes to the cause for which it exists, I don’t follow him in when he chides Levkoff Lynn for saying that P&G is not purely a manufacturing business but also a marketing giant.

While I am not familiar with P&G, I have consulted in the past for a competitor of theirs in detergents and personal products, and was told that, in this business, if you stop promoting a brand, it dies in six months. I don’t know whether this hypothesis has ever been tested, but the managers held it to be self-evident.

Even is you own a well-known brand in a mature market, you must keep advertising it, offering special discounts, and including toys in boxes. It is a massive direct expense, and it affects the manufacturing process, because the promotional materials are actually more difficult to procure and  have longer lead times than the raw materials used to make the product.

See on www.idatix.com

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Aug 10 2013

Guidelines for Fast Lean Transformation | M. Zinser & D. Ryeson | HBR Blog

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One of the most common mistakes that companies make when embarking on a lean program is trying to do too much at once. These “boil-the-ocean” initiatives are long, costly and often end up stalling under the weight of their own…

 

Michel Baudin‘s insight:

Scoop It just brough my attention to this 2 1/2-year old article by BCG consultants Michael Zinser and David Ryeson. Their key point is that a successful Lean implementation must start with a small number of well-chosen, pilot projects, and I agree.

I do, however, part company with them on two other issues. First, they only speak the language of money, relentlessly bringing up costs, savings,  payoffs, metrics and incentives. I understand that this language is familiar and attractive to top management.

The article only cites examples of improvements that have a direct economic impact, but there are many aspects of Lean for which the relationship is indirect. Scoring a goal in tonight’s game has a direct impact on performance; building a championship team doesn’t.

Which brings me to my second disagreement with the authors:  there is no consideration in their article of the need to develop the organization’s technical and managerial skills. They are just assumed to be there.

Lean is about developing a team that is able to compete at the highest level in your industry. If you already have such a team, you are probably not looking to implement Lean. If you don’t have it, you can’t start projects as if you did. Instead, you have to focus on projects that your team can do today and that will start it on its way. The biggest payoff and the practically possible do not always match.

This perspective is missing in their guidelines.

See on blogs.hbr.org

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Aug 7 2013

GE Appliance Plant Survival Credited to Lean | Chattanooga Times Free Press

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“Appliance maker Roper Corp. to expand in LaFayette, Ga. […] Scott Ossewaarde, president of Roper, credited the plant’s location and lean manufacturing methods with its survival through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.”

See on timesfreepress.com

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